Walking home from my internship today, I passed a couple of tourists who were taking photos of the Customs House at Bowling Green Park. As I was walking, I heard the man say, "All these buildings look a lot like buildings in Italy." Hearing this made me laugh. I have not actually been to Italy, but I could not understand how someone would make a connection between skyscrapers in New York and ancient buildings in Italy. Even though he was looking at the old Customs Building, which is very pretty, I still could not really understand the connection.
This remark made me think about the architecture and history of buildings in New York, especially because we are reading about it in class. Until I really started to think about it, I never pictured New York buildings, especially skyscrapers, as "beautiful." I just thought of them as an economic necessity for the city. Now I have come to appreciate the skyscraper and its symbolism. I now think of the skyscraper as a symbol of power and commerce, and this symbol has come to represent New York.
