Before glass was ubiquitous, it was all about the white brick—and for the last couple of decades, white brick has been getting a bum rap from architects, critics and other people who care about that sort of thing. But with the megaconversion of the Upper East Side's Manhattan House to luxury condos, and the LPC-ordered restoration of a white-brick façade on Fifth Avenue, it looked like the post-war material of choice was finally earning some cred. Eh, never mind. First we spotted a co-op pulling a switcheroo, and now a tipster writes: "So, what do you do when you want to raise the rents in your fugly white brick office building? You clad the brick with some equally fugly but more up to date cladding." The building was spotted in the high 50s between Park and Madison.
· Does Upper East Side Co-Op Have a Case of Brick Envy? [Curbed]For more stories from Curbed, go to curbed.com.
