Double Doily bench by Jennifer Cecere, Whitehall and Water Streets, Lower Manhattan, New York, USA
Double Doily
Jennifer Cecere · “Double Doily”, bench sculpture for the NYC DOT Urban Art Program, 2013 · Plaza at Whitehall Street and Water Street, Lower Manhattan, New York
Photos as published on Street Art Utopia, which credits them to the blog NYC ♥ NYC (post of 11 July 2013)
“Double Doily” is a double-sided bench in the shape of a lace doily by the New York artist Jennifer Cecere. The NYC Department of Transportation and the Downtown Alliance placed it on the plaza at Whitehall and Water Streets in Lower Manhattan, where the city’s record has it from 10 June 2013 to 1 July 2014. Cecere wanted to bring the feel of handmade domestic craft into a city where almost everything is machine-made. The bench later turned up in Newport Beach, California, and outside MoMA PS1 in Queens.
5 things to know
- A doily you can sit onThe artist calls it a “double-sided, doily-shaped bench”. NYC DOT: “The intricate pattern, laser cut into the metal, improves the aesthetics of the surrounding area.” Jennifer Cecere · NYC DOT on Flickr
- Handmade in a machine-made cityNYC DOT’s album explains the idea: “She feels it is important to provide a feeling of handmade craft like the doily into the city where almost everything within the cityscape is machine made.” The blog NYC ♥ NYC quotes her aim “to create a feeling of handmade craft in the built environment highlighting forgotten traditions.” NYC DOT on Flickr · NYC ♥ NYC
- It started with a $1,500 grantIn September 2012 amNY reported that Cecere’s grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council “only amounted to $1,500 — a small portion of the $10,000 she needed to fund her installation”, and that the grant made it easier to get funding from the city Department of Transportation. It was then slated for December 2012. amNY
- About a year on the plazaThe NYC DOT Temporary Art Program record lists “Double Doily” as a Community Commission with the Downtown Alliance at Water St. & Whitehall St., installed on 10 June 2013 and removed on 1 July 2014. DOT’s own photos of it are dated June 2013 and January 2014. NYC Open Data · NYC DOT on Flickr
- A bench that travelsCornell’s architecture, art and planning college wrote in 2022 that the bench “has provided a unique, if transient, resting place near New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) PS1, in a public plaza in Lower Manhattan, and in Civic Center Park in Newport Beach, California.” Newport Beach lists it in its sculpture exhibition from September 2014 to August 2016. Cornell AAP · City of Newport Beach · Jennifer Cecere
Check-in guide
- 📍
- The pedestrian plaza at Whitehall Street and Water Street in Lower Manhattan (NYC DOT on Flickr, Jennifer Cecere, amNY).
- 🧭
- The Maps button opens the point given in the NYC DOT Temporary Art Program record (40.702414, -74.012782) (NYC Open Data).
- 🪑
- Do not expect to find the bench here. The same record gives 1 July 2014 as its removal date, and the bench was later shown in Newport Beach, California, and at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens (Cornell AAP).
Sightings
- 20125 Sep
amNY: slated for December
- 201310 Jun
Installed, per NYC DOT
- 201317 Jun
NYC DOT photo
- 201319 Jun
NYC DOT photo
- 201311 Jul
NYC ♥ NYC post
- 20143 Jan
NYC DOT winter photo
- 20141 Jul
Removed, per NYC DOT
- 20268 Oct
In SAU “Now That’s Clever”
Every stamp links to the dated source. Green stamps are NYC DOT photos on Flickr, dated by the camera (taken 17 and 19 June 2013 and 3 January 2014). The NYC ♥ NYC post has its own photos but no camera date, so it is amber. The installation and removal dates come from the NYC DOT Temporary Art Program record on NYC Open Data. The SAU stamp shows the photos above again and says nothing about the plaza today.
On the record
L.M.C.C. grants help spark and sustain Downtown art
“Jennifer Cecere’s new art piece, “Double Doily,” is slated for installation at Whitehall and Water Streets in December.”
By Sam Spokony. The article says the installation “will comprise large aluminum sculptures in the shape of a folded lace doily”, that the Department of Transportation maintains the plaza, and that Cecere planned to keep it there for at least a year.
Double Doily Sculpture
“Jennifer Cecere created a doily-inspired public sculpture in the plaza at Whitehall & Water Streets in Lower Manhattan.”
Blog post by Noel Y. C., with photos of the bench on the plaza. It ends: “It is a unique, beautiful and functional structure in the pedestrian plaza.”
Jennifer Cecere
“Her double-sided, doily-shaped bench, appropriately named Double Doily, has provided a unique, if transient, resting place near New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) PS1, in a public plaza in Lower Manhattan, and in Civic Center Park in Newport Beach, California.”
