NYU Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies (New York City, New York) | university, interesting place, historic remains, Modern (architecture)

 university, interesting place, historic remains, Modern (architecture)

4-story brown granite building with recessed windows, housing NYU's Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, completed in 1972. Designed by Philip Johnson & Richard Foster - the fourth and last NYU building designed by Johnson & Foster.

The entrance hall and library is an artistic reinstallation of the interior of a 1797 (18th century) merchant's house from Damascus, Syria which was shipped from overseas. The titled fountain and floor, moldings, and four sets of detailed door panels remained in the Quwatli family's possession until the mid-1920's. In the early 1930s, it was sold to the Hagop Kevorkian who donated a part of the house’s interior to NYU. Under the direction of Joseph J. Roberto, the Quawtli furnishings were painstakingly reconstructed. The stones, tiles, and woodwork, which had all been dismantled, numbered and coded, prior to their shipment from Damascus to New York were laboriously fitted into the present place by restoration expert Ichizo Yamamoto. Other furnishings from the Quwatli home are housed in the Damascene Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also donated by Hagop Kevorkian.

as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/neareasts...
www.nytimes.com/1974/03/16/archives/2-old-syrian-rooms-...
www.shangrilahawaii.org/islamic-art-collection/collecti...
architizer.com/projects/nyu-kevorkian-library/