Inside New York City's Most Mysterious Architectural Time Capsule [View all]

[ND-Dem]

Last edited Thu Mar 19, 2015, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)

For the past half century, 190 Bowery has been a legend. The six-story, 72-room former bank building on the fringes of SoHo looked like a war zone on the outside, crumbling and covered in graffiti. And the inside, the home of a photographer with insane real estate luck—well—nobody really knew what was inside. Until now.

Animal New York editor Bucky Turco recently spent three days inside 190 Bowery in a crazy attempt to capture the bohemian paradise before the building's new owner shredded its historic interior. The former owner, street photography icon Jay Maisel, had bought the building for $102,000 way back in 1966 when the Bowery was still a bit of a cesspool. But after spending decades saying no to money-hungry developers—after 190 Bowery served as Roy Lichtenstein's studio and its walls as Keith Haring's canvas—Maisel finally sold the 35,000-square-foot building for a cool $55 million. Now, the historic building will blend in with the rest of its recently gentrified surroundings...

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--FRpTDO1e--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/lxdkv3ftuq6gx3nmmhbu.jpg

http://gizmodo.com/inside-new-york-citys-most-mysterious-architectural-tim-1692121535

I owned 190 Bowery for 3 days

http://animalnewyork.com/2015/adventures-trespassing-owned-190-bowery-three-days/

The Bowery (1891)

Oh! The night that I struck New York
I went out for a quiet walk
Folks who are "on to" the city say
Better by far that I took Broadway
But I was out to enjoy the sights
There was the Bow'ry ablaze with lights
I had one of the devil's own nights
I'll never go there any more

The Bowery! the Bowery!
They say such things and they do strange things
On the Bowery! The Bowery!
I'll never go there any more

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thebowery.shtml