Knox Building

The Knox Building on the corner of 5th Ave. and 40th street, drawn from the fifth floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library. In the background are the Met Life building and the Conde Nast building.

The building was built in 1901-02 by Edward Knox, a Civil War hero who had taken over his father's business, the Knox Hat Company, which had fallen into financial trouble. Edward Knox rescued the company and turned it into one of the most prominent hat manufacturers of the time. He hired the architect John H. Duncan to design this ten-story building to be his flagship store and business headquarters. Duncan had also designed Grant's Tomb and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, as well as a number of residences in the Upper West Side. Today, the Knox brand of hats is only familiar to vintage clothing aficionados, and Duncan's name only known by historians and architecture buffs, despite having designed some of New York's most iconic structures. I guess Heidi Klum is right: One day you're in, the next day you're out!

Knox Building ca. 1914

Knox Building today

The Knox Building was a significant addition to the NYC architecture scene. It was one of the most dramatic examples of the Beaux-Arts style. As you can see, when built, it dominated the surrounding skyline, and could be seen from miles down the avenues. In 1964, the building was purchased by the Republic National Bank (and later HSBC), and in the 1980s they built a 29-story ugly glass tower wrapped around the Knox. Anyway, I think it's ugly, or at least just a generic glass behemoth.. The site Newyorkitecture says: "The artfully done tower comes off as drape backdrop for the Beaux Arts Knox Building." The Knox Building itself was landmarked in 1980.

The Headless Horseman

Happy Halloween!

Ink with digital coloring.

Williamsburg Bridge

Lamppost at the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan side on Delancey St.

A Thing On A Roof

Drawing of some industrial thing on the roof of a building by the Gowanus Canal. It's a vestigal structure; the building is now a fancy furniture store. I have no idea what the building used to be or what purpose this thing served. I've since seen similar concoctions on buildings in other industrial and formerly-industrial areas, like Bushwick and Long Island City. I've really gotten into sketching industrial buildings and structures, even though I really have no idea what I'm drawing. Maybe because of that, imagining what function these complex structures and machines serve or once served.

Green Pond

I got to hang out at a lake house on Green Pond in N.J. this past weekend. It was a nice change of pace for a day, and I got a couple of sketches in. Thanks to our hosts, Peter and Jennie!

Shazbot

I can't say I was a particularly big fan of Robin Williams, but was very sad to hear about his death today. "Mork & Mindy" was a part of my childhood that I haven't thought of in a long time, but I sure spent a lot of hours watching that show. R.I.P. Mr. Williams.

Bayside By The Canal

The Bayside Fuel Oil Depot in Brooklyn. Drawn from one of the bleakest Greenspaces in NYC: a small strip of brown grass at the end of the parking lot of a Lowe's Home Improvement store, with a couple of benches overlooking the Gowanus Canal. The Gowanus is a Superfund site, having the distinction of being one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. To the left of these tanks is a metal salvage yard and the BQE, to the right is the F/G train tracks. Quite the scenic view. I wonder how much in financial incentives this developer received for putting in this "park."

That being said, it's a pretty quiet spot to sit. I sat there drawing this, listening to a podcast. At a certain point, I started to hear the faint sounds of ... bagpipes? As it happens, one of the hosts of this podcast is Scottish, so I thought maybe he was playing bagpipe music in the background. But, no, it was this guy . . .

  

I support this fellow for finding a secluded spot to practice, rather than afflicting his neighbors with it.

 

As with my previous post, the one of the Tuck-It-Away building, after completing this drawing, I saw the site from another angle which completely changed my understanding of it. From the ground, it looks like a pair of two tiered tanks, like a wedding cake. But seen from the train platform above, I realized the lower cylinder was a wall encasing a central tank. Also, I'd thought that all the pipes in that pipeline terminating by the canal (which I'm sure has nothing to do with the canal's Superfund status) originated from the tank on the left, and that the blue pipes to the right just ended there, but from the bird's eye view you can see the layout of the pipelines. Perspective, man. Whoa.