“One day that building will collapse,” Harry told me as we stood in front of the condominium on 79th Street and Columbus Avenue. It had been just completed that autumn of 1982. “Carbuncle Construction,” Harry called it. He was right. The condo with its shiny glass was a true eyesore nestled next to a row of brownstones. Across the street the American Museum of Natural History seemed to sneer at the new intruder with burnished windows that glowed with gold antique hues.

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