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Owner
Says Teddy's Crown Up for Grabs
by Ronald Drenger
When a giant Statue of Liberty crown was installed on the roof of 217-219
West Broadway in 1985, some Tribeca residents called it an eyesore.
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Sixteen years later, when the building's owner sought approval
to tear down the edifice and construct apartments, residents and
preservationists tried in vain to convince the Landmarks Preservation
Commission to protect the structure, with its famous crown, by declaring
it a landmark.
After a three-year reprieve, the building appears headed for the
wrecking ball, and the crown is up for grabs. But it may land elsewhere
in Tribeca.
El Teddy's restaurant, which occupied 217-219 West Broadway for
15 years, closed in January. Last month, Steven Elghanayan, the
building's owner, told the Trib that he plans to begin demolishing
the structure in the summer to make way for a six-story condominium.
The crown will be demolished as well, Elghanayan said, unless someone
steps forward to claim it.
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"I don't have an attachment to it, but if anyone is interested
in having the crown, it's free and they're welcome to it," he
said.
There might be some takers.
Bob Townley, for one. The director of Manhattan Youth, which runs
youth and community programs Downtown, including activities on Pier
25, covets the crown. He wants either to incorporate it into the miniature
golf course on the pier or to find a place for it in the development
planned for Site 5C, at West and Chambers streets.
"I don't want to be seen as the town clown, but I think it's
an important piece of architecture and a lot of people love it,"
he said. "It's a symbol of Tribeca."
The 5C scheme seems unlikely. But putting it on the waterfront-well,
Townley has done it before. In 1997 he brought a 40-foot-long model
of an iguana to the pier, where it stood watch for 18 months.
The idea for incorporating the one-and-a-quarter-ton steel crown,
and the funky awning from Teddy's, into the miniature golf area came
from Maria Reidelbach, who works at Manhattan Youth and is planning
an overhaul of the course.
"We need another bit of whimsy there," said Reidelbach,
the author of "Miniature Golf," a book on the game's history
with a tour of courses around the country.
Another potential crown savior is Antoni Miralda, its creator. The
Spanish artist and his partner, Montse Guillen, installed the crown
when they owned the restaurant at 217-219 West Broadway, then called
El Internacional, in the mid-1980s.
Miralda and Guillen said they would consider trying to bring the crown
to Miami, where they live, but would prefer to find a home for it
in New York and would gladly collaborate with Townley.
"It's an icon and it has sculptural meaning," Miralda said in a phone
interview from Barcelona, where he is working on a museum project.
"I'd like to find an outdoor site, maybe a sculpture park — some
way we can have the piece survive."
But saving the crown will be expensive. "We need a crane, we need
a crew, and we need insurance," Guillen said from Florida.
To put the crown on Pier 25, Townley would need approval from the
Hudson River Park Trust. But he is ever the optimist.
"We're not going to let that crown and the awning go into the dumpsters,"
he said.
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