From today's Journal News Letters to the editor.
Tower would destroy beauty of river
(Original publication: April 13, 2007)
Tower would destroy beauty of river
I was deeply distressed by the Tuesday editorial praising the proposed development of the old Glenwood power plant. It implies that any development in Yonkers is good, while ignoring the fact that development must be appropriate to its surroundings. The confetti-colored tower proposed by British architect Will Alsop would offer a lively contrast to the bland office towers of London's Docklands complex. However, in the context of the Hudson Valley it is a monstrosity. The shape is awkward. The polychrome exterior is trivial and completely unrelated to the former powerhouse at its base. The scale is as badly disproportional to the landscape as the powerhouse's smokestacks.
Our Hudson River is a natural masterpiece that the editorial says "hardly requires embellishment." Erecting tall buildings will destroy the beauty from any vantage point on the river or Palisades, and block the views of Yonkers residents. After more than a century of industrial misuse of its shoreline, Yonkers seems determined to replace one blight with another. Alsop's architecture has the virtue of being "green," but a building need not be outrageous and oversized to be environmentally sound. Yonkers shouldn't strive to become "Manhattan north." We need no more "eye-catching" skyline than the matchless one nature provided.
Barrymore Laurence Scherer
Yonkers
The writer is speaker on architecture, New York Council for the Humanities.
Tower proposal needs re-thinking
Had your Editorial Board (passing by from parts unknown) detrained at the Glenwood Metro-North station to stroll the neighborhood, you would agree that the design and scope of the proposed Glenwood Power Station redevelopment insults its surroundings.
Yonkers and Lower Hudson Valley residents deserve practical architecture deferential to the majesty of the Palisades, not an imported museum piece to gawk at which we may or may not "grow to love." A suitable design exists in the existing structure (smokestacks included).
Christopher Keane
Yonkers
