Hunter College Facade

Hunter College's North Building, finished in 1940, splits the difference between Park Avenue and the IRT 6 train subway station at 68th St and Lexington Ave. 

It has the same feel of other buildings built by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon–740 Park Avenue, up the street, 500 5th Avenue, just across 42nd St from the New York Public Library, and their famous Empire State Building.

The modern building is sleek and smooth and has some interesting details, including an inscribed quotation by Ralph Waldo Emerson on its 68th St. facade, but it was the 69th St. facade that caught my eye. 

While the surface is a clean sequence of lines and forms, the air conditioners dot the landscape like seemingly random people, no rhyme or reason, suggesting the individuality of the students within.

So un-uniform.

David Paler