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Old Structures Engineering

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Old Structures...
Lucy Moses Award: 486 Liberty Avenue You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very...
9 months ago
83

Lucy Moses Award: 486 Liberty Avenue

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very ornate police precinct house constructed in 1892, when Brooklyn was still an inexpedient city, and abandoned for quite some time. Here’s what the interior looked like the first time we...
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Old Structures...
Some Peculiarities This map was sponsored by the “Committee of ‘92” and created by Rand McNally as a guide to the city...
9 months ago
76

Some Peculiarities

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
This map was sponsored by the “Committee of ‘92” and created by Rand McNally as a guide to the city for attendees of the Eleventh International Christian Endeavor Convention in 1892. About 40 percent of the index on the right is transportation related – railroads and ship lines –...
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Old Structures...
Evolved To Fit The Conditions If you’ve always known something, it can be difficult to see how weird it is. New Yorkers walk...
8 months ago
73

Evolved To Fit The Conditions

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
If you’ve always known something, it can be difficult to see how weird it is. New Yorkers walk through construction sites all the time, intentionally so on the part of the builders and with the blessing of the Department of Buildings. It looks something like this: Like so many of...
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Old Structures...
Winding This 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is titled “Bdwy winding all thru T-Sq.” and it definitely shows...
9 months ago
71

Winding

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
This 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is titled “Bdwy winding all thru T-Sq.” and it definitely shows Broadway and Times Square, although I have some quibbles about “winding.” This view is looking north and a little bit west, probably taken from a window on a high floor of 1450...
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Old Structures...
Four, Maybe Five, Maybe Six Bridges Walking along South Street, which is to say along the East River waterfront. First up, the view from...
8 months ago
69

Four, Maybe Five, Maybe Six Bridges

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
Walking along South Street, which is to say along the East River waterfront. First up, the view from Rutgers Street and South Street: We’ve got a pseudo-dramatic, badly framed view of the Manhattan tower of the Manhattan Bridge, with the elevated FDR Drive blocking most of it....
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Old Structures...
I’m Fairly Sure The Library of Congress calls this 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto “View of children playing on sand...
8 months ago
68

I’m Fairly Sure

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
The Library of Congress calls this 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto “View of children playing on sand and dirt mound near stone structure and construction materials” which is nice and descriptive. They use that kind of title when no one was certain what the subject of the photo is....
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Old Structures...
Gain Some, Lose Some This is the Bradbury Building, an 1893 office building in downtown Los Angeles: It’s a nice enough...
8 months ago
68

Gain Some, Lose Some

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
This is the Bradbury Building, an 1893 office building in downtown Los Angeles: It’s a nice enough facade but really nothing special. A lot of people are familiar with the building because of its inside: The office space is a rectangle donut around the atrium, connected by...
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Old Structures...
Metaphorical Significant Figures Continuing a bit further with yesterday’s line of thinking…what happens if we use the wrong code?...
7 months ago
66

Metaphorical Significant Figures

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Continuing a bit further with yesterday’s line of thinking…what happens if we use the wrong code? (I’m going to say now, at the beginning of this post, and I’ll repeat at the end: we can and should use the current codes. I use current codes in analysis and design; I use old codes...
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Old Structures...
Always Something New No matter how many buildings you’ve seen, you can always find something that will surprise you. The...
8 months ago
65

Always Something New

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
No matter how many buildings you’ve seen, you can always find something that will surprise you. The picture above is not an underwater shot from the Titanic, it’s the cellar of a circa-1900 rowhouse. This was a house of some pretension when first built. As in most wider...
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Old Structures...
More Over-Thinking This photograph, taken in May 1959 by Angelo Rizzuto, is titled “View of building construction” on...
9 months ago
65

More Over-Thinking

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
This photograph, taken in May 1959 by Angelo Rizzuto, is titled “View of building construction” on the Library of Congress website. I’m not entirely convinced, although I have to admit that my doubts are based on squinting at the photo and nothing stronger. First, even for a...
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Old Structures...
Possibly The title of this 1958 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is “Aerial view of street, possibly Park Avenue, with...
9 months ago
65

Possibly

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
The title of this 1958 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is “Aerial view of street, possibly Park Avenue, with raised medians separating traffic in each direction, high-rise buildings lining both sides of the street.” That’s definitely Park Avenue looking north from approximately 89th...
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Old Structures...
“Pre” Residential construction in New York can be broken into groups in a number of ways, but the most...
8 months ago
64

“Pre”

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
Residential construction in New York can be broken into groups in a number of ways, but the most straightforward is not known to the general public, and that’s by era of regulation. For just under a hundred years, multiple dwellings – AKA apartment houses – have been governed by...
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Old Structures...
Yet Another Blue-Sky Proposal From a magazine I can’t readily find (the February 28, 1891 edition of Architecture and Building),...
4 months ago
64

Yet Another Blue-Sky Proposal

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From a magazine I can’t readily find (the February 28, 1891 edition of Architecture and Building), via a scrapbook at the New York Public Library: a very involved railroad and boulevard system that I doubt anyone wanted and had zero chance of being built: This proposal is along...
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Old Structures...
Tiny and Cute, But Purposeful This is the lighthouse at the northern tip of Roosevelt Island. The island is two miles long and a...
8 months ago
62

Tiny and Cute, But Purposeful

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
This is the lighthouse at the northern tip of Roosevelt Island. The island is two miles long and a tenth of a mile wide, cutting the East River into two roughly-equal half-channels. That alone makes the need for lighthouses at its tip reasonably clear, but the conditions are...
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Old Structures...
Half Of A Grand Commercial Palace 380 Broadway has architecture above its station. It was built in 1860 with retail space at the base...
8 months ago
62

Half Of A Grand Commercial Palace

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
380 Broadway has architecture above its station. It was built in 1860 with retail space at the base and loft space above, but it’s got that grand marble-veneer facade on the upper floors and some very nice cast iron by Daniel Badger at the first floor. It’s fortunes have followed...
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Old Structures...
Heat Wave Unlike a lot of other weather conditions, heat waves are easy to see coming. Modern weather...
7 months ago
62

Heat Wave

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Unlike a lot of other weather conditions, heat waves are easy to see coming. Modern weather forecasting is quite good and I’m writing this on Sunday knowing that it will be getting steadily hotter through Friday and that even after the high-temperature peak passes, the lows will...
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Old Structures...
Straight and Curved I first started reading architectural theory and criticism when I was still an engineering undergrad...
8 months ago
62

Straight and Curved

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
I first started reading architectural theory and criticism when I was still an engineering undergrad student. It gave me a perspective on buildings that was notably different than that I was learning in my design and analysis classes, but because I was an outsider it took me a...
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Old Structures...
Familiar Yet Not I’ve been playing around with 1940s.nyc. That site is a really nice front-end interface for the...
6 months ago
62

Familiar Yet Not

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
I’ve been playing around with 1940s.nyc. That site is a really nice front-end interface for the 1940s tax photos of every building in the city that can be found with a much less nice interface at the city archive website. My way of testing a site like this is to look at locations...
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Old Structures...
Head In The Clouds One of my favorite views of tall buildings, again: in the fog. New York Bay has more than it’s fair...
9 months ago
61

Head In The Clouds

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
One of my favorite views of tall buildings, again: in the fog. New York Bay has more than it’s fair share of fog, and sometimes it creeps back up into the city. We had one of those days last week.
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Old Structures...
Being Stalked From The Past Once again, one of Angel Rizzuto’s photos, this one from 1954, gets very close to us. This is the...
9 months ago
61

Being Stalked From The Past

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
Once again, one of Angel Rizzuto’s photos, this one from 1954, gets very close to us. This is the intersection of Whitehall and Stone Street looking east. (For once, the logic of the street grid and the actual cardinal points align exactly.) Almost every building in this view has...
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Old Structures...
Modern Perception First, the Carson, Pirie, Scott Store in Chicago, as it appeared in the past: In my opinion – and...
8 months ago
61

Modern Perception

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
First, the Carson, Pirie, Scott Store in Chicago, as it appeared in the past: In my opinion – and many other people’s opinions – it’s one of Louis Sullian’s most amazing designs. Here’s a close-up of the corner entrance as it appears today (actually yesterday, after I finished my...
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Old Structures...
An Unfortunate Comparison I’m not a big fan of mid-twentieth-century modernism, and I still agree that Bertrand Goldberg’s...
8 months ago
60

An Unfortunate Comparison

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
I’m not a big fan of mid-twentieth-century modernism, and I still agree that Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City is remarkable architecture. From the north: From the south: There’s just one little detail that got stuck in my head that partially ruins looking at it for me. Every...
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Old Structures...
Close By From Angelo Rizzuto, a view of the Brooklyn Bridge from June 1954. It was not taken from Woolworth,...
7 months ago
59

Close By

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
From Angelo Rizzuto, a view of the Brooklyn Bridge from June 1954. It was not taken from Woolworth, as the angle is slightly wrong. The bridge was in a transition period, with one major renovation just completed and another about to start. Between 1950 and 1954, the bridge...
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Old Structures...
Before and After Electricity A while back, I put up a photo of the Bowery as seen in 1894, with the Third Avenue elevated tracks...
11 months ago
58

Before and After Electricity

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
A while back, I put up a photo of the Bowery as seen in 1894, with the Third Avenue elevated tracks above. Here’s the picture: Here’s a 1909 postcard of a similar view: The third, express track wasn’t added to the el until 1917 and the Bowery is a wide street, so the tracks have...
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Old Structures...
Slow, But Faster Than Original My in-home team for rebuilding Notre Dame – LEGO Notre Dame – has fallen behind schedule. As of...
5 months ago
56

Slow, But Faster Than Original

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
My in-home team for rebuilding Notre Dame – LEGO Notre Dame – has fallen behind schedule. As of today, we’re about up to where the Parisians were in 1200 or so. From a month ago, construction of the nave walls: and the forest of nave columns: From yesterday, the nave walls and...
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Old Structures...
For The Common Folk The return of a heat wave has me writing about the beach. (Not going to the beach, which sounds...
6 months ago
56

