Key-Crazy Locksmith Building
New York, New York
Greenwich Locksmiths opened in 1968 in a tiny (125 sq. ft), nondescript, one-story building in the West Village. For forty years, not much changed. Then owner Phil Mortillaro decided to completely cover the facade with a swirling assemblage of thousands of keys. The project took two years, and was finally completed in October 2010. Mortillaro transformed the modest local shop into a hallucinogenic metallic masterpiece (a recycling-friendly version of the sky in Van Gogh's Starry Night).
Sporting a long gray ponytail and an appropriately thick New York accent, Mortillaro is also a welder and metal artist (he works out of an oddly shaped glass-fronted studio just up the block at 62 7th Ave. S.). His decorative impulses at the locksmith shop didn't stop with its snakelike facade. He also sets out a key-encrusted chair to provide rest for the weary (although appearances suggest that it's more artistic than comfortable), and has encrusted the inside of the shop with keys as well.
In addition, two hefty black safes flank the entrance. They are labeled "Patience" and "Fortitude" -- an inside joke for New York City architecture buffs, as these are the names of the two famous stone lions that guard the entrance to the New York Public Library on 42nd Street.