Pain in the Glass

Take a good look at this gentleman.

His name is Eliot Glass. He's one of the most powerful men in NY architecture...and he's been a thorn in my side for weeks now.
To be precise he's a "reviewing architect", someone hired to assess and approve any proposed renovation plans to a co-op apartment. Mr. Glass' services have been procured by literally thousands of co-ops across the city (mine among them), hence his immense power. And he's a picky stickler.
He's notorious for turning down many renovation plans. I asked Steve, my architect, what the hold up was, why had our plans for the new apartment not been approved? Weeks and weeks had gone by.

Steve said, "Just Google 'Glass & Glass Architects', you'll see what I mean." The first article that popped was a NYTimes piece titled "This Man Could Ruin Your Renovation Plans." Oh, great. The piece profiles how he holds sway over the most the powerful and wealthy apartment owners in the city. Pipsqueak me didn't stand a chance.













Check out the article here.

Not only is he difficult to get plans thru, he's unapologetically SLOW in the whole process. We submitted our plans just a few days after I closed in the last week of February. And then things fell into the Black Hole of the Glass approval process. Days of suspenseful waiting went by. Then weeks. The big issue was whether he'd approve my flipping the placement of the kitchen and bathroom. Never mind that the whole project was weeks behind, if I could at least push this idea thru I felt it would be a major design victory. Steve would try and contact him and it was like falling into a time warp. Glass doesn't have a website, or a an email address, or even a computer! All business is done by phone, that's IF you can get ahold of him. And all submissions must be provided in hard copies. No sending pdf's. No sending jpegs. No digital files AT ALL, please. It's enough to make you sorry you even started the whole project.
I just took a deep breath and centered. "It is what it is, Ron" I said to myself, and waited for the answer trying to put it out of my mind.
We found out the verdict just this week, SEVEN WEEKS after we submitted. I'm no architect but it seems to me that this could have taken a day, maybe two, at most to review. Thank you, Mr. Glass.
And the answer? "REJECTED".
I was so depressed. My little loft-like design, having the kitchen open up into the main room, was a big no go :(
Steve then had to re-submit our backup design, one that would enlarge the kitchen and bath but keep them in the same position. I'll show how this will look in a future posting.
The good news? This backup design was approved a few days later. Thank heavens.
It's still going to be a great apartment. I've already licked my wounds and gotten over it.
Onward...I'm SO ready to start the renovation!