For The Common Folk

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
The return of a heat wave has me writing about the beach. (Not going to the beach, which sounds unbearably hot right now, but thinking and writing about it.) So, here’s the Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion in 1879, one year after it opened: The three big hotels nearby, including...
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Old Structures...
Location and Purpose From 1932, “The Kips Bay Station, with a capacity of 2,450,000 pounds of steam an hour, is the...
4 months ago
55

Location and Purpose

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From 1932, “The Kips Bay Station, with a capacity of 2,450,000 pounds of steam an hour, is the largest and most modern central station steam generating plant in the world.” The station was a steam-generating plant, located on the East River at 36th Street, decommissioned and...
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Old Structures...
A Metaphor Looking at the Brooklyn Bridge from the waterfront on the Brooklyn side: Each of the four main...
5 months ago
53

A Metaphor

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Looking at the Brooklyn Bridge from the waterfront on the Brooklyn side: Each of the four main cables is attached to one of the four deck-stiffening trusses below by the vertical suspender cables. The towers are separately attached to the trusses by the diagonal brace cables in...
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Old Structures...
Not Quite Added I could have sworn I’d written about this building before, but I can’t find it, so here goes: when...
6 months ago
53

Not Quite Added

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
I could have sworn I’d written about this building before, but I can’t find it, so here goes: when is adding a floor not adding a floor? This is 935 Broadway/159 Fifth Avenue. The trapezoidal site is south across 22nd Street from the wide end of the Flatiron building (on the...
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Old Structures...
It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time Some current news: various books from the nineteenth century are being taken off library shelves...
5 months ago
52

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
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...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: But Unfamiliar The Black Widow thinks deep thoughts while standing on a rooftop: To be clear about what we’re...
3 months ago
52

It Looked Familiar: But Unfamiliar

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
The Black Widow thinks deep thoughts while standing on a rooftop: To be clear about what we’re seeing, A is the Empire State Building, B is the Chrysler Building, C is Silver Towers at Lafayette Place and Bleecker Street, and D is the Widow: So we’re looking north from SoHo. The...
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Old Structures...
A Different Configuration I almost didn’t recognize this photograph, even though I’ve been involved with the building since...
7 months ago
52

A Different Configuration

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
I almost didn’t recognize this photograph, even though I’ve been involved with the building since 2011. The New York Public Library digital archive has this labelled as the “Onderdonk Mill, Roslyn” and if they hadn’t mentioned the town name I wold have gone right by it. We’ve...
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Old Structures...
Adaptability The building types that have had the most success in new York are the ones that are most-readily...
4 months ago
52

Adaptability

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
The building types that have had the most success in new York are the ones that are most-readily adaptable. Rowhouses have been turned into apartment houses, churches, schools, museums, and offices; tenements have been upgraded to better apartments again and again and again. If...
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Old Structures...
Differences Real and Metaphorical There’s a nice piece in the Times about the Long Path, a very long hiking trail through New Jersey...
4 months ago
52

Differences Real and Metaphorical

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
There’s a nice piece in the Times about the Long Path, a very long hiking trail through New Jersey and New York running roughly parallel to the Hudson River: “Walking From Manhattan to the Catskills on the ‘Long Path’.” As it happens, I’ve walked a small piece of the path, from...
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Old Structures...
Steel And Hemp From the 1880s, a view of South Street and the East River with the brand-new Brooklyn Bridge in the...
4 months ago
51

Steel And Hemp

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From the 1880s, a view of South Street and the East River with the brand-new Brooklyn Bridge in the background. The bridge was the first suspension bridge with steel wires in its main cables. Steel rope had been used in ships for some time, but these sailing ships were mostly...
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Old Structures...
Possibly A Bad Idea John Zukowksy, a retired but still active historian, recently sent me a bizarre clipping from the...
7 months ago
51

Possibly A Bad Idea

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
John Zukowksy, a retired but still active historian, recently sent me a bizarre clipping from the Chicago Tribune about a plane semi-faking bombing lower Manhattan in 1916. The short version of the story: DeLloyd Thompson, an early aviator of some note, took off from the airfield...
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Old Structures...
Partial Success I’ve been trying to decipher this item from a New York Public Library scrapbook: The title on the...
4 months ago
51

Partial Success

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I’ve been trying to decipher this item from a New York Public Library scrapbook: The title on the NYPL website is “Grand base ball match for the championship, between the Exclusive and Atlantic Clubs, of Brooklyn…” and the date is given as 1900-1945. (It’s also listed as a...
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Old Structures...
Amusing Until It’s Not This story turns ugly rather quickly. From the New York Public Library scrapbook, The Hippotheatron...
5 months ago
50

Amusing Until It’s Not

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
This story turns ugly rather quickly. From the New York Public Library scrapbook, The Hippotheatron and New York Cirque: That’s 14th Street between Irving Place and Third Avenue, with an out-chapel of Grace Church next door. As the name suggests, that weird building was a theater...
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Old Structures...
Not Quite Before, Not Quite After A building that was discussed at great length at last week’s Office To Residential Summit was 25...
7 months ago
50

Not Quite Before, Not Quite After

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
A building that was discussed at great length at last week’s Office To Residential Summit was 25 Water Street. Old Structures has no connection to that project, but it’s a block from our office, so I’ve been watching the progress. Here’s what it looked like last December: It was...
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Old Structures...
Originality Is Not Easy, Part 1 A piece of a patent – Number 574,434 to Herbert Keithley, applied for June 29, 1896 and awarded...
4 months ago
50

Originality Is Not Easy, Part 1

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
A piece of a patent – Number 574,434 to Herbert Keithley, applied for June 29, 1896 and awarded January 5, 1897 – titled “Building Construction”: The important context for US construction: the first skeleton-frame buildings, where the exterior walls were supported on a metal...
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Old Structures...
Begging The Question The title refers to one of the classic logistical fallacies, where an argument is made that assumes...
7 months ago
50

Begging The Question

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
The title refers to one of the classic logistical fallacies, where an argument is made that assumes its conclusion. The specific instance of this fallacy that often bothers me concerns code updates and existing buildings. Every time a code – for example, the New York City...
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Old Structures...
Detailing Reveled By Details Speaking from my own experience, engineers learn about detailing entirely through work. I was taught...
4 months ago
50

Detailing Reveled By Details

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Speaking from my own experience, engineers learn about detailing entirely through work. I was taught almost nothing about the topic in school – I barely heard the word in school – and I’ve taught it to a lot of younger engineers who did not learn it in school. Detailing is the...
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Old Structures...
Odd One Out Two views of the Queensboro Bridge… First, a HAER photo I’ve used before: Second, a view from an...
7 months ago
50

Odd One Out

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Two views of the Queensboro Bridge… First, a HAER photo I’ve used before: Second, a view from an early 1900s edition of King’s Views of New York, showing a rendering of the bridge before it was completed (on top), paired with a photo of the just-completed Williamsburg Bridge...
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Old Structures...
Visible Success, Invisibly A before and after photo of a recently completed facade stabilization and renovation project in the...
5 months ago
50

Visible Success, Invisibly

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
A before and after photo of a recently completed facade stabilization and renovation project in the West Village. The rowhouse was constructed in 1846, is now in a landmarked district, and has an operating restaurant on the first floor and in the basement. If you look closely at...
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Old Structures...
Notre Dame, Again In April 2019, it was not clear what would happen. Given the importance of the cathedral to the city...
a month ago
49

Notre Dame, Again

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
In April 2019, it was not clear what would happen. Given the importance of the cathedral to the city of Paris, the nation of France, and the cultural heritage of Europe, it was clear that it would be rebuilt after the fire, but in what form and on what schedule were open...
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Old Structures...
Double Part of the Construction History Congress last week was a day of tours, and I went on the iron- and...
7 months ago
49

Double

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Part of the Construction History Congress last week was a day of tours, and I went on the iron- and steel-truss bridge tour. I’m going to show my pictures every two or three days, spread over the next couple of weeks. First up: the rail bridge at Eglisau: Built 1895-1897 by the...
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Old Structures...
The Slab Every sizable city has one or more locally-specific building types, based on the culture and...
6 months ago
49

The Slab

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Every sizable city has one or more locally-specific building types, based on the culture and economics of real estate there. Some of the causes are rational, like the size of rowhouses being related to the wealth of a neighborhood; some are not, like the high stoops used in New...
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Old Structures...
Got Very Big, Very Fast Yesterday, I mentioned two department stores in New York, the 1846 A. T. Stewart Store at Broadway...
4 months ago
49

Got Very Big, Very Fast

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Yesterday, I mentioned two department stores in New York, the 1846 A. T. Stewart Store at Broadway and Chambers Street that was the first real department store in the US, and the 1896 Siegel-Cooper Store at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street that was for a time the largest store in the...
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Old Structures...
A Depressing Follow-Up Seven years ago, I said of the SS United States “Without a use and without a lot of money, it will...
7 months ago
49

A Depressing Follow-Up

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Seven years ago, I said of the SS United States “Without a use and without a lot of money, it will be gone forever. And if that happens, the world won’t end but it will be poorer for the loss.” Neither a use nor the money was found and as of September 12 this coming fall, the […]
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Fancy Digs Hawkeye chases some bad guys in New York: Looking north up Central Park West from a bit below 71st...
4 months ago
49

It Looked Familiar: Fancy Digs

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Hawkeye chases some bad guys in New York: Looking north up Central Park West from a bit below 71st Street: The relatively-low brown building two blocks up is the Dakota Apartments, but the drawing in the comic isn’t accurate enough to recognize it. The building at the first...
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Old Structures...
Bones Beneath The Skin A peek behind the surface at the 68th Street station on the Lexington Avenue (6) train. This station...
5 months ago
49

Bones Beneath The Skin

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
A peek behind the surface at the 68th Street station on the Lexington Avenue (6) train. This station was part of the Dual Contracts expansion of the subway system, and opened in 1918. I’m pretty sure the platforms were lengthened at some point after that, probably in the 1950s or...
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Old Structures...
A Survivor From a New York Public Library scrapbook, “Small apartment buildings”, dated 1915: The address is...
3 months ago
49

