This 1957 photograph of Ceiling and Waterfall by Isamu Noguchi, now de-installed and property of the Noguchi Museum in Queens represents just one more example of art installations around the country being destroyed in the name of the new. What struck me was: this building, though technically part of Brookfield Property holdings was until quite recently part of the real estate empire of Jared Kushner and family-- who wanted to tear it down and apparently made a fiasco of the investment.
I remember 666Fifth as a building that was quite chic, had screening rooms and important #Hollywood companies and others--a cigar club up top and a restaurant, Top of the Sixes, that was almost in the league of the Rainbow Room. When Brookfield acquired it, there had already been vast and apparently not so happy renovations.
While I am happy for the Noguchi Museum to have acquired it, and perhaps they will find a more welcome public home for it, I cannot help but think about the artist, who was so careful and deliberate in his choices, and utterly site specific.