Crains New York - July 16, 2012 - (Page 26)

Building on a dream Continued from Page 25 SOURCE LUNCH: GLEN WHITNEY by Miriam Kreinin Souccar professionals. The rather limited interest in tiny replicas means that these collections—occasionally the subject of museum shows—are unlikely to wind up on the block at Sotheby’s bringing in big bucks. Even a truly rare miniature building, like a glass version of 40 Wall St. made by Tiffany & Co. or a bejeweled 10-inch model of Festival Hall in St. Louis made for the 1904 World’s Fair, is not likely to top five figures. An $80,000 pursuit No,these collections are labors of love, whether a reminder of simpler times or a three-dimensional travelogue and work history. For Mr. White, the pursuit, which he estimates has cost him about $80,000, is both quixotic and practical. He knows he’ll never really own the real Bank of England building, since it is impossible to imagine the British government selling it. “I might be able to buy the Greek Parliament building now,” he joked. Yet his hobby is a less expensive alternative to developing actual buildings—a future goal for the Virginia native. “If I buy a building I don’t like, I’m out a couple of nice dinners,”said Mr.White,who started his collection about seven years ago. “You make a mistake at development, you could be bankrupt.” The most expensive piece in his collected cityscape: a $20,000 three-foot ceramic model of the Flatiron Building made by English artist Timothy Richards. Most of his collection, though, consists of miniature metal skyscrapers that cost an average of $100. A large chunk of them sit in his office bullpen on a table. Mr. White wants the towers there because they come in handy when assessing transactions on real buildings. “They are educational,” he said, picking up a model of a Detroit building that just sold for $5 a square foot. “We can look at one building and then look at the one next door and try to see why one sold for more than the other.” Don’t expect those neighbors to be side by side as they are in the real cities, however. Mr. White is the master of this mini-universe and buildings stand where he places them—actual geography be damned. These days, the buildings are set up chronologically, so that small buildings from the early 1900s are on one end. The later buildings slowly get taller, ending with a 20inch replica of the Burj Khalifa in Even a truly rare building replica is not likely to top five figures Dubai—the world’s highest skyscraper. In between are some of the pricier treasures, like the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Johnson Wax Research Tower in Racine, Wis., which doubles as a lighter and set him back about $800. Even though Mr. White ignores geography, his collection does have rules. All the models are of real buildings, they are architecturally scaled, and there are no duplicates. There are some exceptions, of course, like the pre-fire model of the Towering Inferno building that he purchased for $150 because he loved the 1970s disaster movie. Bank models are in an office conference room, while miniatures of airports, stadiums,theaters and the like are in the main office bullpen, separate from the skyscrapers. His Upper West Side townhouse is reserved for exhibiting the miniature homes and churches he also collects. Building models didn’t start out as kitsch. When travel became eas- ier during the mid-19th century, European companies began churning out handsome replicas of that continent’s most famous attractions for tourists seeking serious mementos. Those are expensive and beyond the means of most collectors of souvenir buildings. In the U.S., the trade took off when skyscrapers began sprouting up and travelers snapped up any representation of the new urban phenomenon. Some were high-quality lead reproductions, though most were made of cheap metal or, later, plastic and doubled as saltshakers, letter openers, even ashtrays. The best models were often given to those connected with the building to commemorate its completion. Some of the most sought-after miniatures didn’t start out as collectibles. Around the turn of the previous century, savings banks began handing out coin banks shaped like their buildings to encourage customers to sock away money for a rainy day. Joseph Kopitz, who spent 24 years working in the banking industry, started his building collection by acquiring the fancy coin receptacles. And though he branched out into skyscrapers, the banks remain the favorites of his 1,000 or so pieces because they recall a time when savings trumped conspicuous consumption. Exec hopes math museum adds up G len Whitney, a 43year-old math professor turned hedge funder, will soon realize a dream. In December, he will open the Museum of Mathematics, or MoMath, a state-of-theart interactive museum at 11 E. 26th St.The executive director created the museum in an effort to excite American youth about the sometimes inscrutable field. He left his lucrative job as an algorithms manager at quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies four years ago and set out to build the cultural institution, raising nearly $24 million. The mission is to change perceptions about mathematics. One of our trustees put it very simply: If we can show people just three things—that math is fun, that it’s beautiful and that with it you can get a really good job—then we’ll be a complete success. forced math exposure over the course of kindergarten to 12th grade. This is math in a whole number of ways. The simplest way is just the understanding that there is a repeating pattern, and that is the root of mathematics. How did you raise all the money for the museum? Did you hit up your hedge fund friends? What do you want MoMath to achieve? There were a number of things we had to do: Build a board of trustees, raise money, find advisers, find volunteers. Like anything, it’s like ripples in a