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Some current news: various books from the nineteenth century are being taken off library shelves because their covers and/or page edges contain poisonous dyes, as described in “That book is poison: Even more Victorian covers found to contain toxic dyes” by Jennifer Ouellette. The issue in the article is straightforward: various dyes containing arsenic, lead, […]
5 months ago

More from Old Structures Engineering

Top To Bottom

From Scientific American, December 8, 1894, an interesting view of two buildings: drawings that include both the above-ground portion of the buildings, more or less as you would see them, and the foundations as they could never be seen. The foundations are seen as if the earth had been turned transparent. The image of the […]

a month ago 29 votes
Happy Christmas

I’m not so sure about that vest.

a month ago 26 votes
Genteel

That’s the Hotel Marlborough at 36th Street and Broadway, shortly after 1900. The hotel opened in 1888 when the entertainment district on Broadway was further south; by the time it was demolished in 1922, that district had moved to Times Square, a few blocks to the north. It’s a story repeated for hundreds of buildings […]

a month ago 29 votes
Once Again, In Plastic

The restoration of Notre Dame deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it, but have I mentioned recently that my son and I have built the LEGO Notre Dame? We finished our small Notre Dame about a week after the official opening of the large one, but they had a head start on […]

a month ago 25 votes
It Looked Familiar: Archetypical

From a graphic novel about art called Naked City: how do you capture the spirit of New York? A relentless grid and Old-Law tenements.

a month ago 31 votes

More in architecture

Architects vs. Algorithms: A 2025 Love Story

This year, AI will assert itself on both the designer and the client sides of the construction industry.

8 hours ago 1 votes
What a Renaissance Painting Tells Us About the Future of Architectural Visualization

In the closing chapter of Archinect In-Depth: Visualization, we return to one Renaissance painting referenced in an earlier article from the series. What does this painting, and our wider series, teach us about the relationship between technology and visualization? What do they tell us about the potential for visualization to open new worlds not beholden to the natural laws of space and time?

yesterday 2 votes
This Horizontal Home Has Its Structure On Display

Brengues Le Pavec architectes has shared photos of a home they completed in Herault, France, that overlooks the valley.

yesterday 2 votes
Louis Sullivan Would Like to Clarify His Thoughts on Ornamentation

In response to a recent executive order about architectural design, the Father of Modernism speaks from beyond the grave.

2 days ago 2 votes
The Power Broker Breakdown Breakdown

The Power Broker Breakdown may have concluded, but if you’re just tuning in (or if you just want a quick refresher), this episode is a compilation of the summary portions of the The Power Broker Breakdown series. You can find the entire series in the 99% Invisible feed, wherever you get your podcasts. The 99%

5 days ago 6 votes