Architecture review: An interior designer proves to be a force in exterior architecture

At 135 East 79th Street, William Sofield's design makes perfect sense

Two exterior renderings of 135 East 79th Street and architect William Sofield
Two exterior renderings of 135 East 79th Street and architect William Sofield

From the December issue:  For most the past four decades, the entire block along 79th Street between Park and Lexington avenues has been blighted by the Hunter College School of Social Work. But the building, which was erected in 1972, was razed two years ago to make way for a luxury condominium: 135 East 79th Street. The main problem with the Hunter building was its woeful inadequacy to its context: amid the Upper East Side’s turn-of-the-century gentility of Georgian classicism, Art Deco and a few surviving townhouses, here was a sudden (and clamorous) barrage of 1970s Modernism. The building might have made a bit more sense in Midtown, but here on East 79th Street, it radiated a tremor of menace, even sleaze, in all directions. [more]

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