Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal

2005

Architect: Frederic Schwartz
Address: 4 South Street, Manhattan
Sometimes it's better to just start from scratch, and the new Staten Island Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan is proof of that. The original building was, like Penn Station, a place that was only good for public suicides. Schwartz's design, still surrounded a bit by ongoing construction of outlying structures, gleams as the southernmost jewel of Manhattan's great buildings. It's a pleasure to walk through the plaza and just root around all the nooks and crannies of it. And at night, of course, the building beckons you to come inside and hop on the ferry...too bad it's actually going to Staten Island.