Holly Whyte Way Dedication

The dedication of the Holly Whyte Way, sponsored by Friends of Privately-Owned Public Space [F-POPS] and Open House New York, occurred on Saturday morning at 11am. It was a festive affair, complete with a ceremonial watering (see below) and marching band. It marks the 50th anniversary of the NYC Building Code, which required developers to provide public space in their buildings in exchange for higher air rights. There are approximately 850 of these public spaces in NYC totaling 82 acres.

The dedication, which started at the AXA plaza on 51st Street between 6th & 7th Avenues, consisted of the watering of a brass plaque depicting a tree on a grid, which is the logo that can be found at all POPS spaces in the city.

Here is what the plaques look like - though they won't always be wet, of course. The HWW runs from this plaza north to 57th Street along a series of thru-block plazas and then turns to back south through another short series back to 54th St. A self-guided tour map can be downloaded here.

Currently, in order to cross from plaza to plaza you have to enter the street mid-block without the benefit and safety of a crosswalk. F-POPS have received permission from the local community board to have mid-block crosswalks (and hopefully stoplights) installed along the HWW, and the DOT is currently studying the proposal.

There was a surprise waiting at 53rd Street - kids on scooters!

 "Scoot Here" indeed.

Some of the plazas have ample public seating, others a limited amount with most seats attached to restaurants or other establishments, and several don't look like plazas at all.

Like this one, which resembles a lobby-turned-public corridor and functions solely to shuttle pedestrians from one block to the next. I don't quite understand how this qualifies as a "plaza."

Another problem is that many of the POPS aren't clearly marked. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you might easily miss the logo and lettering in white on the right.

Or here, where no mention of the POPS inside can be seen.

This, with the rope and sign, hardly invites you to come inside. Coupled with the lack of seating, I have no idea how this can be considered a "privately-owned public space." I can walk through without getting hassled, it seems, but that's about it. I should have sat down on the ground underneath the circle and seen what happened...

This the termination of the HWW - at the other side of the plaza is the Ziegfeld Theater. Even open plazas in NYC are subject to the vagaries of construction, like shade-inducing scaffolding. But all that said, Midtown would be a much more depressing place without these plazas.