I pass by this place sometimes, usually in the daytime. There’s a little terrace along the sidewalk where I like to rest my weary bones in warmer weather. The structure looks a tad neglected from the outside; you can’t really see inside when the sun is out.
I figured the building had an interesting story. The design is strikingly modern/brutalist, and it has a sister property still operating as a Chase Bank, at 184-01 Hillside Avenue in Jamaica🇯🇲Kweens.
Turns out, these are both “near-replicas” of the architecturally-celebrated Gordon & Nina Wayler Bunshaft House, which previously stood at 84 Georgica Close Road, in East Hampton, NY. Gordon Bunshaft also designed the LBJ Library at UT Austin and the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale. Although his buildings are decidedly brutalist, this guy preferred classy stone over concrete. Bunshaft eventually gifted his house in the Hamptons to MoMA, which sold it to Martha Stewart in 1995. Adding to her list of crimes, Martha neglected the home for almost a decade, and its rotted husk was demolished in 2004.
Apparently, Chase moved a few blocks east down Ol’ Country some years back. I guess their new location has more bays for motor banking – just as Robert Moses intended – but it is housed in a comparatively unremarkable building. This charming, travertine branch sold for nearly 3 mil in 2022.
I sensed paranormal activity tonight, so I zoomed in for a closer look. Now, I’m just a humble nerd. I don’t understand how the real estate markets work. Still, it seems to me, if I forked over that kind of money for a piece of property (which really should be landmarked) I wouldn’t let it decay into a Persian rug trap house/tire fire kindling heap.
Only God knows what depravity has been going on inside; the condition of the interior gives off a very unsettling vibe. Gordon Bunshaft died in 1990, and I’m sure he’d be disappointed seeing his work deteriorate like this.
