Treasures of New York: Ralph Walker, Architect of the Century

Ralph Walker did not design the Empire State Building, but he arguably made it possible by popularizing a striking Art Deco style for skyscrapers and perfecting the mandated setback structure. The architect’s very Manhattan work is briskly surveyed in Treasure of New York: Ralph Walker, which airs on Tri-State PBS outlets this weekend.

Born in reared in Connecticut, Walker was a man of New York destiny and a lifer in the McKenzie, Voorhees, and Gmelin firm. Early in his career, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring wedding cake-like “setbacks” for skyscraper construction to prevent wind canyon effects. Walker would be the architect who really understood how to make them work functionally and aesthetically. He also had a talent for richly ornate entryways and imposing lobbies. As a result, he captured the late 1920s architectural zeitgeist in buildings like the Barclay-Vesey Building, the Irving Trust Building, and the Western Union Building.

At one time, Walker was honored by his American Institute of Architects peers as “The Architect of the Century”—an admittedly lofty and ambitious honor, considering the century was then only 57% complete. Yet, he has since been overshadowed by the largely European International School, despite the fact most architectural laypersons find their glass and steel rectangles rather cold and severe compared to the Art Deco buildings built by Walker and his contemporaries. Of course, a scandal at his firm (rather mild by today’s standards) did not help.

Unlike many previous entries in the Treasures of New York series, Ralph Walker is less of a guided tour of City attractions and more of a short but proper documentary profile. Indeed, its brevity is a virtue, covering most of Walker’s signature New York buildings, which also represent overall career highlights.

Written and produced by Julie Cohen, the half hour Ralph Walker is a nice little piece of television that ought to foster greater appreciation of the New York skyline without overstaying its welcome. Recommended for arts-minded viewers, it will be available for online viewing at the Treasures of New York site, following its broadcast this Saturday (10/4) on WLIW and Sunday (10/5) on WNET 13.

Treasures of New York: City Parks

Before moving to their permanent headquarters, the United Nations met in the New York Pavilion on the grounds of what is now Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  It was there the problematic world body witnessed one of its finest moments passing the resolution that led to the creation of the State of Israel.  Perhaps it is time to move them back to Queens.  The history and general greenness of iconic parks in all five boroughs are celebrated in WNET’s Treasures of New York: City Parks (promo here), which premieres this Wednesday on New York area public television.

Many New Yorkers take understandable pride in Central Park, despite the fact it was modeled on the deliberately imposing parks of Imperialist Europe.  Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux’s masterwork of landscaping and design would indeed announce New York as a cultural and commercial powerhouse on the world stage, but they would have to wrestle with politicians during each stage of construction. 

Even though it was literally the centerpiece of Manhattan, Central Park would periodically fall into states of appalling disrepair.  The initial savior was, not surprisingly, Fiorello La Guardia and his controversial Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses.  However, during the Carter malaise, the private, nonprofit Central Park Conservancy stepped in to do the maintenance and restoration work beyond the City government’s competencies.

Indeed, politics would play a role at other parks, particularly at the Bronx’s Pelham Bay Park, where Democrat Jimmy Walker allocated beachfront access to his Tammany Hall cronies.  This was a practice La Guardia halted post-haste and Moses would forever prevent by radically reshaping the park’s coastline.

Brooklyn’s Prospect Park also gets its due, but unfortunately this includes plenty of air time for Brooklyn Beep Marty “Party” Markowitz, in full blow-hard mode.  If grudgingly, Moses still enjoys good PR in the Bronx for his work on the Pelham Bay Park and also in Queens for his vision for Flushing Meadow Corona.  Not so much in Staten Island though, where activists banded together to save the Greenbelt from his proposed Richmond Parkway.  However, they will admit the resulting traffic is kind of a drag.  Lest a review go by without a Tibet reference, it is also worth noting the Jacques Marais Museum of Tibetan Art is peacefully nestled within the preserved Greenbelt.

As was the case for previous installments of Treasures of New York, City Parks is essentially a slickly produced infomercial for New York.  However, the park edition has considerably more civic history than one would expect, making it of potential interest to general viewers beyond the obvious outdoors-oriented target audience.  Pleasantly watchable, it premieres tomorrow night (9/5) on Long Island’s WLIW and airs this coming Sunday (9/9) on New York’s Thirteen.

The New-York Historical Society: Treasures and Ephemerals

That hyphen is historic. It was in common usage when the New-York Historical Society was founded in 1804, so they are not about to change it now. However, the venerable institution has just completed extensive renovations to its newly reopened landmark Central Park West building. Viewers get a brief but informative tour of the facilities and collections of one of the nation’s premiere museums and research libraries in Treasures of New York: The New-York Historical Society, which premieres this Thursday on New York’s Thirteen.

Soon to be available on the PBS affiliate’s website for out-of-state viewing along with previous installments of Treasures, N-YHS should be incredibly helpful for anyone planning a trip to the City. Frankly, in the early 1990’s, it was somewhat doubtful whether the ailing N-YHS would make it into the Twenty-First Century. However, new leadership, including historically conscious board members Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman, turned around the Society’s fortunes. It has since staged a number of buzz-generating exhibitions, like the remarkable Hamilton exhibit and programming staged in 2004.

Viewers will also get a sense of some of the N-YHS’s surprising collections, including some of the world’s largest holdings of Audubon paintings and Tiffany lamps. The Society also boasts extensive ephemeral archives, such pamphlets, tabloids, and broadsides, considered rubbish in their time, but now invaluable for researchers. All of this is now much more accessible thanks to their ambitious restoration and reconstruction efforts, some of which are documented in Treasures. Evidently, refurbishing and installing the ceiling of Keith Haring’s Pop Shop in the museum’s entry hall was especially tricky.

This is all good stuff for museum buffs. Frankly, the N-YHS has traditionally been the redheaded step child of New York’s museum, but the latest episode of Treasures should help attract many new visitors. It is like an infomercial for a worthy cultural institution you might not be so familiar with. Straight forward but interesting viewing, N-YHS airs this Thursday (12/15) on New York’s WNET, next Monday (12/19) on NJTV, and the following Tuesday (12/20) on WLIW, with online streaming to follow.

(Photos: Platt Byard Dovell White Architects/Megan Thompson)