Posted May 11, 2023, 1:21 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 57,275
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Checking in on the — contingent…
https://nypost.com/2023/05/10/brooklyn-tower-divides-nyc-with-its-evil-sauron-vibes/
New Brooklyn Tower divides NYC with its ‘evil’ ‘Sauron’ vibes
By Emily Lefroy
May 10, 2023
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The new Brooklyn Tower stands more than 1,000 feet tall and has the luxury amenities of a five-star hotel — but chic custom design isn’t stopping the imposing building from being compared to the headquarters of a villain.
The 93-story residential building is now the tallest in the borough. Although it was inspired by the landmarked Dime Savings Bank it’s attached to, Brooklynites have declared that the dark metallic structure with a neo-art deco crown has “evil vibes.”
Raul Rothblatt, a Brooklyn resident of 30 years, called the building “one more failure of imagination” in NYC.
Earlier in the month, Rothblatt took to Facebook to jokingly brainstorm new names for the building, which listed Dark Tower, Temple of Doom and Sauron’s Tower Minus Eye as options.
“It looks aggressive,” the 58-year-old, who lives in Prospect Heights, told The Post.
Other rankled New Yorkers have taken to social media to complain about the dour tower — which will start accepting rental applications in August — which is blotting the city skyline.
Lilly Dancyger, a book editor in Manhattan, likened it to “the headquarters of an evil corporation in a superhero movie” on Twitter, telling The Post via email: “The tower is a hideous blight.”
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But perhaps the most popular comparison is to the Tower of Sauron in the evil land of Mordor from “The Lord of the Rings.” In Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, it’s depicted as a foreboding stone obelisk topped with a fiery all-seeing orb.
“It looks like the Eye of Sauron,” Alish Erman, a 36-year-old video producer who lives across the street, told The Post, referring to the Dark Lord’s symbol of omniscience.
The building was designed by SHoP Architects, the team behind the world’s skinniest skyscraper, at 111 W. 57th St. on Billionaires’ Row.
Architect Gregg Pasquarelli told NY1 that SHoP incorporated black steel, copper and huge windows to reflect the borough itself, dubbing it “the Empire State Building of Brooklyn.”
“So, when you look at the obelisk, the building looks solid, not glass,” Pasquarelli said. “And that was an important part for us for making it this landmark with gravitas at the center of Brooklyn.”
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Indeed, not everyone thinks it’s casting a shadow over Brooklyn.
Nader Tehrani, a professor at the Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, called the design “impeccable,” describing the way that it is “redefining the skyline of Brooklyn” as “unprecedented.”
“I think that generally people have a reaction to the new,” Tehrani told The Post. “I would say there’s an element of conservatism when it comes to people’s vision of their own community.”
He said, historically, there are beloved buildings that weren’t immediately embraced.
“The Eiffel Tower is a great example of a structure that was completely despised,” he said. “The moment that it was built and conceived, it was critiqued for its hostility to the skyline of Paris. Now, it’s unimaginable to think of the skyline of Paris without the Eiffel Tower.”
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SHoP Architects and JDS Development Group did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
Villainous or not, at least Brooklyn Tower has character, neighbors say.
“Honestly, I don’t mind it,” said Erman.
“It gives the view from my apartment some drama — I’d rather it look evil than just be another boring rectangle in the skyline.”
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