The photo above was taken in the stair of a school, between the cellar (the first level below grade) and the sub-cellar (the second level below grade). More accurately, the line representing the flood during Hurricane Sandy was 33 steps, or roughly 20 feet, below grade. Grade at this location (according to the topo map …
In the picture above, the older buildings mostly have brick or limestone-veneer facades, while the new buildings mostly have glass facades. That’s partly the result of changes in architectural styles over the course of the twentieth century, party the result of advances in glass technology, and partly the result of construction economics. What’s notably missing …
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, New York’s municipal buildings were designed to impress, with an emphasis on architectural grandeur, even when the style was bizarre. After a period in the mid-1900s when quality and style suffered, we are now back again in the swing of good design. The picture above is the 1899 …
The Times has a nice gallery up based on the city’s 1980s series of tax photos. Every single building, every single lot, available at the city archive web site. Seen above, my elementary school some 5 years after I had graduated.
Since I got on this topic a few days ago… That’s the middle of a block of tenements, in the first decade of the 1900s. The drying laundry is obviously the first thing you notice. But on second glance, take a look at the tallest building there. Despite the Gothic style, that’s a school. Even …
