Modern architecture and art has been sprouting up over the city for years even in historic and classic Greenwich Village. As you wander around you’ll notice sleek designed modern buildings perfectly interspersed with their older relatives.
Head out from the current home of Lenox Hill HealthPlex then make your way east for more modern gems.
Architecture in Transition
Turn of the 20th Century and beyond
Lenox Hill Healthplex
36 7th Avenue
Originally home to the National Martitime Union of America, this building has been looked upon with mixed feelings by locals since its construction because of its stark white façade and limited windows. Today the building is home to the Lenox Hill HealthPlex, providing 24-hour emergency care to the neighborhood.
Butterfield Houses
37 W 12th Street
Butterfield Houses is a cooperative apartment complex rising 7 stories. Built in 1962 it was praised as a model for modern building in the city, winning a certificate by the Municipal Arts Society and making The New York Times’ 1979 list of the Top 10 Postwar Apartment Buildings. Despite its modern design many argue the building fits well with the surrounding neighborhood.
New School University Center
63 5th Ave
Opened in January 2014 the New School’s University Center, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has been celebrated by architects and leaders as an example of an appropriately ambitious and innovative building. The Center is home to art classrooms, research centers, an auditorium, a cafeteria, and 600 student residences.
2 Fifth Avenue
1 Fifth Avenue
This block-long apartment building of 1952 is deliberately deceptive in appearance: it has a low red-brick portion fronting on Washington Square, designed to harmonize in scale and style with the 19th century townhouses it adjoins. Set back behind it, in glazed white brick, is the 22-story high-rise portion fronting on Fifth Avenue. Notable tenants over the years include former three-term Mayor of New York City Edward I. Koch, Congresswoman Bella Abzug, photographer Andrè Kertesz and author and AIDS activist Larry Kramer.
Sculpture for Living
445 Lafayette Street
Design by "starchitects" Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel, the "Sculpture for Living" was one of the first luxury residential buildings to rise in the East Village. Architectural critics have been divided over its use of green glass and curves. Head to Astor Place and see it for yourself.