New Yorkers walking by Anish Kapoor’s “bean” sculpture at 56 Leonard Street, in Tribeca.

A Tale of Two Beans

Two years after its unveiling, at the base of a Manhattan luxury tower, Anish Kapoor’s smaller “bean” is way more controversial than its Chicago predecessor

By Max Kutner

Everyone in Tribeca seems to have an opinion about “the bean.” Not the sparkling tourist favorite in the middle of Chicago’s Millennium Park but a smaller one by the same sculptor, Anish Kapoor, that currently sits at the base of a Herzog & de Meuron–designed luxury tower in the wealthy Manhattan neighborhood.

Residents of 56 Leonard Street and local business owners claim they love how the Tribeca bean turns an otherwise nondescript intersection into a destination and a spectacle. Art critics and historic-preservation advocates say that’s exactly what’s wrong with it.