For the past year, the much-loved glass box at 510 Fifth Avenue has been waiting for a new big-box retail tenant after Chase Bank declined to renew its lease. Now there are rumblings that the space might become a Forever 21. So the bank will be out, and apparently so will the building's Harry Bertoia sculpture, a 70-foot screen made up of bronze plates (above), designed specifically for 510 Fifth. Archpaper reports that half of the sculpture is now lying across the building's second floor. Soon it will be gone: According to the Historic Districts Council, Chase's lease requires the bank to take the artwork when it moves.
Still, one tipster wishes it had been included in the building's landmark designation: "The removal of the Harry Bertoia sculptural screen is certainly cause for an international outcry; akin to the proposed removal of the Picasso from the Seagram’s Building Four Seasons Restaurant lobby several years ago." Cue international outcry in 3...2...
· Bunshaft Goes Big-Box While Bertoia Goes Missing? [Archpaper]
· 510 Fifth Avenue [Curbed]
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