The largest mural in New York

Recently Alchemy Properties held a mural design competition for two walls of their new mixed-use building in th e Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York. In one of those real estate quirks, this new building, at 800 10th Avenue, has frontage on both 53rd and 54th streets, but it does not occupy the corner. (A single-story garage inhabits the corner parcel.) Thus, the development had two blank walls facing the corner and the stream of traffic along Tenth Avenue, resulting in a prime space for public art. The developer invited proposals from artists, and Corinne Ulmann, a painter and architectural designer (and former grad school studiomate), won.

With bright yellow-orange leaves and ghosted windows, her design, shown in yesterday’s New York Times, mimics the scale of the new development and suggests the nearby park.

It’s a lovely and serene mural, a wonderful way for the new development to give back to the neighborhood—and generates great PR for the developer and the project.

– Meera