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We were pleased to pick up The New York Times this morning and see, on the front page, the landmark sign we designed for the border crossing station at Massena, New York. But sad, too, since this will be the last time anyone will see it. The sign, bold 21-foot-tall yellow letters reading UNITED STATES, is being removed this week for reasons of national security.
Approved in 2007 as part of the station design by Smith-Miller & Hawkinson, the sign was up for less than a month before officials decided it was, in fact, a little too bold. “The sign could be a huge target and attract undue attention,” a spokeswoman for the Customs and Border Protection Agency told the Times. “Anything that would place our officers at risk we need to avoid.”
Times architectural critic Nicolai Ouroussoff praised not only the building but the sign, noting the way the latter “communicates openness and possibility, not aggression.” He added, “It is hard to see how values like those would make any building a target. They may even seem like something worth defending.”