one tough town

Built at 89th and Lex just one year after our ClockTower, this beautiful Romanesque apartment house is gone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/realestate/streetscapes-henry-janeway-hardenbergh-architect-who-left-indelible-imprint.html

It was demolished and replaced with this in 1960:

You've gotta be kidding, right? 

Architect Henry J. Hardenbergh also designed the Dakota in 1884 and the Plaza Hotel in 1907. And we knock his buildings down?

Fortunately landmarks stepped in. Tucked away on a side street is one of his remaining, single-home masterpieces

 339 East 87th.

Red brick with terracotta inserts, archtop windows and zig zag brick, this building shares DNA with our ClockTower home.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2010/07/richardsonian-romanesque-folks.html

But that wisteria is destroying the brickwork.

This vine is 100 years old.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisteria

The tendrils find the mortar lines and grow in and wedge the brick apart. Wisteria is very hard on brick.

It grew right through the iron rail, too.

Tough town, New York.

If the wrecking ball don’t getcha the wisteria will.

http://www.startsandfits.com/hardenbergh/lexington.html