Ornamentation

As regular readers of this blog (all two of you) know, I love the beautiful and unique architectural ornamentation on many of the old buildings in NYC.  Which is why I wanted to call your attention to two things.  The first is the Brooklyn Museum's Steinberg Family Sculpture Garden. Situated in a small area behind the museum, next to the parking lot, the garden features about a dozen beautiful architectural ornamentations that were saved from demolished buildings.

While I am happy that these pieces were saved and put on public display (along with the ones in the nearby subway station), it bothers me that the rest of the museum's collection sits behind a fence on the other side of the parking lot.

Apparently, there was quite a fight over these pieces.  I won't get into it here, but you can read about it in this June 2010 article in The Atlantic.  Also... the Brooklyn Museum's response to the article.

I was reminded of all this just this past week when I read about another fight that is brewing over salvaged NYC architectural ornamentation.  The New York Times reported on the sealed bid auction of the city's entire warehouse of architectural salvage.  Thousands of items spanning hundreds of years will all go to the ONE highest bidder.  (You can see photos of some of the stuff here.) I'm sure the city has its reasons for doing this, legit or not.  But, I just think it's terribly wrong.  Other agencies (such as the MTA) have sold surplus or salvaged items to the public before.  I know there are many people like me who would love to buy some of the smaller pieces.  And larger ones could be used in public parks.  Unfortunately, it will probably all go to a dealer who will then make a big profit off of some of the pieces.

All of this just reminds me how important it is to stop, look up, and appreciate the ornamentation and the buildings they adorn while they are still standing.