The Inside Of This UES Apartment Could Be NYC's Next Landmark

Patch
Miranda Levingston - December 12, 2024

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY —The iconic Modulightor Building on East 58th Street was designated as a landmark in 2023 for its unique exterior designed by architect Paul Rudolph, and this week, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to consider landmarking one of the duplex apartments inside the building as well.

On Tuesday, the Commission voted to add a public hearing about the Modulightor's third-floor apartment to its calendar, which is the first step in the landmarking process.

Once a building's interior is landmarked, the Commission must approve any alteration, reconstruction, demolition, or new construction affecting the designated apartment to protect the historical significance of the architecture and design.

The duplex, which includes the third and fourth floors of the building, operates as a house museum for Rudolph, a famous 20th-century architect known for brutalist and modernist shapes.

The interior of the Modulightor duplex features an all-white, late-20th-century modern design, with cantilevered internal balconies, built-in furniture, and a double-height ceiling, Kelvin Dickinson, the president and executive director of the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture, said.

"The interiors kind of flow around you, and you never actually pay attention to the fact that the space is only 18 feet wide, because the design has you looking up, which makes the space feel much bigger," Dickinson said.

"In [Rudolph's] mind, good design is not about putting marble on walls — it's about the actual use of the space and how the space is designed such that it is never boring. I think that's what makes the apartment so interesting and why we've opened it to the public, and we get sold out every time."

To qualify as an interior landmark, the space must be at least 30 years old and regularly open to the public, the Commission said.

The duplex operates as a museum for the architect with regular in-person tours and was first built in 1993, according to the Commission.

The building first opened to the public in 2002, after the architect's death, when Rudolph's partner opened the space to let people walk through, Dickinson said.

"His story is fascinating because his designs were not something people were used to. He was a very, very late modernist, a strict modernist, and if you like his work, then you like it. He didn't change his style for anybody."

The public hearing hasn't been scheduled yet, but could take place as soon as January, Dickinson said. When more details on the hearing become available, they will be announced here.

The Modulightor building is located at 246 East 58th St. right on the border of the Upper East Side and Midtown East.

Open House tours of the duplex are offered twice a month. Learn more here.

Read the original article here.

Patch
Peter Senzamici - December 20, 2023

SUTTON PLACE, NY — A "striking" Sutton Place building that is a "living example" of a storied architect's "genius" is now a protected city landmark.

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission members unanimously voted Tuesday to give an individual landmark designation to the Modulightor Building, designed by architectural superstar, Paul Rudolph.

At 246 East 58th St. near Second Avenue, the Modulightor Building was designed by Rudolph in 1989, built in 1993 just four year before his death and features a striking facade filled with intersecting vertical and horizontal lines, forming a jigsaw-like experience.

The commission calls the building a "highly significant late work" by Rudolph. The name "Modulightor" comes from the architectural lighting company he founded in 1976, the commision writes.

Rudolph, a leading figure in American architecture who served as the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture for several years, has two other landmarked buildings on the east side: The Paul Rudolph Penthouse & Apartments at 23 Beekman Place, and the building referred to as the “Halston House,” named after the famous designer who lived and partied there for 15 years, at 101 East 63rd St., on the Upper East Side.

It was at the Beekman Place apartment that Rudolph hoped would "become a study and resource center for the architectural community," said Ernst Wagner, executor of Paul Rudolph's Estate. "When that didn't happen, I promised him that I'd use the Modulightor building to fulfill his wish and then created the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture.

During the initial phase of the construction, Rudolph moved his office to the building and became his own contractor, the commission said, while the lower floors operated as a lighting showroom by his partner, Wagner.

In 2016, the building was officially completed with the addition of two floors and a roof deck based on Rudolph's original drawings housed in the Library of Congress.

City landmarks commissioners took notice of the building this year as an example of modern architecture. The Modulightor building was landmarked along with the The Barkin, Levin & Company Office Pavilion in Astoria, officials said.

"It is fitting that the Modulightor building – designed by and dedicated to Paul Rudolph – will be preserved as a living example of his genius," said Wagner. "Thank you to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for ensuring future generations will get to experience and learn from his work."

The Inside Of This UES Apartment Could Be NYC's Next Landmark