That is not the fanciest arch you’ll ever see. It’s a flat arch made with common brick, and it looks like a few bricks were hand cut or broken on site to fit the “keystone” in the center. On the other hand, it’s been working for some 120 years, so I feel like I’m being …
That odd photo is a brick pier in the cellar of an uptown brownstone. There’s some water damage at the base from rising damp, but otherwise no reason it couldn’t perform its structural role. The line of piers and girders in the cellar is below the stairhall partition on the floors above, which is an …
I showed a close-up of the Tuckahoe marble of Federal Hall once. This photo is a slightly larger angle, to give a sense of the masonry of this building. The stone over the filled-in window is over eight feet long, over two feet high, and (based on what I know about the building’s construction from …
That picture is a terra cotta block that’s been removed from its location on the facade of an early-1900s building and temporarily stored on the roof. As is obvious, the block is broken, and will be replaced, but it’s been saved to serve as a mold for the new terra cotta to come. It’s worth …
I’m not the only person to have noticed this building on the Lower East Side. Untapped Cities got there five years ago, and it’s been designated by the NYC landmarks Preservation Commission. It’s a nice brick and terra cotta facade, but what really jumps out is the message about who built and originally occupied the …
