Removed after a lengthy and very public battle and court case pitting Richard Serra against the GSA over artists rights to their installed 'site-specific' works. A controversy developed over the artwork by Richard Serra commissioned for the plaza in front of the building, Tilted Arc. Commissioned in 1979 and built in 1981, it was criticized both for its aesthetic values and for security reasons. It was removed in 1989, which resulted in a lawsuit and a trial. The piece remains in storage, as the artwork was site-specific, and the artist does not want it displayed in any other location. The removal and trial led to the creation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

Unfortunately, nothing was done to prepare people for the arrival of the steel sculpture and the reaction of office workers to the piece was negative: it was immediately seen as ugly, oppressive and a &amp;lsquo;graffiti catcher&amp;rsquo;. Two petitions seeking the removal of the piece quickly gathered 1,300&amp;nbsp;signatures.  

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, Jacob Javits Plaza,

Tilted Arc

 After the removal of Tilted Arc, landscape artist Martha Schwartz re-designed the plaza. Martha Schwartz benches were the first project after Tilted arc was removed. Other artworks connected with building include A Study in Five Planes/Peace (1965) by Alexander Calder and the Manhattan Sentinels (1996) by Beverly Pepper. In the James L. Watson Court of International Trade can be found Metropolis (1967) by Seymour Fogel and Eagle/Justice Above All Else (1970) by Theodore Roszak. 

 Michael Van Valkenburgh's redesign of the plaza attempts to balance its identity as both an intimate public space and a reflection of the larger civic landscape of Foley Square. 

Located in the heart of New York City's civic center, the Jacob Javits Plaza (a.k.a. Federal Plaza) is at the intersection of several diverse communities. The one acre plaza of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building at Foley Square serves both as an open-air entryway to the building and as a public park drawing users from the nearby residential neighborhoods of Tribeca, Chinatown, and Battery Park City.

'It's sort of like the facade reflected in water' 

Van Valkenburgh says that the plaza's previous incarnations reflect 'an evolving idea of life in cities and urbanity.'&amp;nbsp;Tilted Arc&amp;nbsp;exemplified the 1960s and '70s idea of sculpture as landscape's salvation. The plaza's transformation continues with MVVA's scheme. 'Although our designs are not very similar in a spatial or material sense, Martha's thinking about habitation and the need to create a sense of welcome definitely influenced our approach,' he says. 'In this way, I feel like our work is an extension of what she was doing.'  

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building

Jacob Javits Plaza

The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza on Foley Square in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan houses many federal government agencies. At over 41 stories, it is the tallest federal building in the United States.

 A western addition, first announced on "inadvertently acquired land" in 1965, was built in 1975&ndash;77. 

By 2008, the roof membrane of the 40-year-old garage below the plaza was failing. To fix it, Schwartz's design had to be removed.  

Home to federal agencies such as the NYC branch of the FBI and GSA, this granite and glass checkerboard was once the backdrop to the highly controversial Richard Serra sculpture Tilted Arc and now boasts a new plaza redesign by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. The original Landscape Architect was Martha Schwartz.The building is named for Jacob K. Javits, who served as the United States Senator from New York for 24 years, from 1957 to 1981.Worth Street station is directly under the building

 The New York City district field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' New York field office is on the 7th Floor, the Brooklyn field office is on the 8th floor and the Queens field office is on the 9th floor. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York field office is on the 23rd floor.  

 Architectural historian Gail Cornell talks about the adjoined Court of International Trade and Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. 

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building

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