NYC: The AT&T Building

INTENSE : 8th Oct 2004 - 00:10 GMT

AS I SAID B-4 YA'LL CATZ HAVE NO FUCKIN CLUE WUT SKILL IS CUZ THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NONE DISPLAYED ON THIS FUCKIN SITE. NO GRAFF SKILLZ WHATSOEVER."HAVE YOU NO KNOWLEDGE OF MY POWER WITH A SPRAY CAN" FAKE ASS BROOKLYN CATZ...HA!!!!!!

Peter: 8th Oct 2004 - 15:03 GMT

'Intense': your comment has nothing to do with this entry.

I live in brooklyn. I also get up in brooklyn. if youd like to meet up, let me know. id be happy to show you in person that no one here is a "fake ass brooklyn katz".

let me know...

Hugh Manatee: 31st Jan 2005 - 11:40 GMT

"Ma Bell" lost its telecommunication monopoly in 1984 when Judge Harold Greene ordered its divestiture. But the AT&T Building of the same year, designed by Johnson & Burgee and built (optimistically) as a gesture of company strength despite adversity, is recognized as a classic of post-modern architecture.

Should the company legacy continue to fade, credit should be given its directors of 1984 for creating a New York City monument that symbolizes what AT&T once was. And to that end, the gilded statue "Genius of Electricity," should preside in the lobby of the AT&T Building, regardless of the current owner. It completes the world-scale masterpiece of the late Philip Johnson.

Peter: 31st Jan 2005 - 14:18 GMT

yeah. philip johnson just died. the building is sony-america's headquarters now. and at&t just got bought by SBC, its underling after teh antitrust breakup.

my, how times change!

Kohut's Dog: 2nd Feb 2005 - 22:58 GMT

The statue in question, and for which the lobby of Johnson & Burgee's AT&T (Sony) Building was designed to contain, is properly named "The Spirit of Communications," by Evelyn Longman Batchelder. It once stood atop the old AT&T Building at 195 Broadway, but is now located at the AT&T corporate campus in New Jersey.

In the late 1990's, AT&T offered to return the statue to Manhattan, where it is greatly missed, but the city couldn't decide where it should go. But now that AT&T has been bought by SBC, perhaps New York's golden boy will finally come home.

Hugh Manatee: 3rd Feb 2005 - 17:24 GMT

NYC can't decide where to put the magnificent statue which symbolizes, arguably more than any other, its entrepreneurial drive? Why not follow the example of Florence,Italy? Michelangelo's original "David" is protected from the elements by being indoors, with an exact copy set outdoors in its place.

Perhaps "Spirit of Communications" also should be copied, with the original under glass in Johnson & Burgee's AT&T/Sony Building lobby (which looks bereft without it), and the duplicate set downtown atop the old AT&T Building (equally bereft without it) to recapture the statue's intended razzle-dazzle on Gotham's skyline. Talk about your Broadway revival...

And maybe some civic-minded modern-day Medici(s) could be persuaded to make such a splendid thing possible.

Oliver: 8th Jul 2005 - 16:55 GMT

This building, at 550 Madison Avenue, is now the home of Sony Corporate of America and SonyBMG (Previously Sony Music), where I worked for too many years.

One of the oddest things about it is the "sky lobby." You can't see from this photograph (taken from the backside), but the street-level entry contains just a huge obelisk-like sculpture. You take an elevator up 7 stories or so, where you find quite a luxe lobby, with security, and the like.

It's quite confusing for new visitors.