Marc Yankus’s dreamlike portraits of New York City buildings straddle a fine line between documentary and fiction. In The Secret Lives of Buildings he captures the city’s architecture in an uncanny moment of stillness, free from the frenzy of people and cars. The sense of quietude lends elegance to the structures, both majestic and humble. Yankus inspires viewers to see historical buildings with a fresh perspective, offering an idealized and even utopian version of the past, while other buildings are viewed through a lens of potential. Yet in other scenes, the decay of crumbling concrete, chipped-away paint, and remnants of deconstruction paradoxically inspire a sense of agreeable nostalgia.
Marc Yankus | Buildings: The Secret Lives of Buildings

Flatiron Building

The Ansonia

The Emmet Building

The Empire

Nineteenth Street

Alwyn Court

New City

Chelsea Blues

Dorilton Apartments

West Seventy-Second

The Van Dyke Building

Bank on Eighth

Island Building

H. H. Vail House

Miner Mansion

Pale Yellow and Blue

Riverside Drive

Haughwout Building

Bank by Sheridan Square

Meat and Palm

Barber Shop

Casa Oliviera

Seventh and Bedford

Three Buildings on West Tenth Street

Four Buildings

Three Buildings on Greenwich Street

Hidden

Commerce Street

Tinsmith

Charles Street West of Hudson

Eleventh Street East of Seventh

Red House on Eleventh Street

190 Riverside Drive

Bushwick Cafe

South Village Fence

Near My Old Studio

Playground