pond. You start with the people you know. The first rule was go to every [relevant event] and tell everyone you see and meet about this idea. Did you meet your fundraising goal? A JEWEL OF A BUILDING MOST PEOPLE WHO WANT miniature building models shop eBay. Veronica Mainetti commissioned Bulgari to fashion one of the Flatiron Building from sterling silver—for $100,000. Ms. Mainetti, who is president of the U.S. arm of Rome’s Sorgento Group, ordered the 12-inch replica after the real estate investment company bought a minority stake in the landmarked tower in 2005. Sorgento has since amassed a majority stake. “The Flatiron represents New York,” Ms. Mainetti said. “It is just so beautiful.” That’s especially high praise from a woman who’s familiar with magnificent buildings. Sorgento’s portfolio is stacked with elegant trophy properties in Italy, France and Luxembourg, and at one time the firm owned a piece of the Chrysler Building. Though she’s commissioned Bulgari to create a few of those in miniature as well, none has affected her like the Flatiron, which was the world’s first steel-frame skyscraper. She even collects less illustrious miniatures of the property, as well as mementos like cups and plates that carry its distinctive, triangular image. “When I’m home, when I’m in Italy … this —THERESA AGOVINO way I can see it everywhere,” she said. Sources of nostalgia “There used to be little old ladies who didn’t make much money but had $300,000 in a savings book,” said Mr. Kopitz, president of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society. “Saving was just what people did, and we don’t do that anymore.” Architect Ronnette Riley also gets nostalgic about the 3,500 miniature buildings in her office. When she looks at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, she fondly remembers the friend who gave it to her. The pyramid from the Yucatán brings back memories of a trip to Mexico. “My buildings have sentimental value,” Ms. Riley said. The only two towers she’s had specially commissioned represent significant aspects of her career. One is a model of the famous Lipstick Building on Third Avenue by renowned architect Philip Johnson, whom she was working for when he designed it. The other is a likeness of the Empire State Building, her office’s home for 25 years. In fact,she has more than 100 replicas of the icon, with perhaps the most whimsical being an (unused) doggie chew toy. She hosted two shows of her memorabilia in the building’s lobby. CNN even featured the exhibit in a segment. While viewers around the globe may have seen the collection, the man managing the Empire State Building has not.Anthony Malkin, whose family controls the partnership that owns the skyscraper, isn’t especially interested in collecting representations of the property. “I have my hands full just running it,” he said. Is the United States in trouble because our kids are not up to par in the subject? Yeah, it’s clear, and you don’t have to take it from us. I was sitting down with someone from Microsoft Corp. just a couple of weeks ago, and they said last year they had 2,500 positions they couldn’t fill because they can’t find people with sufficient math and computer science skills. Raytheon Corp. told us they have 4,500 open positions because of the same thing. What is the coolest thing at the museum? We have one area of critical need: exhibit sponsorship. Our exhibits are very innovative, so we got estimates of how much they would cost.But the fabricators said they’ve never built anything like this before.As a result,the quotes came out DB BISTRO MODERNE much higher than the esti55 W. 44th St. mates had been. We will (212) 391-2400 open with about 35 of the www.danielnyc .com/dbbistro planned exhibits. But we .html#intro still need to raise another AMBIENCE: $1.5 million to $2 million to Daniel Boulud’s complete the vision and get upscale French bistro packs in a to 45 exhibits eventually. WHERE THEY DINED noisy lunch crowd of well-heeled business executives What is the target age for the museum? WHAT THEY ATE: marco delogu That’s a tough question. My favorite is called Feedback Fractals, probably because of how simple it is. There are four video cameras that are all focused on this screen with which you can create an incredible array of striking images that seem to well up out of nowhere. Is this actually math? Chilled potato leek soup, lobster salad Chilled tomato soup, duck plat du jour, baked chocolate mousse Tab: $151.50, including tax and tip The people we try to keep in mind as we’re creating things is fourth through eighth grade. Kids in elementary school are often excited by math and science, and the kids who are good at it are heroes. Then something happens in middle school, where suddenly it’s not cool to be good at math and science. We want to target that age and have a place that’s really cool, a place where it’s safe to express your love for mathematics. Were you stigmatized for loving math as a kid? People ask us that a lot about our exhibits because we’re bringing out these aspects of math that people, unfortunately and sadly, don’t get to see in their whole 2,000 hours of There were other folks in my high school that got, shall we say, ribbed for being the brainiac, and I was very conscious that I didn’t want that to happen to me. So I tried to lie low a little bit. INSIDE TIP: If you can’t get a dinner reservation, sit at the bar area’s communal table and pray for a cancellation 26 | Crain’s New York Business | July 16, 2012 http://www.danielnyc.com/dbbistro.html#intro

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - July 16, 2012

Crains New York - July 16, 2012
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Business Peopl
From Around the City
Opinion
Greg David
Real Estate Deals
Report: Small Business
For the Record
Classifieds
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - July 16, 2012