A Survivor

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
From a New York Public Library scrapbook, “Small apartment buildings”, dated 1915: The address is given as 1763-1769 Townsend Avenue, in the Bronx, which is good because it’s not like I could ever have identified this just from the photo. The site is less isolated than the photo...
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Old Structures...
Social Commentary In A Map Above, David Burr’s 1834 map of New York. I guess 190 years make a bit of a difference. This is, in...
6 months ago
48

Social Commentary In A Map

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Above, David Burr’s 1834 map of New York. I guess 190 years make a bit of a difference. This is, in some ways, more of a map-like graphic than an actual map. The shaded areas are not the only places where there were buildings, but rather the areas that were solidly built up....
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Old Structures...
Complaining For The Sake Of Complaining I’ve been getting ready for the upcoming construction history congress (more on that to follow in a...
7 months ago
48

Complaining For The Sake Of Complaining

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
I’ve been getting ready for the upcoming construction history congress (more on that to follow in a few days) and part of that is searching for good images to use for presentation of my paper (ditto). One of the people I’m speaking about is Ole Singstad, who had a fantastic...
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Old Structures...
The Grenfell Report The “phase 2” report on the Grenfell has recently been published by the official inquiry panel:...
4 months ago
48

The Grenfell Report

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
The “phase 2” report on the Grenfell has recently been published by the official inquiry panel: here. The New Civil Engineer has a good short summary here: “Grenfell disaster: ‘culmination of decades of failure by government and construction industry’” In one sense there are few...
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Old Structures...
The Shapes Arise Nearly every day, I walk past the construction of the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project,...
7 months ago
48

The Shapes Arise

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Nearly every day, I walk past the construction of the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project, part of protecting lower Manhattan from the kind of flooding that occurred during Hurricane Sandy. Much of it is relatively straightforward: there’s a big berm being added to the...
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Old Structures...
Comparisons This type of imaginary collection was quite popular at the beginning of the twentieth century....
5 months ago
48

Comparisons

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
This type of imaginary collection was quite popular at the beginning of the twentieth century. Sometimes it was just buildings, like here, sometimes steamships were stood on end to show how big they were. (Note that the biggest steamship in 1908, when the Singer Building was new,...
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Old Structures...
A Year Later, Maybe Yesterday, I was pondering the purpose of some of the strange steel framing near the top of the...
2 months ago
48

A Year Later, Maybe

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Yesterday, I was pondering the purpose of some of the strange steel framing near the top of the Singer Building. Here’s another stereoscopic view of the building, after it was completed: We’ve got two men standing on a tiny setback roof – not a terrace or official observation...
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Old Structures...
An Advanced Method Of Doing Something Simple This detail takes some explanation. This is from a late-1800s factory building. It’s a bearing-wall...
9 months ago
48

An Advanced Method Of Doing Something Simple

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
This detail takes some explanation. This is from a late-1800s factory building. It’s a bearing-wall building with heavy-timber floors, and it appears to have been constructed to code for that type and era. There were a number of almost-modern code requirements that end up being...
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Old Structures...
Other People’s Perception Every once in a while, something slightly out of the ordinary reminds me of how our work looks to...
6 months ago
48

Other People’s Perception

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Every once in a while, something slightly out of the ordinary reminds me of how our work looks to people not in the AEC world. Yesterday morning I was walking up Thames Street from Trinity to Broadway and took this photo: That block of Thames is a great illustration of why the...
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Old Structures...
A Year Late… …but who cares? Today is a de facto holiday for a lot of people, and that seems like a good time for...
6 months ago
47

A Year Late…

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
…but who cares? Today is a de facto holiday for a lot of people, and that seems like a good time for a blog post I should have written last summer. Some of our projects are very big, involving hundreds of thousands of square feet of building. Some are not. The smallest structure...
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Old Structures...
New Ringing The Old Here’s a terrible photo I took through the window of a ferry: There’s a weird concentric-circle...
4 months ago
47

New Ringing The Old

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Here’s a terrible photo I took through the window of a ferry: There’s a weird concentric-circle effect to the buildings in much of lower Manhattan that you can see clearly here, that the buildings on the waterfront are new and bigger than the ones behind them. It’s a simple...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Iconic There are all sorts of tricks – visual shorthand – for saying “you’re in New York” in movies, TV,...
4 months ago
47

It Looked Familiar: Iconic

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
There are all sorts of tricks – visual shorthand – for saying “you’re in New York” in movies, TV, and photos. One of them is to include some roof-top water tanks. Comics, too: The purpose of the tanks is very simple. They store water pumped up form the municipal main, and water...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Oldey-Timey From a 1944 newspaper comic strip called Miss Fury – the title character is about two-thirds...
6 months ago
47

It Looked Familiar: Oldey-Timey

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
From a 1944 newspaper comic strip called Miss Fury – the title character is about two-thirds Catwoman and one-third Batman – a taxi trip through Manhattan, past Washington Square, and to a Greenwich Village rowhouse: The car speeding through below the arch is not a mistake:...
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Old Structures...
Specialty If you look closely, that stereotypical New England mill building, photographed yesterday in...
6 months ago
47

Specialty

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
If you look closely, that stereotypical New England mill building, photographed yesterday in Pawtucket, has a sign reading “H. A. Briggs & Co. Cotton Waste.” I’ve heard of a lot of things you can do with cotton, but “cotton waste” was a new one for me. It apparently means scraps...
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Old Structures...
Understanding The Underbelly Hardcore bridge geeks will immediately recognize this photo. Everyone else, and hardcore bridge...
8 months ago
47

Understanding The Underbelly

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
Hardcore bridge geeks will immediately recognize this photo. Everyone else, and hardcore bridge geeks with a sense of modesty, will ask “what is it?” It’s the underside of the deck of the Brooklyn Bridge, on the side span between the Manhattan tower and anchorage. Starting with...
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Old Structures...
Advertising Art From 1922, preserved in a scrapbook at the New York Public Library, a romantic view of the Bankers...
4 months ago
47

Advertising Art

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From 1922, preserved in a scrapbook at the New York Public Library, a romantic view of the Bankers Trust Building at Wall and Nassau Streets. (The angle is a little funny – see below.) I cropped the image – at the lower right there was a little extension: This could be a...
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Old Structures...
An Original Or An Imitation Of An Imitation The Leonard Street facade of 249 Church Street: For this discussion, ignore the stone ground-floor...
7 months ago
47

An Original Or An Imitation Of An Imitation

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
The Leonard Street facade of 249 Church Street: For this discussion, ignore the stone ground-floor storefront, which was a 1920s alteration of this 1867 loft building, probably replacing cast iron columns and lintels. The rest of the facade is, per the Landmarks designation...
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Old Structures...
Four Months Later, I Finish The Thought I wrote a blog post in April about the grotesques in the lobby of the Woolworth Building. As I...
5 months ago
47

Four Months Later, I Finish The Thought

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
I wrote a blog post in April about the grotesques in the lobby of the Woolworth Building. As I mentioned then, they are grotesques because they are purely decorative figures; gargoyles are decorative figures that are generally water spouts and are part of a roof drainage system....
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Old Structures...
So It Begins LEGO Notre Dame de Paris, 4383 pieces. Fortunately, I have a 13-year-old assistant mason brick-layer...
7 months ago
47

So It Begins

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
LEGO Notre Dame de Paris, 4383 pieces. Fortunately, I have a 13-year-old assistant mason brick-layer helper. I approve of the reinforced seams in the flat-plane base: Building the stone-tile floor before we’ve completed the base. Very edgy. Clever foundation for the apse. LEGO...
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Old Structures...
Baseball in New York 1 With both the Mets and Yankees playing league championship games yesterday, this seems like a good...
3 months ago
47

Baseball in New York 1

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
With both the Mets and Yankees playing league championship games yesterday, this seems like a good time to discuss some of the oddities of New York’s relationship to the game of baseball. And the best place to start is just how many professional teams there have been here. Most...
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Old Structures...
A Variety Pack I haven’t done one of these for a while and it’s too hot to think, so here goes: the view east on...
6 months ago
46

A Variety Pack

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
I haven’t done one of these for a while and it’s too hot to think, so here goes: the view east on Bridge Street from Whitehall Street gives a nice selection of lower Manhattan building types. A: One Whitehall Street. 1962, 23-story office building with a glass and metal-panel...
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Old Structures...
Still Developing The caption on this 1882 picture is obviously wrong. Jacob Ruppert’s house was at the corner of...
a month ago
46

Still Developing

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
The caption on this 1882 picture is obviously wrong. Jacob Ruppert’s house was at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 93rd Street, and the big avenue to the right is Park (Fourth) Avenue. You can tell because of those little bridges and the wide center mall: this is the north end of...
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Old Structures...
The Easy Route On Sunday, I mentioned in passing that Ridgewood and Glendale, which are in southwest Queens as much...
5 months ago
46

The Easy Route

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
On Sunday, I mentioned in passing that Ridgewood and Glendale, which are in southwest Queens as much as there is a southwest Queens (that corner isn’t very big because most of where it might have been is Brooklyn) used to have service on the Long Island Railroad and now don’t. I...
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Old Structures...
Sort-Of Round This is the 3333rd blog post published on the Old Structures web site. People are attracted to round...
7 months ago
46

Sort-Of Round

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
This is the 3333rd blog post published on the Old Structures web site. People are attracted to round numbers, and I could just as easily have waited for the 4000th post to say something, but I like the “third of ten-thousand” aspect of the current number. Some housekeeping: some...
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Old Structures...
Very Urban Angelo Rizzuto’s title for this photo is “Cityscape – New York City”. Don’t feel embarrassed if you...
6 months ago
46

Very Urban

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Angelo Rizzuto’s title for this photo is “Cityscape – New York City”. Don’t feel embarrassed if you can’t recognize anything New Yorkish in it – it took me a minute. The arch bridge in the background is the Henry Hudson Bridge, carrying the Henry Hudson Parkway (the northern...
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Old Structures...
Dry-Goods Palace This is a newspaper ad circa 1883, advertising that the store Wechsler & Abraham had moved about two...
5 months ago
46

