Linda Macklowe, an honorary trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a vice president and trustee of the Guggenheim Museum, was not required to go through with the planned purchase of an apartment in the building that is now adorned by the images of Mr. Macklowe and his new wife.

The first Ms. Macklowe had had a contract to buy the apartment on the 78th floor of 432 Park Avenue, but another court had permitted her to exit the deal, according to the judge in the divorce settlement. The divorce court awarded Linda Macklowe the couple’s condominium in the Plaza Hotel — created by joining seven apartments they bought in 2007 and valued by the court at $72 million — but gave Mr. Macklowe a $36 million credit on it.

Mr. Macklowe said on Saturday that some of his male friends had told him their wives now wanted the big-picture treatment. He said some of his female friends had said the same thing. “I got an email from a neighbor across the street who said, ‘I want my husband to do this for me for Valentine’s Day,’” he said.

If the photographs are like an art installation, the reviews from passers-by on Park Avenue were mixed.

“If you have the money and you want to do it, go ahead,” said Halle Mae Nottage, a college student from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. “But it’s devastating to see people spend such money on such shallow things when there are bigger and more pressing issues on which money can be spent.”

Teya Goakey, a graphic design student from Port Angeles, Wash., said she would not want her portrait on the side of a building. “It’s weird to see,” she said, “and I feel like if I had that kind of money, I wouldn’t need the whole of New York City see my and my other half’s face on the side of a building. That’s a private thing. I wouldn’t need the whole city to know of my wedding.”

Allen Gross of the Bronx was unimpressed. “He could have done something much better,” he said, “something that would attract people’s attention.”