Under the guise of his imaginary spokesperson “John Barron,” Trump insisted to the press that “the merit of these stones was not enough to justify the effort to save them,” and said that the $32,000 cost of removing the art, coupled with a weeklong delay in the building’s demolition, outweighed what he claimed was the $9,000 (apiece) value of the statues. Of course, that’s a negligible fraction of the $15 million dollars Trump spent on the building, never mind the tens of millions more he would eventually pour into his skyscraper.
Besides, citing three supposed appraisals, “Barron” said that the statues were “without artistic merit.” So, take that art-lovers!
Board and staff members at the MET were furious and confused about Baron's claims that the sculptures lacked merit. "Can you imagine the [MET] accepting them if they were not of artistic merit?" asked Ashton Hawkins, a Met board member.
Trumped the firm Kaszycki and Sons to clear the Bonwit Teller site. Kaszycki and Sons was largely a window-washing firm with little experience in demolition.
The whole testy episode started with a promise. Trump, 33 at the time, was tearing down the Bonwit building to make way for Trump Tower. The façade of the 11-story structure, completed in 1929, featured a pair of 15-foot-tall Art Deco panels “depicting stylized, partly draped female nudes,” according to the Times. The Met wanted them, and Trump said the museum could have them, so long as the cost of removal wasn’t prohibitive.
And yet, without warning, Trump’s demolition crew destroyed the sculptures.
Approximately twice every year, Trump contacted Bonwit Teller's parent company, Genesco, to ask whether they were willing to sell Bonwit Teller's flagship store. Trump said the first time he contacted Genesco, "they literally laughed at me."[72] Genesco continued to decline his offers and, according to Trump, "they thought I was kidding.
In 1977, John Hanigan became the new chairman of Genesco.[73] He looked to sell off some assets to pay debts, and Trump approached him with an offer to buy the Bonwit Teller building.[74] In February 1979, Genesco sold off many of the Bonwit Teller locations to Allied Stores, and sold the brand's flagship building to the Trump Organization
There's that Astor connection again. "...which was really a Rothschild building" but was also previously an Astor property.
And the "built-in" comms: Bonwit Teller designed by Warren & Wetmore. Warren = rabbit den, and with Alice and Wonderland as a rabbity backdrop, Wetmore can be surmised. Bonwit Teller of course sounds like a sharp-witted banker, just the stamp the cabal would want to place over the property of a vanquished rival.
Nice ties, Semper! The other recent posts as well.
How Trump Snatched The Location For Trump Tower
https://splinternews.com/remember-when-donald-trump-loved-destroying-iconic-stat-1797934561
Saying your " art sUcKs".
More pictures of their style of "art":
https://drivingfordeco.com/stewart-and-company/
They were shocked.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellisicky/2020/10/03/how-donald-trump-took-down-bonwit-teller-a-fifth-avenue-landmark/?sh=463392795f69
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/18/donald-trumps-first-media-controversy-is-a-really-great-story-just-a-really-fabulous-story/
Photos of the articles printed at the time:
https://thisculturalchristian.blogspot.com/2016/06/without-artistic-merit-donald-trump.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower
There's that Astor connection again. "...which was really a Rothschild building" but was also previously an Astor property.
And the "built-in" comms: Bonwit Teller designed by Warren & Wetmore. Warren = rabbit den, and with Alice and Wonderland as a rabbity backdrop, Wetmore can be surmised. Bonwit Teller of course sounds like a sharp-witted banker, just the stamp the cabal would want to place over the property of a vanquished rival.
Nice ties, Semper! The other recent posts as well.
"Completed in the fall of 1983 Trump Tower is no equal in class and style to the old Stewart / Bonwit Building at 721 5th Avenue."
Wrohng.
u/#wrong
nice. really sheds light on the statue wrecking and building stupidity of the last several years.