The City: Breuer's Blockbuster

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THE CITY

The American Institute of Architects is presenting its Gold Medal to Marcel Breuer this week. It may be a good thing this is happening in Portland, Ore., 2,445 miles away from Manhattan, where such an award ceremony right now would be sure to bring out pickets. Why would anybody want to picket Breuer, a kindly man of 66 and a distinguished architect whose Whitney Museum is one of the finest things that any designer has done for Manhattan in years? Because last week Breuer unveiled his plans for a $100 million, 55-story office building—to be placed on top of Grand Central Terminal.

"It's the wrong building in the wrong place at the wrong time." wailed the chairman of New York City's planning commission, Donald H. Elliott, who is helpless to do anything about it since the project conforms with zoning requirements. Urbanologists pointed out that the new building would press an estimated 12,000 new office workers into the already overpressed Grand Central area. But New Yorkers' basic objections were esthetic, though few people exactly articulated this, or could have if they tried. A certain esthetic pleasure used to come from the sight of the Grand Central complex—from the north, a stubby tower with a clock at its architectural nave; from the south, a Beaux Arts Eclectic facade crowned by monumental sculpture that nobody studied but everybody remembered. From either side, it was an ornamental point in the city's stark grid, a recognizable feature amidst its towering but all-too-featureless walls. But five years ago, the 59-story Pan Am Building was built just south of 45th Street, blocking off for all time the vista south from Park Avenue.

No one is more aware of this situation than Breuer himself, who admits that he would have refused a commission to design Pan Am. But he also recognizes economic imperatives and esthetic realities. With the Pan Am Building, the vistas were gone anyway; the railroad still needed money; and the airspace above the station was still some of the most valuable real estate in Manhattan. Said Breuer after accepting the commission: "My feeling is this space will have to be utilized sooner or later. If so, it is important that it is utilized in a good way."