By Elisa Gallaro, in the alumni archive of Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, where Cecere took her B.F.A. A photo caption calls Double Doily “a white water-jet-cut steel bench”, shown in front of MoMA PS1 in 2017.
The facts
- Artist
- Jennifer Cecere, a New York artist (NYC Open Data, NYC DOT on Flickr, Jennifer Cecere, amNY) Checked
- Title
- “Double Doily”; NYC DOT’s album also calls it “Doily Bench” (NYC Open Data, NYC DOT on Flickr, Jennifer Cecere) Checked
- Programme
- NYC DOT Urban Art Program, listed as a 2013 Community Commission, presented with the Downtown Alliance (NYC Open Data, NYC DOT on Flickr) Checked
- Funding
- A 2012 Manhattan Community Arts Fund grant of $1,500 from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, towards the $10,000 she needed, plus Department of Transportation funding (amNY) Reported
- Place
- The plaza at Whitehall Street and Water Street, Lower Manhattan (NYC Open Data, NYC DOT on Flickr, Jennifer Cecere, NYC ♥ NYC) Checked
- On view
- Installed 10 June 2013, removed 1 July 2014 (NYC Open Data); NYC DOT photos taken 17 June 2013 to 3 January 2014 (NYC DOT on Flickr) Checked
- Form
- A double-sided bench shaped like a doily (Jennifer Cecere, Cornell AAP, NYC DOT on Flickr) Checked
- Material
- Before it was made, amNY reported “large aluminum sculptures” (amNY); NYC DOT says the pattern was “laser cut into the metal” (NYC DOT on Flickr); Cornell AAP calls it “a white water-jet-cut steel bench” in 2017, and the artist calls it “a water jet sculpture” at MoMA PS1 (Cornell AAP, Jennifer Cecere) Conflicting
- Later
- Newport Beach Civic Center Park, California, September 2014 to August 2016, on loan (City of Newport Beach, Jennifer Cecere); then Greenstreets at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, photographed there on 15 November 2016 (Jennifer Cecere). Cornell AAP describes these as the same bench (Cornell AAP) Reported
- Status
- Gone 2014 from Whitehall and Water Streets: the NYC DOT record gives the removal date as 1 July 2014 (NYC Open Data) Checked
Related
- On Street Art Utopia: Now That’s Clever (9 Photos) (8 October 2026), where the photos above appear as work no. 7.
- NYC DOT’s Flickr album of the bench on the plaza, nine photos. Flickr
- The NYC DOT record also lists Cecere’s “St. George Doily” at the St. George Ferry Terminal, Staten Island (2011), and “Antimacassars” on the FDR Drive barriers (2010). NYC Open Data
All sources (9)
This work
- NYC Open Data: “Temporary Art Program”, Department of Transportation (DOT). Row: Community Commissions, 2013, Double Doily, Jennifer Cecere, Downtown Alliance, Water St. & Whitehall St., Manhattan, Plaza, Sculpture, 40.702414, -74.012782, installed 06/10/2013, removed 07/01/2014.
- NYC DOT (nycstreets) on Flickr: “Double Doily”, album of nine photos, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, taken 17 and 19 June 2013 and 3 January 2014. NYCDOT Urban Art Program, pARTners; “Doily Bench by Jennifer Cecere”, presented with the Downtown Alliance, plaza at Whitehall Street and Water Street. Photos cited: 17 June 2013, 19 June 2013, 3 January 2014.
- Jennifer Cecere: “2013-2014 – Double Doily”, the artist’s portfolio page. Captions “Double Doily, 2013, Whitehall & Water Streets NYC.”; a concept rendering; “double-sided, doily-shaped bench”.
- amNY: “L.M.C.C. grants help spark and sustain Downtown art”, 5 September 2012, by Sam Spokony. Slated for December; $1,500 grant of the $10,000 needed; aluminum; at least a year on the plaza.
- NYC ♥ NYC: “Double Doily Sculpture”, 11 July 2013, by Noel Y. C. Photos on the plaza at Whitehall & Water Streets; the artist’s stated goal.
- Cornell AAP: “Jennifer Cecere”, 15 September 2022, by Elisa Gallaro. The bench in Lower Manhattan, at MoMA PS1 and in Newport Beach; “a white water-jet-cut steel bench”.
After New York
- City of Newport Beach: “Past Sculpture Exhibits”. Phase I, September 2014 to August 2016: “Double Doily by Jennifer Cecere”.
- Jennifer Cecere: “2014-2015 – Newport Beach, California”. Caption “Double Doily, Newport Beach Sculpture Park, Newport Beach, CA, loan, 2014-16.”
- Jennifer Cecere: “2016-2018 – Greenstreets MOMA/PS1”. “a water jet sculpture, at PS1 Greenstreets, Long Island City”; photo dated 11/15/2016.
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