Gaining Underground
Although the Delancey Underground project (first announced by New York’s Justin Davidson) has yet to receive the official go-ahead from the MTA, the idea—to turn an abandoned subterranean trolley terminal into a public park—is gaining plenty of ground with the public, launching a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign and now presenting a preview of the plans at the Lower East Side’s Mark Miller Gallery. The exhibition explains the solar technology that would enable the project, using an elaborate fiber-optic network to pipe natural sunlight into the underground space. Also on display are the initial designs and plans for the potential park (92 Orchard St., nr. Broome St.; 212-253-9479; markmillergallery.com; through 4/29).
Listen to Sixth Avenue
Architectural historian Barry Lewis, whom you might recognize from his walking tours of New York neighborhoods for local channel 13 (PBS), will be lecturing in person tonight at the New York School of Interior Design on the music halls that used to crowd Sixth Avenue. The mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries saw the creation of the Crystal Palace, site of America’s first World’s Fair, the Hippodrome, the Ziegfeld Theater, and, finally, Radio City Music Hall, the only one of the original halls still standing. Their construction coincided with America’s entry onto the world stage, providing a rich vantage point on that period in New York’s history (170 E. 70th St., nr. Third Ave.; free with RSVP to [email protected]; 212-472-1500; nysid.edu).
Another Side of the Bronx
An imposing limestone building on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, the Andrew Freedman Home formerly housed once-wealthy senior citizens who could know longer make or pay their own way. Closed and derelict for years, it reopens to the public tonight as “This Side of Paradise,” an exhibition put on by the public-art organization No Longer Empty in partnership with the Bronx Arts Alliance, which transforms the mansion into a maze of site-specific art installations. Tonight there’s a speakeasy-themed opening reception, while a fund-raiser for No Longer Empty will follow, as will extensive public programming including an Easter-egg hunt and a weekend music festival in May (1125 Grand Concourse, nr. 167th St., the Bronx; opening reception 6-8 p.m.; speakeasy party from 8:30 p.m., $65; nolongerempty.org; through 6/5).
Still Yourself
In the midst of its two-year run, Guggenheim’s stillspotting NYC project turns its focus on the museum itself with a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building led by the assistant curator of architecture and urban studies, David van der Leer. The museum will shut down so that participants can appreciate the space, which Wright called a “temple of spirit,” as a place of stillness and peace (today, 4:30-7:30 p.m.; RSVP to 212-360-4231; guggenheim.org).