New York City is the best place to look at architecture. For me is hard to walk throughout New York and don’t be amazed by its beautiful buildings, its great architecture in its variety of styles. In New York there’s always a building that catches my eyes. Most of these styles are classical styles, and goes from Federal style, Italianate style, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Romanesque Revival, Beaux Arts to modern, and contemporary architecture.
The truth is that I really like contemporary buildings such as the Bank of America’s tower in down-town Manhattan, this because of its sustainable design, that makes it one of the first sustainable skyscrapers in the city. Although, I feel more attracted to classical buildings like Romanesque revival, perhaps because in today’s days while we are advancing in technology most of these buildings have been replace for the sub call “modern or contemporary” buildings, and the ones that still remain creates a big contrast from old to new what calls my attention. To me classical buildings stand up more, such as Romanesque Revival.
Even though Romanesque Revival isn’t as sustainable as the Bank of America’s tower, it takes advantage of ornamentation to make the building look nicer without exaggerating. The Brooklyn post office building is a building that I look at, daily. It has elaborate architectural details of Bell’s, the central structure contains strong, simple forms with powerful arches dominating the first story Elaborate dormers, iron roof cresting, steeply pitched roofs, and a tower give the building a picturesque quality, to me the larger corner towers creates an effect that makes it look like a palace. As well the exterior of the building is rich in material, texture, form, and ornament. Semi-circular projections called tourelles. Each level is articulated in a slightly different way and distinguished by belt courses that encircle the building. Round arches of polished granite, , rectangular windows, a slate-covered mansard roof is topped with ornamental ironwork cresting and a decorative cast-iron balustrade.
Brooklyn Post Office is one of the buildings that I enjoy to look at; because of all its characteristics it kind of tells its own history. I think it is a very interesting building.
