Left: Walker's Barclay-Vesey Building is featured on the book's cover; Right: An archival photo of Walker Tower

Last week Rizzoli published Kathryn E. Holliday’s Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, and this particular marriage of book and publisher is quite fitting. The legendary Italian publishing house was founded in 1929, just as Walker, across the ocean in New York, was in the midst of a groundbreaking run that saw him design such iconic Art Deco masterpieces as the Barclay-Vesey Building, the Irving Trust tower (now simply known as One Wall Street) and the New York Telephone Company building at 212 West 18th Street. The latter is now Walker Tower, renamed in honor of the pioneering architect, and undergoing an extensive restoration and renovation into 50 luxury residences.

This is the first book dedicated to the life and career of Walker, who was proclaimed “architect of the century” in a 1957 New York Times headline. Last spring, a public exhibition on Walker was held inside Walker Tower, based in part on materials pulled from this book. (Author Kathryn E. Holliday was in attendance and held a book-signing at the opening night reception.) The book covers Walker’s entire life and career and includes a passage on Walker Tower, a great example of Walker’s “humanistic” approach to architecture, which called for texture and ornament in design to uplift city dwellers. To purchase a copy of the book, click here, and head on over to the Walker Tower website for more on the building’s history.

A sampling of last week’s press coverage of CORE and CORE properties.

From our first look inside Walker Tower. Photo by Michael Toolan.

“Exhibit Takes Soaring Look At Skyscraper Master’s Work”
NY1
NY1 real estate reporter Jill Urban takes a tour of the Ralph Walker exhibit currently on display inside Walker Tower, where CORE will launch sales this spring. The “exhibit highlights the impact Walker had on architecture starting in the roaring 20s,” reports Urban. Click through for her full video segment.

“How to make your own starchitect: Walker Tower draws buzz with book”
The Real Deal
Focusing on the exhibit and accompanying book, The Real Deal took a look at the inventive marketing campaign for Walker Tower, which CORE will launch sales of later this spring. “Marketing and selling is about educating the consumer,” CORE CEO Shaun Osher told TRD.

Ralph Walker: America’s Most Underrated Architect
Core77
The Ralph Walker rediscovery journey also made a stop at influential online design publication Core77 (no relation!), which offers a look at the exhibit and a nice recap of Walker’s personal history.

“Penthouse at Blue Hits Rental Market for $14,000/Month”
Curbed
The rental listing for the duplex penthouse inside one of downtown Manhattan’s most architecturally adventurous new buildings, which we covered on the CORE Blog last week, got picked up by Curbed, which added a photo gallery and dipped into the building’s recent listings history.

A sampling of last week’s press coverage of CORE and CORE properties.

“Gimme Shelter”
New York Post
The Post’s resident real estate gossip, Jennifer Gould Keil, reports on Serafina Group restaurateur Vittorio Assaf listing his huge apartment in the Leonori building on the Upper East Side for $35,000 a month. The four-bedroom, 5 1/2-bathroom home (above) has a 40-foot-long living room, 12-foot ceilings and elaborate Venetian-plastered walls, among other luxurious touches.

“Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick to buy townhomes in Brooklyn Heights”
New York Daily News
CORE’s Doug Bowen commented on the appeal of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, where Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are reportedly buying two neighboring houses. Said Bowen: “The price difference between the West Village and Brooklyn Heights is sometimes two, three, four times the amount. That’s why even big names are deciding to live here.”

“Celebrity House Hunting”
Biography
The Biography channel’s “Celebrity House Hunting” followed ’80s pop queen Debbie Gibson’s search for a new New York home in a recent episode. Watch the full episode online to see her get blown away by Stuart Sussman’s Yves penthouse listing in Chelsea.

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This week we’re sharing some prescient words from Ralph Walker, the late influential architect who is the subject of Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, the new exhibit on display within 212 West 18th Street, which has been renamed Walker Tower in his honor. This sign hangs in what will soon be Walker Tower’s residential lobby, and was created by Let There Be Neon, the legendary TriBeCa signage shop. See it before the exhibit closes on May 1!

The main exhibition space. Photo by Bonnie Burke.

Tuesday night marked the celebratory opening of Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, the first exhibit honoring the work of the influential architect Ralph Walker, who helped shape New York’s skyline in the 1920’s and ’30s. That name should ring familiar thanks to all the attention surrounding Walker Tower, the conversion of one of Walker’s classic buildings at 212 West 18th Street in Chelsea into 53 luxury condominiums. CORE will launch sales in the building later this spring, and the ground floor of Walker Tower is currently housing the exhibit, which is open to the public, by appointment only, through May 1. Go to the exhibition website for information on making a reservation.

The event also doubled as a book signing to benefit the Museum of the City of New York by Kathryn Holliday, whose book on Walker, also called Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, will be published by Rizzoli in September. For more on Walker’s contributions and the exhibition, check out the fantastic coverage by Dwell and New York magazine, and to see photos from the event — including notable faces in the crowd, and the impressive model of what Walker Tower will look like when the restoration and conversion is finished — see the gallery on CORE’s Facebook page.