Lost New York City: City Hall Post Office and Courthouse

There was a time when these Victorian confections assaulted the eye in almost every major city in the country. But NYC was home to an inordinate amount, and the architecture can still be found on a smaller scale in some of the old department stores in Chelsea and SoHo. Even Macy's employs these "Second Empire Baroque" elements. But the City Hall Post Office was a DOOZY! With it's ornate, curved, mansard roofs topped with cast-iron candy, the hundreds of columned windows and balustrades, and the way the whole thing wraps around the triangular lot in a kind of bulky, outrageous, almost intimidating way, earned it (and its architect) the nickname "Mullet's Monstrosity." Having said all that, there is an audaciousness to this building that I find appealing, and my eye wanders over the photo with gratitude for the incredible detail one finds at every square inch, bringing my mind back to a New York that prided itself on its elegance, its effrontery, its largesse.