Holland Tunnel Ventilation

Nothing like a good looking, useful building.

Grand Central to Herald Square

Above, glare bounces off a rooftop west of Grand Central on 42nd St.  Below, first-light seeps into Herald Square.

Liberty Tower Light

At Liberty & Nassau Sts.

Astor Place Light

The way the light outlined the tree, above and below, was pretty stunning.  It wasn't obvious where the light came from, but a few days later I saw the light on Cooper Union, left, reflected from that glassy pile of solid geometry on the right.  I always feel a little better when an ugly building at least throws nice light.

Scaffold Light

The surface of this building at the southwest corner of Broadway & 12th St. is just dirty enough to have defeated my attempts to capture its detail.  Then I had a lucky breakthrough a few days ago, thanks to the sun and the scaffold across the street.

Empire State Light

The Empire State Building.  Softly lit above, from the Williamsburg Bridge.  Below, with its top shrouded in fog, from 8th Ave. in the high 20s.

8th Ave Light

A sign eclipse plus a wall of reflected light, caught last week at 8th Ave. & 46th St.  That's the Paramount Hotel in the foreground.  Note the black iron fences along the balconies below right, to discourage the casual cat burglar.

Dark Morning

Low morning light at S 1st and Roebling in Williamsburg.  Just below left is a closeup from the photo above.

Lexington Light

Looking like a cliff face on a bright day out west, 525 Lexington, at 49th St. 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' grandfather built it in 1924 as the Shelton Hotel, a "1,200-room bachelor hotel" -- with its own infirmary!  It is now the NY Marriott East Side Hotel.

Built with brick "roughened as if centuries old," critics were impressed that it recalled "no definite architectural style" and with the way it responded to zoning laws that required setbacks "to ensure light and air to the street."  The critic Lewis Mumford called it "buoyant, mobile, serene, like a Zeppelin under a clear sky."  [ NYT via NY Songlines ]

The reflections on the windows across the street, closeup below left, aren't bad either.

Lemon Light on 8th St

On 8th St. between Broadway and University Place.  Normally pedestrian, when strong light rakes across the building it can be stunning, right down to the doily-white metal work on the balconies.  Closeups above and at bottom.

A Well-lit Corner

You just have to be there at the right time; on Fourth Ave at 9th St.

McCarren Park Lights 1

I look at the picture above all the time -- it's my computer desktop background -- and though it looks like it should be dreary, it never feels that way to me.

These pictures are of McCarren park and Automotive High School.  I've learned to admire their matter-of-fact, durable appearance, accented here by the lights' hint of sentient life under foreboding skies.