Dry-Goods Palace

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
This is a newspaper ad circa 1883, advertising that the store Wechsler & Abraham had moved about two blocks down Fulton Street to a new building that was something like five times the size of its old home. That name doesn’t mean much today, but in 1893, a change in ownership...
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Old Structures...
Originality Is Not Easy, Part 3 The first two parts of this series looked at patents that involved odd details that were not really...
4 months ago
46

Originality Is Not Easy, Part 3

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
The first two parts of this series looked at patents that involved odd details that were not really part of the metal-frame revolution that was taking place in the 1890s but rather adjacent to it. Neither of those patents reflected actual structure that I’ve ever seen in an old...
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Old Structures...
Time Is Relative From 1949, “Manhattan from a Hudson River ferry.” The piers in the foreground are where the Battery...
6 months ago
46

Time Is Relative

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
From 1949, “Manhattan from a Hudson River ferry.” The piers in the foreground are where the Battery Park City landfill would be made circa 1970. From the left, the peaks are the New York Telephone building at 140 West Street, the Woolworth Building, 225 Broadway, AT&T at 195...
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Old Structures...
Structural Logic In An Older Form From an 1880s building in Tribeca: the double beam supporting the front facade (sidewalk vault on...
5 months ago
46

Structural Logic In An Older Form

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
From an 1880s building in Tribeca: the double beam supporting the front facade (sidewalk vault on the left, cellar on the right) where it meets the side wall at a pier. That’s a granite block directly below the beams, which can be a little hard to tell because of the paint on all...
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Old Structures...
Not Famous Is Good Theater fires were among the worst building-related events of the nineteenth and early-twentieth...
5 months ago
45

Not Famous Is Good

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Theater fires were among the worst building-related events of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries in the US. The Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago killed over 600 people; closer to home, the Brooklyn Theater fire killed about 280. I serious do not recommend reading about...
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Old Structures...
Wider I’ve talked about some of the weirdness of Park Avenue before, but there’s a basic problem with the...
4 months ago
45

Wider

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I’ve talked about some of the weirdness of Park Avenue before, but there’s a basic problem with the street’s name: there’s no park. There are planted medians, but they’re not accessible to foot traffic and narrow enough that even if you could get out onto them, you’d be...
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Old Structures...
The Name Lost Meaning From the great archive of her photographs that Carol Highsmith donated to the Library of Congress,...
4 months ago
45

The Name Lost Meaning

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From the great archive of her photographs that Carol Highsmith donated to the Library of Congress, “View of a Manhattan street from New York City’s High Line, a 1.45-mile-long elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail.” Except that you can’t see the High Line because she was...
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Old Structures...
One Way It Began It’s hard to over-emphasize how rail-centric New York City was before, say, 1920. In addition to the...
5 months ago
45

One Way It Began

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
It’s hard to over-emphasize how rail-centric New York City was before, say, 1920. In addition to the subway, there were the commuter railroads, which had many more stations within the city then than they do now, and a vast street-car network. The streetcars are entirely gone,...
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Old Structures...
A Change of Pace I’ve done a lot of research over the years, most of it historical, rather than engineering. In other...
8 months ago
45

A Change of Pace

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
I’ve done a lot of research over the years, most of it historical, rather than engineering. In other words, I’ve generally been researching the history of structural engineering, construction, and the built environment, rather than performing analysis on the structures I’ve...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Courthouses Galore Foley Square, northeast of City Hall Park, has a collection of very large courthouses. Here’s Matt...
5 months ago
45

It Looked Familiar: Courthouses Galore

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Foley Square, northeast of City Hall Park, has a collection of very large courthouses. Here’s Matt Murdoch, otherwise known as Daredevil, on the steps of a courthouse having just finished a case: Here’s a view looking north with the New York State Supreme Court and its large...
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Old Structures...
A Primer Worth Reading For people who don’t work on facades in New York, “Here’s why NYC sidewalks are (still) covered with...
5 months ago
45

A Primer Worth Reading

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
For people who don’t work on facades in New York, “Here’s why NYC sidewalks are (still) covered with 400 miles of scaffolding” by David Brand is worth a look. It’s a good introduction to the tangled issues around sidewalk sheds. A very short summary: the response, for decades, to...
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Old Structures...
A Difficult Design Issue I’m in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for a project I’ll discuss in the future, someday, and came across...
6 months ago
45

A Difficult Design Issue

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
I’m in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for a project I’ll discuss in the future, someday, and came across the National Register listed Toole Building yesterday. The bottom three floors were built in 1892; the top two in 1922. My compliments to the architect and mason in 1922: that’s an...
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Old Structures...
A Modern and Maybe Over Building Type “Death of the Department Store” by Rosemary Hill is a short review of an exhibition at the Musée des...
4 months ago
45

A Modern and Maybe Over Building Type

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
“Death of the Department Store” by Rosemary Hill is a short review of an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. As best as I can tell, having not seen the exhibit, it is not so much about the state of department stores today as it is about their entire history from...
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Old Structures...
Part Of A Wave I’m speaking today at the “Office To Residential Summit” a two-day conference on the various...
7 months ago
45

Part Of A Wave

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
I’m speaking today at the “Office To Residential Summit” a two-day conference on the various architectural, legal, engineering, and logistics aspects of converting office buildings (of which there are currently more than needed) to apartments (not so much). My talk is about some...
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Old Structures...
If You’re Interested Sometimes a topic is so obvious that it’s easily missed. The conference I am currently at is the...
7 months ago
44

If You’re Interested

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Sometimes a topic is so obvious that it’s easily missed. The conference I am currently at is the triennial International Construction History Congress. It’s a good place to learn about topics in how the built environment got built from many different nations, different times, and...
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Old Structures...
The Personal Connection Times Three It’s hard to overstate the importance of personal links in discussing how people feel about the...
8 months ago
44

The Personal Connection Times Three

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
It’s hard to overstate the importance of personal links in discussing how people feel about the built environment. This 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto looks east past St. Paul’s Chapel to the St. Paul and Park Row buildings: I’ve worked on St. Paul’s and the Park Row building. As a...
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Old Structures...
Less Than The Original Construction on LEGO Notre Dame has moved ahead but will pause while I’m out of town. We’ve got the...
7 months ago
44

Less Than The Original

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Construction on LEGO Notre Dame has moved ahead but will pause while I’m out of town. We’ve got the apse built up to the vault level and the beginning of the crossing: I’ve been playing around to see if I can do a fly-through style photo, to give a sense of what the building...
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Old Structures...
Not What’s Expected I’ve met a lot of people who have not been to New York who think that Central Park is like a London...
5 months ago
44

Not What’s Expected

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
I’ve met a lot of people who have not been to New York who think that Central Park is like a London square, a block-sized oasis surrounded by buildings. The “surrounded by buildings” part is correct, but the size is a bit off. It’s 1.3 square miles (3.4 square kilometers for...
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Old Structures...
Mannahatta Before it was Manhattan, it was Mannahatta – a Lenape word meaning “hilly island” – when it still...
3 months ago
44

Mannahatta

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Before it was Manhattan, it was Mannahatta – a Lenape word meaning “hilly island” – when it still had a lot of hills. A few links to help explain:
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Old Structures...
Silly. But… After a site visit in Sunset Park yesterday, I was on the ferry back to Manhattan and I happened to...
6 months ago
44

Silly. But…

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
After a site visit in Sunset Park yesterday, I was on the ferry back to Manhattan and I happened to look out the window. Maybe it’s only obvious to me. That’s our office, as seen looking up Broad Street from its foot at the East River.
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Old Structures...
Coincidence I couldn’t remember if I’ve written about Manhattanhenge before – we’re up over 3000 blog posts, so...
8 months ago
44

Coincidence

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
I couldn’t remember if I’ve written about Manhattanhenge before – we’re up over 3000 blog posts, so who knows what I’ve written about at this point – but it turns out I did, twice, five years ago and six years ago. Everything I said then is still true: I find people lining up to...
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Old Structures...
Exposed During Demolition I had not seen a close-up of the demolition of the Wanamaker Store at Broadway and 9th Street until...
8 months ago
44

Exposed During Demolition

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
I had not seen a close-up of the demolition of the Wanamaker Store at Broadway and 9th Street until I stumbled across this one, taken in September 1956 by Angelo Rizutto. This shows the partially-intact second floor, marked on the facade by a water-table, and the last remnants of...
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Old Structures...
Faking It A pet peeve of more than one of us at Old Structures is seeing buildings that are “faking” something...
3 months ago
44

Faking It

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
A pet peeve of more than one of us at Old Structures is seeing buildings that are “faking” something that makes no sense. Examples abound, like weep holes in solid masonry walls. I noticed this building while on the train recently, with the star anchors that one often sees on...
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Old Structures...
A Less Obvious Canyon A few months ago I wrote about the appearance of streets lined with old, pre-zoning skyscrapers. I...
8 months ago
44

A Less Obvious Canyon

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
A few months ago I wrote about the appearance of streets lined with old, pre-zoning skyscrapers. I mentioned my two favorite examples: Thames Street between Broadway and Trinity Place, and Pine Street between Broadway and Nassau Street. I skipped the obvious example, Broadway, as...
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Old Structures...
Boosterism I don’t have an exact date for this photo, but the Temple Bar Building, the three-turreted...
9 months ago
44

Boosterism

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
I don’t have an exact date for this photo, but the Temple Bar Building, the three-turreted skyscraper in the center, was constructed 1899 to 1901, so 1900 to 1910 is my guess. (As for how difficult discussing timelines can be, the New York Times article on the building I discuss...
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Old Structures...
Discussing Immigrants Elsewhere That’s discussion elsewhere about immigrants here, not discussion here about immigrants somewhere...
7 months ago
44

Discussing Immigrants Elsewhere

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
That’s discussion elsewhere about immigrants here, not discussion here about immigrants somewhere else. I’m at the 8th International Congress on Construction History this week, where I hope to learn a lot about past design and construction practice. I have certainly learned much...
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Old Structures...
Almost Unrecognizeable Most of the 1950s Angelo Rizzuto photos I’ve been discussing recently can be quickly located even if...
8 months ago
44

