This is a passing shot of Mies van der Rohe’s 1960 Colonnade and Pavilion Apartments as part of the Branch Brook redevelopment project in Newark, NJ. Not that many people realize there are three Mies buildings in Newark. The complex consists of the Colonnade, taking up a whole block and then Pavilions I and II a few blocks away. The curtain wall construction is identical to Mies’ Lafayette Towers in Detroit and although many of the elements on the buildings have been altered over time including the removal of the original lobbies and painting the exposed concrete bases, they are still an arresting and welcoming sight. More information can be read here. Image submitted by Gabrie.
I feel famous!
Mies has done some nice buildings in somewhat hidden places. Not to say that a high rise in New Jersey is hidden… I saw bank in Des Moines Iowa once that is now home to a Catholic charity, but it was still unmistakeably a Mies building. He also did a small gas station in Canada that looks like it escaped from IIT. There is much to learn from his humble buildings as much as his luxurious ones.