Manhattan developer Melvyn Kaufman’s quirky sense of humor was evident in the playful installations he half-hid in the office towers he built. A sculpture of a nude woman, for example, graces a slim space between twin revolving doors at the entrance to 747 Third Avenue, visible only to those entering or leaving. His rivals considered Kaufman “something of an oddball,” said architecture writer Carter B. Horsley, “but they also respected the quality of his buildings.”
Kaufman grew up in New York City and Long Island, said the Mamaroneck, N.Y., Daily Mamaroneck, and got his first taste of building as a day laborer for his father’s property management firm. He and his brother, Robert, took over the business after World War II, developing shopping malls before turning “their sights to bigger things” in Manhattan.
The dozen skyscrapers they built in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s “helped shape New York City’s skyline, and invigorated its public spaces,” said Bloomberg​.com. Kaufman had one architect place a giant chessboard on the wall of 767 Third Avenue, and you can view a replica of a Sopwith Camel biplane on the roof of 77 Water Street—but only from a window above it.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kaufman’s “most outsize creation” was his “quixotic, unabashedly contentious” self, said The New York Times. He was frequently in court, unsuccessfully suing New York City in the 1980s over asbestos removal and Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the late 1990s over the placement of pedestrian barriers. “Architecture fails when it asks the client to adjust,” the uncompromising developer once wrote. “It is the architect who must adjust.”
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dadIn the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach BoysFeature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Sly Stone: The funk-rock visionary who became an addict and recluseFeature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin AmericaFeature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
-
Dame Maggie Smith: an intensely private national treasureIn the Spotlight Her mother told her she didn't have the looks to be an actor, but Smith went on to win awards and capture hearts
-
James Earl Jones: classically trained actor who gave a voice to Darth VaderIn the Spotlight One of the most respected actors of his generation, Jones overcame a childhood stutter to become a 'towering' presence on stage and screen
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of livesIn the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald'sIn the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me
