A Talking Head Will Make A Landmarked Building Sing

By PETER KIEFER, Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 12, 2008

This summer, the landmarked Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan will have an entirely new function — musical instrument.

The front man of Talking Heads, David Byrne, and the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, are announcing today a number of improvements to the recently restored building, including a new waiting room for Governors Island ferry passengers and a temporary art installation by Mr. Byrne called "Playing the Building."

The installation will transform the interior of the Battery Maritime Building by attaching various devices to the ceiling beams, plumbing, electrical conduits, pipes, and other parts of the architecture that will produce sound through vibration. It will be in the Great Hall, on the second floor of the ferry terminal, for several months.

The city recently finished a $60 million exterior rehabilitation of the building, and last year awarded a $150 million contract for interior redevelopment to the Dermot Co. and the Poulakakos family, the owner of several downtown restaurants.

In February, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the latest design by Dermot, which plans to spend $30 million on redoing the Great Hall.

Completed in 1909, the Battery Maritime Building is the last surviving East River terminal from the era when 17 ferry lines traveled between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Both the new waiting room and the art installation will open for passengers and visitors at the end of this month, when Governors Island opens for the summer season.