New York Daily Photo Analytics

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tribute

The beauty of doing a posting on a building like this is that there is no competition. And little to say. Little to read. No real history. No links. No fascinating tidbits.
This virtually windowless, monolithic, hulking behemoth quietly sits at 601 West 43rd Street, relatively unnoticed by most, with perhaps the exception of those whose business takes them there. It is the main headquarters for UPS (United Parcel Service). It occupies a full city block from 43rd to 44th Street, from 11th to 12th Avenues. With the exception of the Jacob Javits Center or excursions to Hudson River waterfront attractions, visitors rarely make it to or through here. This area of Eleventh Avenue is populated with auto dealers and other commercial businesses.
Yet, I find the extremely mundane to be fascinating in its ability to be so. The focus is typically on the glamorous, exciting, chic, trendy, stylish, beautiful, dramatic, dynamic, sensational and spectacular.
This is a tribute to the ordinary, mundane, unprepossessing, unremarkable, unexciting, nondescript...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely. I agree entirely about the mundane.

Naomid said...

But necessary!

Ken Mac said...

Mundane, yes. Architecturally interesting? No. Better you should look across the street to the Market Diner. Now there's talent!

Brian Dubé said...

Naomid - Very necessary - UPS moves much of the goods in the USA.

Ken - the Market Diner is definitely a must on my blog to do list.

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

The reflection of the sun turns into a beautiful sight.

Urban (r)Evolutionary said...

Yup. My city is small, so I know it well, because there's not much of it. However I too am most fascinated by the ordinary and unmarked buildings - what goes on in them, and who? I'm sure the stories I make up in my head are far, far more interesting than the reality.

Anita said...

Mundane? Perhaps, but to me, it also celebrates the focus and genius that lets me sit at my desk at home and order from almost anywhere something as necessary as a book or as frivolous as a truffle and as soon as tomorrow, a driver in brown shorts will hand it to me at my front door.

Lee Seelig said...

And what happened to that old, two dimensional truck ad that appeared to be three-dimension? The last time I was on the West Side Highway, I couldn't spot it.