Almost Unrecognizeable

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
Most of the 1950s Angelo Rizzuto photos I’ve been discussing recently can be quickly located even if their descriptions don’t say were they were taken. The 1957 picture above threw me. We’re looking towards midtown – the Empire State Building makes that obvious – but from what...
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Old Structures...
Born In The Bronx The central dome of the US Capitol on May 9, 1861: There was a certain symbolism to its incomplete...
7 months ago
44

Born In The Bronx

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
The central dome of the US Capitol on May 9, 1861: There was a certain symbolism to its incomplete state given that the Civil War had begun the previous month, but that was a coincidence. The replacement of the original wooden dome had been planned for some time. The old dome was...
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Old Structures...
Reuse, Recycle When it was created in 1968, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inherited from the New York...
6 months ago
44

Reuse, Recycle

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
When it was created in 1968, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inherited from the New York City Transit Authority, from when it was created in 1953, the subway system as created by two private companies (the IRT and BMT) and the city-owned IND. All three parts of the...
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Old Structures...
Iconic The Third Avenue elevated, looking north from 23rd Street or so. (The street sign at the lower right...
6 months ago
44

Iconic

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
The Third Avenue elevated, looking north from 23rd Street or so. (The street sign at the lower right reads East 24th Street.) My guess is that the photographer was standing at the north end of the northbound platform of the 23rd Street station. Off in the distance, we’ve got the...
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Old Structures...
Two Anachronisms I avoid the use of the word “holdout” in discussing older buildings now surrounded by newer ones. It...
4 months ago
44

Two Anachronisms

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I avoid the use of the word “holdout” in discussing older buildings now surrounded by newer ones. It implies a drama that may never have existed. In this case, the west block-front of Trinity Place between Edgar and Rector Streets provides a nice contrast of building ages. From...
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Old Structures...
A Different Definition of Speed I’ve mentioned the “Speedway” a few times in passing. It was a pleasure drive along the Harlem...
3 months ago
43

A Different Definition of Speed

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
I’ve mentioned the “Speedway” a few times in passing. It was a pleasure drive along the Harlem River, meant to provide a place for people with horses and horse carriages – i.e., the upper middle class and the wealthy – to have fun. There was nothing inherently terrible about...
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Old Structures...
Small Details In “How London’s Crystal Palace was built so quickly”, Jennifer Ouellette gives a good summary of a...
3 months ago
43

Small Details

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
In “How London’s Crystal Palace was built so quickly”, Jennifer Ouellette gives a good summary of a recent paper “Thread form at the Crystal Palace” by John Gardner and Ken Kiss. My even shorter summary: the 1851 Crystal Palace in London was made possible, in part, through the...
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Old Structures...
Engineers at Ground Zero Next week, there will be a showing of the documentary Engineers at Ground Zero at the Angelika...
2 months ago
43

Engineers at Ground Zero

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Next week, there will be a showing of the documentary Engineers at Ground Zero at the Angelika theater. The film was produced by the Structural Engineers Association of New York and created by Vacationland. As it happens, I will be out of town next week so I won’t see it now, but...
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Old Structures...
A Good Idea But Not Enough Via Core77, some excerpts of Clara Mu He’s masters thesis, which propose a way to make wood-frame...
6 months ago
43

A Good Idea But Not Enough

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Via Core77, some excerpts of Clara Mu He’s masters thesis, which propose a way to make wood-frame construction much more amenable to recycling and reuse of materials: here. In short, if you use strapped and ganged lumber sticks rather than special sizes and penetrative...
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Old Structures...
Doodling In A Hotel A remarkable sketch by Cass Gilbert from July 1933: From left to right, the Dom Tower in Utrecht...
10 months ago
43

Doodling In A Hotel

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
A remarkable sketch by Cass Gilbert from July 1933: From left to right, the Dom Tower in Utrecht (fourteenth-century, 368 feet high): St Mark’s Campanile in Venice (ninth century, rebuilt in the early twentieth century after it collapsed, 323 feet high): and Gilbert’s own...
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Old Structures...
Delaying The Obvious Solution The idea behind Columbus Circle was a good one. The corner of a large park (Central Park, in this...
7 months ago
43

Delaying The Obvious Solution

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
The idea behind Columbus Circle was a good one. The corner of a large park (Central Park, in this case) is a good place to have a monumental space. The only problem was reality: the southwest corner of Central Park is the intersection of Central Park West (AKA Eight Avenue),...
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Old Structures...
Baseball in New York 4 After old teams, old Brooklyn ballparks, and old Manhattan ballparks, it’s time for ballparks in...
3 months ago
43

Baseball in New York 4

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
After old teams, old Brooklyn ballparks, and old Manhattan ballparks, it’s time for ballparks in Queens. Despite the modern use of a numbered street system, Queens has street naming that drives outsiders mad, so it is fitting that three of the four old ballparks in the borough...
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Old Structures...
Probably Not What The Artist Intended 75 Broad Street, diagonally across the street from our office, was built in 1928 and almost...
5 months ago
43

Probably Not What The Artist Intended

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
75 Broad Street, diagonally across the street from our office, was built in 1928 and almost immediately bought by the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation for use as the company headquarters. Like a lot of New York Telephone buildings of that era, the interior was a...
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Old Structures...
The Daily Planet In October 1957, Angelo Rizzuto took this photo: The Library of Congress has a descriptive caption,...
8 months ago
43

The Daily Planet

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
In October 1957, Angelo Rizzuto took this photo: The Library of Congress has a descriptive caption, of the kind used when they don’t know where a picture is from: “View down commercial street with skyscrapers and billboards and signs on either side.” This one is fairly easy to...
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Old Structures...
Close To Home From Angelo Rizzuto in 1950, “Broad Street.” It doesn’t instantly look familiar because we’re all...
9 months ago
43

Close To Home

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
From Angelo Rizzuto in 1950, “Broad Street.” It doesn’t instantly look familiar because we’re all used to seeing the north end of Broad Street, where the Stock Exchange and Federal Hall are, or views looking up the street to the north. This is the sound end of Broad, as it runs...
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Old Structures...
Reuse, Not Really Adaptive From an elevated subway station in Queens: two generations of roof. Or, if you prefer, a palimpsest...
5 months ago
43

Reuse, Not Really Adaptive

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
From an elevated subway station in Queens: two generations of roof. Or, if you prefer, a palimpsest in steel. The roof over the rather wide platform is supported by two lines of columns. That’s a column in the lower left, with the curves of the lower flange of the built-up main...
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Old Structures...
Best Commute Ever The conference I am currently attending is at ETH, the famous engineering school in Zurich. My hotel...
7 months ago
42

Best Commute Ever

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
The conference I am currently attending is at ETH, the famous engineering school in Zurich. My hotel is not far away in a two-dimensional sense. I picked it some months ago by looking at a map and thinking that it was a short walk from campus. It’s a short flight to campus if...
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Old Structures...
Not Saved I vaguely know Fort Tilden – a former army base near the west end of the Rockaway peninsula – but...
4 months ago
42

Not Saved

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I vaguely know Fort Tilden – a former army base near the west end of the Rockaway peninsula – but its remote location and the lack of anything there that really interests me mean that I don’t know it particularly well. So the headline “Time to pay last respects to the abandoned...
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Old Structures...
Between Demolition and Redevelopment Angelo Rizzuto, in 1959, was going for the same feeling as Berenice Abbott in her Changing New York...
8 months ago
42

Between Demolition and Redevelopment

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
Angelo Rizzuto, in 1959, was going for the same feeling as Berenice Abbott in her Changing New York photos twenty years earlier: contrast the new and the old. In this case we’ve got three eras represented: the mid- to late-1800s in the rowhouses and tenements along Third Avenue,...
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Old Structures...
He Is, After All, A Boy From Queens
3 months ago
42

He Is, After All, A Boy From Queens

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
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Old Structures...
Getting Repetative The heat wave is back. Technically it left for a few days, but given that I hate hot weather, it...
6 months ago
42

Getting Repetative

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
The heat wave is back. Technically it left for a few days, but given that I hate hot weather, it didn’t seem like that to me. As bad as it is, even people without a/c can cool off in various public places. The most amusing is the subway, which, when I was commuting to school […]
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Old Structures...
Minor Errors From a New York Public Library scrapbook, an 1880 view of Union Square. The title on the web page...
3 months ago
42

Minor Errors

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
From a New York Public Library scrapbook, an 1880 view of Union Square. The title on the web page says “South side Union Square B’way” except that this is definitely (see below) the north side of the Square, AKA East 17th Street. Is the first word written in pencil “South”? If I...
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Old Structures...
Baseball in New York 3 After Tuesday’s description of teams, and yesterday’s discussion of some of the ball fields in...
3 months ago
42

Baseball in New York 3

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
After Tuesday’s description of teams, and yesterday’s discussion of some of the ball fields in Brooklyn, it’s time for stadiums in Manhattan. Like yesterday, this is not an exhaustive list, just some of the interesting highlights…excluding the more famous major league fields. All...
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Old Structures...
A Rabbit Hole I Did Not See Coming As a structural engineer, I do not examine old boilers, but I do see them quite often. The older...
2 months ago
42

A Rabbit Hole I Did Not See Coming

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
As a structural engineer, I do not examine old boilers, but I do see them quite often. The older ones tend to be abandoned in place because (a) they are huge and heavy, and will have to be cut into many small pieces to be removed form the cellars and sidewalk vaults where they...
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Old Structures...
The Pause Was About To End Another great photo from Angel Rizzuto, from August 1952. He was almost certainly looking from the...
9 months ago
41

The Pause Was About To End

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
Another great photo from Angel Rizzuto, from August 1952. He was almost certainly looking from the Empire State Building; this is a view north past midtown, Central Park and the Upper East Side, and with Harlem and the Bronx in the distance. The east side of the park is Fifth...
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Old Structures...
Fake History For Real People Most people don’t properly understand the built environment of their childhood until they grow up,...
5 months ago
41

Fake History For Real People

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Most people don’t properly understand the built environment of their childhood until they grow up, and even then maybe not until they’ve lived somewhere else and come home. Growing up in Queens, I didn’t question some of the styles around me that are not unique to the borough but...
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Old Structures...
New And Improved Graphics! Seven years ago [!] I spent some time looking at the Pearl Street overpass portion of the Manhattan...
3 months ago
41

New And Improved Graphics!

