Avenue of Architecture (Eighth Avenue)

The Times Square Allience coined the name “Avenue of Architecture” in 2008 for Manhattan’s Eighth Avenue, between 40th Street and Columbus Circle. Several skyscrapers had been recently built, with several more in the planning stages—completely changing the character of the area. In the 1970s, Eighth Avenue had been known for porn shops and had acquired the unsavory nickname of “Minnesota Strip” (after many young prostitutes from Minnesota who plied their trade there).
 
The “Avenue of Architecture” tag was derided by some, who suggested the alternate nicknames of “Avenue of Crapitecture” and “Crossroads of Crap.”
 
     
Times Square Alliance
EIGHTH AVENUE
Eighth Avenue, like the rest of Times Square, is quickly changing. The crime and decay of the past have all but vanished and the landscape continues to change. This reinvention of Eighth Avenue isn’t only happening on the street level, but across the skyline as well, with the addition of distinctive towers along what is quickly becoming the Avenue of Architecture.
 
New York (NY) Times
A Tonier Image Is Sought for Eighth Avenue in Midtown
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: February 7, 2008
Eighth Avenue is no longer Manhattan’s answer to the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. But now that almost all of its peep shows and pornographic video stores have been eradicated, the open question is, what will this once-seedy part of Midtown become in its next life?
 
Officials of the Times Square Alliance have begun a campaign to attract distinctive stores and restaurants that they hope will create an atmosphere on the stretch of Eighth between 40th and 53rd Streets that fits comfortably between tourist-thronged Times Square and the gentrifying Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood to the west.
 
New street-level retail spaces are expanding as new glass high-rises, like the Hearst Tower, The New York Times Building and 11 Times Square, which is under construction at 42nd Street, redefine Eighth Avenue. The new towers have inspired the alliance to coin an immodest nickname: the Avenue of Architecture.
     
Wired New York
londonlawyer
February 7th, 2008 03:04 PM
I read that article. It’s such a joke! The “Alliance” is delusional if they think that this dump with lame buildings like BP’s new 55th street tower, the Link and SJP’s lame box, among others, is the “Avenue of Architecture.”

Also, the idea of lighting (and drawing attention to) an eyesore like the Port Authority is absurd.
 
The NYT, Hearst and Worldwide Plaza are exceptions to the filthy mierda that characterizes 8th Ave.!
 
If the moron’s at the Alliance think that Giuliani’s fence detracts from 8th Ave., they’re obviously blind! “Avenue of Architecture!”—Please! How about “Crossroads of Crap”?
 
Queens Crap
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Avenue of Crapitecture
(...)
Avenue of Architecture, eh? If the out-of-scale sliver of a building at 785 Eighth Avenue is any indication, it will look more like the “Avenue of Crapitecture”.