Notes on the United Nations and Architecture

No one is ever happy with the United Nations, and probably never will be.

This institution seems to exist in a symbiotic relationship with Manhattan-- some years ago, the City got tired of limos with diplomatic license plates ( and immunity) illegally parked all over Midtown and announced it was cracking down.

The U.N. threatened to move to Geneva over this, but didn't. People from foreign missions like being in New York too much.

Can't remember exactly how this great international crisis was resolved...know the City now  is ticket-happy,

and makes $600 million from it each year. A lot of the tickets are unfair but usually go uncontested...one reason being it's hard to contest a ticket and some people don't want to be bothered. 

Across the East River from the U.N. is Long Island City, ( top photo) once just a manufacturing area but now home to office buildings and apartments. Remember in mid 1980's City made a concerted effort to get a lot of businesses to move out of Manhattan and into the boroughs....this was before a lot of those businesses decided to leave New York altogether.

Note the modern architecture of Long Island City, which, while not quite as severe as the International-Style U.N. ( whose design I have never liked very much)...

Near to the U.N. is Tudor City ( bottom photo), which is a 1920's mock Tudor (just what kind of Tudor?) fantasyland--that has a lot more appeal as far as I'm concerned.  Tudor City has had its problems too, at one time it was rent controlled and de-control brought about bitter controversies....now just think it's another great landmark and a nice contrast to all the self-consciously modern architecture.