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Seven years ago [!] I spent some time looking at the Pearl Street overpass portion of the Manhattan approach of the Brooklyn Bridge. The short version is that it’s an 1880s steel truss reinforced in the mid-1900s with a steel arch below. The long discussion is: here and here and...
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Old Structures...
A Metaphor When I was maybe ten years old, visiting the observation deck of the Empire State Building, I heard...
8 months ago
41

A Metaphor

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
When I was maybe ten years old, visiting the observation deck of the Empire State Building, I heard someone describe the view as being like the buildings were a beard and Central Park a shaved strip. In 1952, there were far fewer high-rises on the Upper East and Upper West Sides,...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Aerial The Red Skull – boo, hiss – contemplates life from a high tower in Manhattan. Specifically, one with...
5 months ago
41

It Looked Familiar: Aerial

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
The Red Skull – boo, hiss – contemplates life from a high tower in Manhattan. Specifically, one with a view of the approach to the Brooklyn Bridge. If that tiny bit of the bridge tower isn’t recognizable, Murry Bergtraum High School and the adjacent Verizon Office Building surely...
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Old Structures...
Wrong But Impressive I’m generally anti-graffiti. If the graffiti itself doesn’t cause permanent damage to the wall it’s...
3 months ago
41

Wrong But Impressive

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
I’m generally anti-graffiti. If the graffiti itself doesn’t cause permanent damage to the wall it’s on, the cleaning probably will; the content generally ranges from idiotic (here’s my name – isn’t it impressive?) to puerile (pictures of genitalia being the most common); and it’s...
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Old Structures...
Not Quite What It Seems First up, from one of those New York Public Library scrapbooks, “Looking down upon a forest of...
5 months ago
41

Not Quite What It Seems

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
First up, from one of those New York Public Library scrapbooks, “Looking down upon a forest of skyscrapers: New York City.” It’s listed as having been issued between 1850 and 1945, and my response to that is “oh, come on.” The Park Row and St. Paul buildings, and the intersection...
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Old Structures...
Even A Joke Takes Effort From 1911, Cass Gilbert’s sketches of his father (top) and himself (bottom): From the Woolworth...
9 months ago
40

Even A Joke Takes Effort

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
From 1911, Cass Gilbert’s sketches of his father (top) and himself (bottom): From the Woolworth Building lobby as completed in late 1912, the grotesque* of Gilbert holding a model of his building: Given that the grotesque is wearing glasses bit not a laurel wreath, a sketch much...
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Old Structures...
Visible To The Naked Eye Here’s the side wall of a building constructed about twenty-five years ago: I used this building not...
4 months ago
40

Visible To The Naked Eye

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Here’s the side wall of a building constructed about twenty-five years ago: I used this building not because its construction was particularly bad – it is not – but because the glazed brick veneer on this side wall does a nice job of catching the raking sunlight. The brick color...
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Old Structures...
Fireworks The various amusement parks at Coney Island used to have spectacles as well as rides and ordinary...
7 months ago
40

Fireworks

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
The various amusement parks at Coney Island used to have spectacles as well as rides and ordinary shows. From 1885, a fireworks show at Manhattan beach called The Last Days of Pompeii: Happy Independence Day.
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Old Structures...
Mystery Work From 1908, a stereograph of the construction of the tower of the Singer Building: The title is...
2 months ago
40

Mystery Work

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From 1908, a stereograph of the construction of the tower of the Singer Building: The title is accurate – “Four hundred ft. above the street – iron worker on the Singer Tower, New York, U.S.A.” but it doesn’t tell us what we’re actually looking at. For example, the steel we’re...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Artistic From a stand-alone comic about the Penguin, a museum in Gotham City: From the Look Around feature in...
8 months ago
40

It Looked Familiar: Artistic

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
From a stand-alone comic about the Penguin, a museum in Gotham City: From the Look Around feature in Apple Maps, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Fifth Avenue facade: From 1900, when the main facade of the center block was complete, but the wings not yet constructed: The rough...
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Old Structures...
Repetition Back to my travelogue of the tour of Swiss and German bridges. This is an overall view of the rail...
6 months ago
40

Repetition

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Back to my travelogue of the tour of Swiss and German bridges. This is an overall view of the rail viaduct across the Thun River valley at Ossingen, Switzerland. It was completed in 1874, and is still in use, carrying trains over the valley. Most of the sources I found are very...
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Old Structures...
This Time, The Famous One Seven years ago, I wrote a blog post called “No, Not The Famous One.” Guess what? On a site visit to...
4 months ago
40

This Time, The Famous One

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Seven years ago, I wrote a blog post called “No, Not The Famous One.” Guess what? On a site visit to Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday, I noticed a lot of nice cast-iron storefronts in the old shopping streets. Given that iron wasn’t a major industry there in the nineteenth...
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Old Structures...
Fun With Telephoto Lenses A lot of times, when I’m discussing an old photo, I’ll talk about where the photographer was...
9 months ago
40

Fun With Telephoto Lenses

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
A lot of times, when I’m discussing an old photo, I’ll talk about where the photographer was standing when he or she took the shot. It matters to understand exactly what you’re seeing, and figuring it out is usually not that difficult if you know some of the quirks of Manhattan...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: The Curve Before the Station Even without the Silvercup Bakery sign, I’d know this view, from an old Daredevil comic. The tracks...
9 months ago
39

It Looked Familiar: The Curve Before the Station

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
Even without the Silvercup Bakery sign, I’d know this view, from an old Daredevil comic. The tracks are the 7 train, Flushing-bound, just west of the Queensboro Plaza station. This is the view you’d see looking off the west end of the platform, or from the rear window of an...
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Old Structures...
Not Gone – Not Yet There From a 1924 aerial survey of New York City, a funny-looking blob: Looking down on a building is one...
2 months ago
39

Not Gone – Not Yet There

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From a 1924 aerial survey of New York City, a funny-looking blob: Looking down on a building is one of the most difficult ways to recognize it. Fortunately, the late-afternoon shadow helps: That’s the Woolworth Building’s silhouette. Our office building was constructed in 1932,...
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Old Structures...
Complicated History, Nice Backdrop From February 1946, a view of the East River waterfront in Brooklyn, with lower Manhattan in the...
6 months ago
39

Complicated History, Nice Backdrop

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
From February 1946, a view of the East River waterfront in Brooklyn, with lower Manhattan in the background. It was a cold month: note the ice in the river past the train storage to the right of pier 15. This is the old pier 15, which was close to the foot of Montague Street. It...
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Old Structures...
Outlived Its Welcome But Not The Need I’ve been trawling in the HABS index and came across a survey from 1974 of the Bronx portion of the...
9 months ago
39

Outlived Its Welcome But Not The Need

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
I’ve been trawling in the HABS index and came across a survey from 1974 of the Bronx portion of the Third Avenue elevated. After the rest of the line (in Manhattan and the very southernmost bit of the Bronx) was closed and demolished in the early 1950s, the portion from 149th...
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Old Structures...
Training I spent most of Tuesday in an online course run by the California Office of Emergency Services, for...
3 months ago
39

Training

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
I spent most of Tuesday in an online course run by the California Office of Emergency Services, for their Safety Assessment Program. This is training for “second responders”: the architects, engineers, and other building professionals who assess the safety of structures after an...
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Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 4 – The Context Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. Part 3, Facades: here. Skyscrapers only make sense...
10 months ago
39

Adelaide House, Part 4 – The Context

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. Part 3, Facades: here. Skyscrapers only make sense as an urban phenomenon. (Keep in mind that a lot of inner-ring US suburbs are at urban density.) Putting aside the obvious economic argument that land is cheap in rural areas so...
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Old Structures...
Gotcha! There are times I feel sorry for the people who run the huge online archives that we use for...
a year ago
39

Gotcha!

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
There are times I feel sorry for the people who run the huge online archives that we use for research. They have to deal with thousands (or tens of thousands, or more) resources – usually individual files in multiple formats – on hundreds or thousands of topics. And if they make...
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Old Structures...
Little, Yet Big That’s 65 Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, an 1851 wood-frame house that had fallen on hard times....
9 months ago
39

Little, Yet Big

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
That’s 65 Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, an 1851 wood-frame house that had fallen on hard times. People at the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation have been trying for a very long time to get the building repaired and re-occupied – the best way to ensure an old building’s...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: One Accurate, One Not First, from a 1940s Sunday newspaper strip of Miss Fury, a realistic view down the facade of a fancy...
5 months ago
39

It Looked Familiar: One Accurate, One Not

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
First, from a 1940s Sunday newspaper strip of Miss Fury, a realistic view down the facade of a fancy New York apartment house to the street: Second, from a modern Captain America comic, “the City of Manhattan”. Where’s that, Kansas? It’s been “New York” since 1664, “Nieuw...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Hooded Daredevil strikes a pose: That weird thing he’s kneeling on is part of one of the towers of the...
5 months ago
38

It Looked Familiar: Hooded

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Daredevil strikes a pose: That weird thing he’s kneeling on is part of one of the towers of the Manhattan Bridge. Here’s a nice general shot of the bridge, looking toward Brooklyn, from the HAER survey: And here’s a close up of where the pedestrian walkway on the outboard edge of...
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Old Structures...
An Ordinary Day From Angelo Rizzuto, in 1959, a view of 42nd Street looking east. On the left, Grand Central...
9 months ago
38

An Ordinary Day

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
From Angelo Rizzuto, in 1959, a view of 42nd Street looking east. On the left, Grand Central Terminal, the Commodore Hotel, and the Chrysler Building. On the right, the Pershing Square Building, the Bowery Savings Bank midtown branch, the Chanin Building, the Socony-Mobil...
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Old Structures...
First-Mover Status The Empire State Building gave up its title of “tallest” more than fifty years ago, but that’s not...
8 months ago
38

First-Mover Status

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
The Empire State Building gave up its title of “tallest” more than fifty years ago, but that’s not particularly important. It’s still a beautiful building and still loved by tourists and natives alike. The biggest change in its status over that period if time is the gradual...
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Old Structures...
Buildings Are Meant To Be Used With the partial exception of industrial buildings, you can always distinguish buildings constructed...
2 months ago
38

