#jay meisel

Jay Meisel - Taxi driver taking a sunbath. New York, 1983

Heavy iron gates safeguard the thick wooden doors; the first floor windows are opaque; and the stone facade is covered with layers of spray paint and wheat-pasted posters. Most passersby would never guess that the former bank was once a palatial, single-family home where artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Adolph Gottleib rented rooms. After years of holding out and establishing 190 Bowery as the area’s last defiant monument to gentrification, the reclusive Jay Maisel offloaded the cultural landmark for $55 million to developer Aby Rosen last year.