In a message dated 03/25/2000 10:00:10 PM Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< into something flat and dull. The brick fronts have been sterilized, made
so clean that all sense of time has been wiped out; worse still, the
distinctions between the houses that make up the row have disappeared, and so
this block looks more like a single, overblown mass of brick  than like a
real 19th-century street. >>

It does not help the character that the North exposure, where most people
encounter the buildings, is open to a large plaza. If there was a narrow
street with buildings filling the area, and people did not have a standing
back vantage point, then I think the objection of dullness would not have
been considered. So it is perspective in question. Let alone that this is not
where the locals shop. If you wander around on the South side of the building
it is more funky. I saw one day on a pre-bid walk-through a 6' iguana sunning
in a window, and there is the small lot that appears to be a junk yard for
wood boats. I think it is a case of adaptive re-use not being true to the
historic uses of the site. One interesting function of the SSS, besides the
thorougly chaotic and pungent Fulton Street Fish Market, is that on Friday
nights after work it becomes the meat market for Wall Street yuppies to
cruise the secretary pool while downing drafts. Still a scene fit for a
steamy, or barely plain functional one-nighter, romance novel.

I know Jan Pokorny and consider him one of the most self effacing and
considerate individuals that I have had the honor to ever do business with.
Blaming him for a lack of luster at the South Street Seaport is like blaming
the sheep shearer for a lack of wheat in the granary.

There are plenty of decrepit buildings left in the area as the developer,
Rouse, hit a wall on Black Monday and not too much has been done in the area
since, at least, not to rival the 1983 work in size of scope. The hot
restoration action moved to 42nd Street.

There are several non-restoration architects I do business with who have
offices in the area. From what I know of them I would not consider any of
them think of themselves as AIA Gods (low-cost neighborhood housing seems to
preclude Godhead), and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission is located a
bit further south.

][<en