the ponce

for at least four years, the ponce has had scaffolding around the entire street side, covering the sidewalks i think because of fears of falling building parts---some of the terra cotta is not in good shape, but i guess that's been fixed (or they got a different lawyer) since they've taken the scaffolding down---this isn't the first time there have been problems with the building: the balconies on the tower ends of the building were removed decades ago and in the early 80s some philistine developer ripped out all the original windows and replaced them with single sheets of laminated glass---it's still one of the city's best old buildings (and the belevederes are an awesome place for a halloween party, i can attest)