Buildings Are Meant To Be Used

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
With the partial exception of industrial buildings, you can always distinguish buildings constructed before the 1950s from their later counterparts by looking for light courts. If your lights are, at best, incandescent bulbs, and your ventilation is mostly or entirely though...
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Old Structures...
Similar But Not I was in Rockaway last week, and getting there is one of the weirder subway rides you can take. The...
a month ago
38

Similar But Not

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
I was in Rockaway last week, and getting there is one of the weirder subway rides you can take. The A train is going along normally underground, then it becomes an el, and then you’re on a causeway over Jamaica Bay headed to the Rockaway peninsula. In any case, here’s what the...
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Old Structures...
What’s Not Stated This newspaper clipping in one of the New York Public Library’s scrapbooks has no explanation, but...
3 months ago
38

What’s Not Stated

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
This newspaper clipping in one of the New York Public Library’s scrapbooks has no explanation, but I’m pretty sure I know what it’s about. The somewhat ominous caption “Park Avenue Tunnel Choked With the Debris” is probably describing the aftermath of the January 1902 crash...
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Old Structures...
Different Views From 1910, stereoscopic views from an upper floor of the Singer Building looking south and north The...
2 months ago
38

Different Views

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From 1910, stereoscopic views from an upper floor of the Singer Building looking south and north The view south is showing the largest concentration of tall buildings in the world at that time and, given that many of those buildings exceeded the height limit in Chicago, the...
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Old Structures...
Loans I’m not sure why “Is a Library-centric Economy the Answer to Sustainable Living” by Philip Vachon...
4 months ago
38

Loans

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I’m not sure why “Is a Library-centric Economy the Answer to Sustainable Living” by Philip Vachon surprised me, but it did. The basic argument is that the ideas that govern good libraries – making as many books available to as many readers as possible, fairly and efficiently, and...
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Old Structures...
Reflections That’s 21 (left) and 20 West Street, with 17 Battery Place off to the right. This was taken early in...
7 months ago
38

Reflections

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
That’s 21 (left) and 20 West Street, with 17 Battery Place off to the right. This was taken early in the morning and the facades facing me are the west facades of the buildings. Across West Street, to my right, is a modern apartment house with a mostly-glass facade. It doesn’t...
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Old Structures...
Why People Cared This is remarkable, in a way: in a city full of apartment houses, the New York Sun newspaper felt...
5 months ago
38

Why People Cared

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
This is remarkable, in a way: in a city full of apartment houses, the New York Sun newspaper felt that a complex of mid-rise buildings in Queens was worthy of note: I can think of two reasons off the top of my head, one related to housing and the other related to general...
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Old Structures...
Future Site An 1890 view of the south side of the intersection of 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue, the...
6 months ago
37

Future Site

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
An 1890 view of the south side of the intersection of 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue, the narrow triangular block that would, a dozen years later, be the site of the construction of the Flatiron Buidling. My first thought was “would you really want a dentist who...
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Old Structures...
What’s In A Name? Apartment houses everywhere often have names seemingly disconnected from their surroundings. I grew...
3 months ago
37

What’s In A Name?

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Apartment houses everywhere often have names seemingly disconnected from their surroundings. I grew up in a building that was for no apparent reason called the Westgate, although at least the building immediately to its east was called the Eastgate. (There was no gate between...
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Old Structures...
Helping The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation has received a well-deserved award – a 2024 “Excellence...
4 months ago
37

Helping

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation has received a well-deserved award – a 2024 “Excellence in Historic Preservation Award” – from the Preservation League of NYS: here. It’s an interesting award in that the Foundation, which ordinarily funds projects and provides...
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Old Structures...
Somehow, We’re Large-Small When you look past the good-news headline, there’s some interesting discussion in “NYC’s Small...
7 months ago
37

Somehow, We’re Large-Small

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
When you look past the good-news headline, there’s some interesting discussion in “NYC’s Small Business Recovery: Patterns of Growth in a Changing Economy”, a report from the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The showy headline is that “Total small businesses in NYC...
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Old Structures...
Small Trusses For the last nine years, the high point, for me, of the annual APTI conference has been the student...
2 months ago
37

Small Trusses

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
For the last nine years, the high point, for me, of the annual APTI conference has been the student competition run by the Preservation Engineering Technical Committee. This year, In Montreal, was no exception. This year, I had no role in the competition, which frees me to say...
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Old Structures...
A Sometimes Disagreeable Foreign Land, Part 1 My off-hand comment yesterday about a Baedeker guide made me think that I should look to see what a...
a month ago
37

A Sometimes Disagreeable Foreign Land, Part 1

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
My off-hand comment yesterday about a Baedeker guide made me think that I should look to see what a nineteenth-century European guidebook had to say about New York and I was not disappointed. The guidebooks put out by the Baedecker company since the 1830s are famous for their...
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Old Structures...
Twelve Years Undemolished This photo from 1954 was taken from the top level of the Queensboro Plaza Station, looking west to...
6 months ago
37

Twelve Years Undemolished

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
This photo from 1954 was taken from the top level of the Queensboro Plaza Station, looking west to Manhattan. That’s the Queensboro Bridge on the right. If you take the 7 train to Flushing, as I used to, the odds are not bad that you’ll change trains at this station, as it’s...
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Old Structures...
Not Much Of A Mystery There floors of apartments over two floors of commercial space: If you’ve spent enough time in...
6 months ago
37

Not Much Of A Mystery

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
There floors of apartments over two floors of commercial space: If you’ve spent enough time in Manhattan, the immediate thought is that this was a house with a stoop, and the extension to the front lot line is an alteration that removed the stoop and raised the basement to street...
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Old Structures...
The Downside of Going Topless The picture above shows two photos of the same building in Chelsea, where we finished a repair...
2 months ago
37

The Downside of Going Topless

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
The picture above shows two photos of the same building in Chelsea, where we finished a repair project about a year ago. The left side is a tax photo from the 1940s; the right photo was taken after we were done with our work. The viaduct in the back is the Highline. This 1902...
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Old Structures...
Clogging Up Traffic Traffic in lower Manhattan is always bad, but is today impassable even for pedestrians. The New York...
3 months ago
37

Clogging Up Traffic

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Traffic in lower Manhattan is always bad, but is today impassable even for pedestrians. The New York Liberty are getting a ticker-tape parade for their WNBA championship. First, congrats to the Liberty and happy days to their fans. Second, there is something very New York about...
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Old Structures...
Variations On A Theme It turns out that I didn’t exhaust the topic of The Tombs yesterday. Possibly because of its social...
a month ago
36

Variations On A Theme

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
It turns out that I didn’t exhaust the topic of The Tombs yesterday. Possibly because of its social meaning in the mid-1800s, possibly because of its bizarre appearance, drawings and photos of it seem to have turned up a lot in various publications. Here’s a photo in 1898, near...
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Old Structures...
In The Background The photo from the Bain News Service is titled “Post Office, New York” and the Library of Congress...
10 months ago
36

In The Background

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
The photo from the Bain News Service is titled “Post Office, New York” and the Library of Congress dates it as “between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915.” I think we can do better: that’s the Municpal Building in the background under construction. The building took longer than usual to...
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Old Structures...
Tracing The Load Path Yet another view of the roof trusses at Moynihan Station, built when it was a mail-handling facility...
6 months ago
36

Tracing The Load Path

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
Yet another view of the roof trusses at Moynihan Station, built when it was a mail-handling facility to allow for a big open floor for sorting machinery. The roof truss is at the upper right; one of the main columns is below it, two side trusses, supporting the edges of the...
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Old Structures...
A Deservedly Unknown Truss There’s a street bridge over the Hudson Line (the former main line of the New York Central Railroad)...
10 months ago
36

A Deservedly Unknown Truss

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
There’s a street bridge over the Hudson Line (the former main line of the New York Central Railroad) tracks just south of the Dobbs Ferry Station: For now, ignore the big white pipe at the bottom of the side truss: it’s a utility line, not part of the truss. That leaves us with...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Edward Hopper From the comic “Powers”, Christian Walker sits by himself in a diner: Hopper’s 1942 painting...
2 months ago
36

It Looked Familiar: Edward Hopper

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From the comic “Powers”, Christian Walker sits by himself in a diner: Hopper’s 1942 painting “Nighthawks”: I’m a fan of Hopper, but this is his most famous work, so it’s not like it was all that difficult to place the reference. In his words, it’s a simplified version of reality...
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Old Structures...
Perspective Anyone who’d read more than a few of these blog posts knows that sometimes I’ll write about...
a month ago
36

Perspective

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
Anyone who’d read more than a few of these blog posts knows that sometimes I’ll write about something just because it seems cool. Or looks cool. In this case, “cool” is two photos from Carol Highsmith, a professional photographer who was generous enough to donate her archive to...
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Old Structures...
180 Years I found myself in Greenport NY for a project and was pleasantly surprised by the presence of the old...
5 months ago
36

180 Years

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
I found myself in Greenport NY for a project and was pleasantly surprised by the presence of the old train station there. It’s not the current station, which is a bare concrete platform off to the right of the picture, and it’s not the original station, but that’s okay. As you...
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Old Structures...
The Main Attraction Hasn’t Changed From one of the New York Public Library’s scrapbooks, a view north from Park Avenue and 41st Street...
2 months ago
36

The Main Attraction Hasn’t Changed

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From one of the New York Public Library’s scrapbooks, a view north from Park Avenue and 41st Street in 1920: The focal point of such a view is, of course, Grand Central Terminal. The big vacant lot, protected only by an easily-hopped fence, was the former site of the 1860s Grand...
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Old Structures...
Nearby Also from the Greenport Railroad Station: the 1890s freight house on the right with a...
5 months ago
36

Nearby

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Also from the Greenport Railroad Station: the 1890s freight house on the right with a apparently-retired snowplow engine named Jaws III, a Pennsylvania Railroad boxcar, and a caboose, probably also Pennsy. The Pennsylvania bought the LIRR in 1900 as part of its grand plan for the...
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Old Structures...
More Bragging But Usefully So In two weeks, I’ll be giving a talk in Philadelphia for the Delaware Valley Association of...
2 months ago
36

