A view of the Con Ed building at 14th Street and Irving Place sometime after 1928, when it was still the Consolidated Gas building:
The building was constructed in segments as the company’s need for space increased and neighboring buildings were demolished and their lots incorporated intp the full-block complex. The tower was added near the end of the process.
A little bit uptown, the slightly older composite-building/campus of Metropolitan Life at 23rd Street and Madison Avenue, between 1909 and 1915:
Again, Met Life started with one segment in 1890 and kept buying neighbors and expanding the building, with the tower added in 1909.
Both composites are architecturally a little strange, which is what happens when you keep expanding in an ad hoc manner, but Con Ed feels awkward. The tower is too short, or the remainder is too tall, and the tower setback from the street facades of the adjoining segments doesn’t really look intentional. Interestingly, Con Ed is landmarked in its entirety, while only the tower is landmarked at Met Life.
You must be logged in to post a comment.