Whenever I see a truly spectacular building, I immediately think of it as a possible home, and I
start to plan where I’d put the couch and my desk and the kitchen. I would close the building to
tourists, because it would become my condo. Here are a few of my favorites:
This is the Jefferson Market Courthouse, on Sixth Avenue in the West Village. It was once
attached to a womens prison, where the prisoners would hang out the windows and yell at
passersby.
The prison was torn down and the land turned into a park, and the courthouse itself is
now a public library. Gothic Revival is my favorite form of architecture, because it’s both
serious and whimsical.
This is one of the lions which guard the 42nd Street Library, which would be an ideal home,
because of its grand design and because it’s so perfectly located,
near shopping and the theater district.
Here’s the main reading room, which is memorably featured in the
movie of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the best kind
of romantic fantasy because it stars
Audrey Hepburn as the world’s most
elegant quasi-call girl, and a young
George Peppard as the best-looking
short story writer ever.
The photo above is of the House of Lords in
London. I call it cosy, and I wouldn’t
change a thing.
The last photo is from St. Peter’s in
Rome. I’d keep my bed centrally located,
so I could see everything. And I might
add a mini-fridge.
