Detail from rendering of proposed design for Bogardus Plaza, which would include about 15 immovable egg-shaped seats, some of them on a raised platform next to the garden. Rendering: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects
Of the myriad fine points of landmarks preservation deliberated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, eggs are not commonly among them.
But last month it was eggs—more than a dozen cast concrete ones weighing over a half-ton each—that were the main point of contention at a hearing on the redesign of Tribeca’s Bogardus Plaza, the Tribeca triangle at Chambers, Hudson and Reade streets that is slated for a major makeover.
Lacking a quorum, the commission did not vote on the plan and is expected to consider it again this month.
The design includes much expanded greenery, the merging of plantings and plaza, a platform, a new clock, new lighting and a cobbled surface on the plaza.
And those big egg seating “perches,” on the platform and in the plaza, their undersides softly lit.
Friends of Bogardus Garden and the project’s designers, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, presented the objects as fun for kids to climb on and historically fitting as symbols of Tribeca’s past as a butter-and-egg wholesaling district.
In his presentation to the commission, landscape architect Greg Leonard called the eggs a “playful and artistic reminder of that time.”
“We want to make it a fun space,” he said. “Tribeca is a very family-oriented neighborhood and we wanted to appeal to that.”
But Christabel Gough of the Society for the Architecture of the City took exception to the historic—if not prehistoric—appropriateness of the objects.
“No bird within human memory has ever laid an egg of the dimensions of these playful seating objects,” she testified. “Perhaps dinosaurs were capable of such a feat.”
“The illumination of white cement eggs at night is someone’s idea of a fun interpretation of Tribeca’s role as a dairy district,” complained Jonathan Schragg, who overlooks the plaza from his apartment at 1 Hudson St.
Victoria Weil, president of the Friends group, came to the eggs’ defense.
“What we wanted to do was create something that has historical reference, that addressed the needs of the community and that you couldn’t sleep on. The eggs do all of those three things.”
Community Board 1, which is advisory to the commission, approved the overall scheme but withheld judgment on the eggs, with some members “finding them witty and charming,” the resolution stated, “others feeling large concrete eggs expressed more of a theme park than a historical context.”
In their discussion, the commissioners seemed to favor the overall plan, including the eggs. One of them, Adi Shamir-Baron, called the design “very beautiful.”
“I also think that the eggs are…” and here she paused, “sweet.”