More Bragging But Usefully So

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
In two weeks, I’ll be giving a talk in Philadelphia for the Delaware Valley Association of Structural Engineers, which is the eastern-Pennsylvania chapter of the Structural Engineers Association of Pennsylvania. The topic is “Engineers’ Guidelines for Historic Buildings” and I’m...
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Old Structures...
Travelog: Far From Home Traveling to another country usually gets you views of a built environment that is in some respects...
10 months ago
35

Travelog: Far From Home

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Traveling to another country usually gets you views of a built environment that is in some respects fundamentally different than the one you’re used to. London is, for a New Yorker, the worst place in the UK to get that feeling because of the many similarities between the two...
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Old Structures...
Split Personality Live, from Montreal, the Cathedrale Marie Reine du Monde et Saint Jacques: Putting aside the...
2 months ago
35

Split Personality

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Live, from Montreal, the Cathedrale Marie Reine du Monde et Saint Jacques: Putting aside the building’s architectural merit – and there is a great deal – I find this kind of church interesting structurally. We have at least three very different types of structure here. There’s...
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Old Structures...
Like Looking Down A Well Trinity Church and its yard are surrounded on all four sides by tall buildings. In 1952, when Angelo...
8 months ago
35

Like Looking Down A Well

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
Trinity Church and its yard are surrounded on all four sides by tall buildings. In 1952, when Angelo Rizzuto took this picture looking down from the roof of one of them, they were all of about 1900-1920 vintage. It’s a striking shot, but I’d guess not to everyone’s taste.
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Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 3 – Facades Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. So on Tuesday I effectively said that Adelaide House...
10 months ago
35

Adelaide House, Part 3 – Facades

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. So on Tuesday I effectively said that Adelaide House was either small for a skyscraper or forty years behind the times, and yesterday I said that the steel was pretty familiar for an old skyscraper but maybe a little old-fashioned....
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Old Structures...
Non-Demolished When the West Side Highway – the limited access, elevated highway that was demolished in the 1970s...
7 months ago
35

Non-Demolished

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
When the West Side Highway – the limited access, elevated highway that was demolished in the 1970s and 80s – was planned in the 1920s, it made sense. From a viewpoint any later than about 1940 it was a terrible mistake. Bad planning and little maintenance doomed the old highway,...
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Old Structures...
Changes and Not I almost missed this 1938 entry in Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York” project, because it’s...
11 months ago
35

Changes and Not

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
I almost missed this 1938 entry in Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York” project, because it’s mislabelled at the New York Public Library web site as “Vista, Thomas Street”. We all make mistakes, and whomever confused Thames and Thomas hid the location of this photo by accident....
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Old Structures...
An Obvious Issue “The Battle for the Streets of New York” by Dodai Stewart and illustrated by Leon Edler, in Monday’s...
8 months ago
35

An Obvious Issue

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
“The Battle for the Streets of New York” by Dodai Stewart and illustrated by Leon Edler, in Monday’s New York Times, is a reasonable discussion of congestion on Manhattan’s streets. Not just car congestion – delivery truck, bus, bicycle, and pedestrian congestion are discussed as...
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Old Structures...
The Personal Connection A 1958 or 59 view of 200 East 42nd Street under construction: It’s a fairly boring steel-frame,...
9 months ago
35

The Personal Connection

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
A 1958 or 59 view of 200 East 42nd Street under construction: It’s a fairly boring steel-frame, glass-facade office building, remarkable to me for the simple reason that I had my first more-or-less real engineering job there. Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton, later known as TAMS...
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Old Structures...
Obvious, Expensive, and Worth Doing A lot of different trends combined to create the decline of the Bronx between 1950 and 2000, and one...
3 months ago
35

Obvious, Expensive, and Worth Doing

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
A lot of different trends combined to create the decline of the Bronx between 1950 and 2000, and one of them is firmly within the realm of the built environment: the construction of highways. Any road entering New York City from the north has to pass through the Bronx, and...
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Old Structures...
All In A Name I mentioned yesterday that New York’s City Hall, because it is over 200 years old, is very much too...
a month ago
35

All In A Name

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
I mentioned yesterday that New York’s City Hall, because it is over 200 years old, is very much too small to house a modern government. The first solution dreamed up in the late 1800s was to replace City Hall with a much larger building. For various reasons – including expense, a...
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Old Structures...
Pareidolia He’s a happy little gas-powered guy.
6 months ago
35

Pareidolia

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
He’s a happy little gas-powered guy.
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Old Structures...
Against Expectations Last Friday, I was walking through a neighborhood with quite a few of these handsome bow-fronted...
5 months ago
34

Against Expectations

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Last Friday, I was walking through a neighborhood with quite a few of these handsome bow-fronted rowhouses. It was not in upper Manhattan, the south Bronx, Brooklyn, or Hoboken, as you might expect. It was in Queens. More specifically near the Ridgewood/Glendale border, a...
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Old Structures...
One Pitfall Avoided I’m not entirely sure what this proposed law would mean in practice: existing data at the Department...
7 months ago
34

One Pitfall Avoided

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
I’m not entirely sure what this proposed law would mean in practice: existing data at the Department of Buildings will be examined to identify which buildings are considered to be high risk, and the usual DoB actions – violations, etc. – will start from there. It all depends on...
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Old Structures...
Roadtrip I’m in Montreal for the annual APT so this week’s blog posts will be shallower less serious more...
2 months ago
34

Roadtrip

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
I’m in Montreal for the annual APT so this week’s blog posts will be shallower less serious more entertaining than usual. I hope to work in some touristing photos, but that may not happen until next week. It’s worth noting that my train from New York to Montreal has a scheduled...
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Old Structures...
Finding Something Nice To Say Howe trusses look backwards to me. Structural logic generally says that compression members should...
2 months ago
34

Finding Something Nice To Say

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Howe trusses look backwards to me. Structural logic generally says that compression members should be stockier than tension members because, while the gross stresses are the same (force divided by cross-sectional area), compression members may buckle and tension members will not....
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Old Structures...
Fuzzy Structural steel and composite steel deck used with concrete slabs need to be fireproofed. Ducts,...
2 months ago
34

Fuzzy

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Structural steel and composite steel deck used with concrete slabs need to be fireproofed. Ducts, pipes, lights, and electrical conduits do not.
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Old Structures...
Travelog: Cleveland Bridge While I was in England last week, I briefly visited the city of Bath. There’s a lot to look at...
10 months ago
34

Travelog: Cleveland Bridge

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
While I was in England last week, I briefly visited the city of Bath. There’s a lot to look at there, but let me start with the Cleveland Bridge over the River Avon. The top view is a little boring except for the non-structural toll houses, little Greek temples over the walkways,...
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Old Structures...
Recognizing Reality A hundred years ago, jaywalking was a made-up offense. In 1926, a study of traffic included the...
3 months ago
34

Recognizing Reality

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
A hundred years ago, jaywalking was a made-up offense. In 1926, a study of traffic included the statement “all persons have an equal right in the highway, and that in exercising the right each shall take due care not to injure other users of the way.” Old pictures of even a...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: A Somber Location One of the less-well-known memorials in Manhattan is the African Burial Ground National Monument at...
6 months ago
34

It Looked Familiar: A Somber Location

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
One of the less-well-known memorials in Manhattan is the African Burial Ground National Monument at Duane and Elk Streets, where free Blacks excluded from New York’s general cemetery in the seventeenth cenutry buried their dead. Here’s a photo of the memorial, a stone circle...
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Old Structures...
Buildings Are Not Static It can’t be said often enough that buildings move in various ways, from the effect of environmental...
8 months ago
34

Buildings Are Not Static

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
It can’t be said often enough that buildings move in various ways, from the effect of environmental conditions. You’ve got gross structural movement from gravity and lateral loads; up, down, and sideways movement from changes in soil volume from water movement; expansion and...
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Old Structures...
Nothing New For the end of the year, we’ve been doing some file reorganization – all digital, as our paper files...
a month ago
34

Nothing New

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
For the end of the year, we’ve been doing some file reorganization – all digital, as our paper files are only a memory – and it’s worth remembering that issues of logisitics and organization are nothing new. One of the sources for our filing system is the 1917 file classification...
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Old Structures...
Very Local Requirements Below, a construction fence of typical New York design. Such fences here have had windows of some...
9 months ago
34

Very Local Requirements

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
Below, a construction fence of typical New York design. Such fences here have had windows of some kind going back at least to the mid-1900s. Per the current NYC building code, section 3307.7.3, “Viewing panels shall be provided in solid fences erected on or after July 1, 2013, at...
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Old Structures...
You Are There Early on in the movie Bull Durham, a character going to a baseball game walks from the dark...
3 months ago
34

You Are There

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Early on in the movie Bull Durham, a character going to a baseball game walks from the dark underside of the stadium – where the stairs, bathrooms, and food concessions are – through one of the tunnels to the seats. The camera follows and, if you’ve ever been to stadium, the...
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Old Structures...
The Aftertaste of Technological Change I slept through the Daylight Savings change last week. More accurately, I didn’t realize it was...
2 months ago
34

The Aftertaste of Technological Change

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
I slept through the Daylight Savings change last week. More accurately, I didn’t realize it was occurring – I thought it was yesterday, not the Sunday a week ago – and I generally sleep late on the weekends anyway, so I got an extra hour of sleep without realizing, until...
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Old Structures...
The Inspiration The 14th Street station on the Eighth Avenue subway has an art installation by Tom Otterness called...
8 months ago
33

The Inspiration

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
The 14th Street station on the Eighth Avenue subway has an art installation by Tom Otterness called “Life Underground” It consists of a series of brass figures, both human and animal, engaged in various pursuits. Everyone always focuses on the alligator climbing out of a sewer to...
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Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 2 – Structure Continuing my discussion (part 1 is here) of London’s maybe-first skyscraper, the Adelaide House,...
10 months ago
33

Adelaide House, Part 2 – Structure

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Continuing my discussion (part 1 is here) of London’s maybe-first skyscraper, the Adelaide House, let’s talk about structure. There’s a big difference between trying to build the first skyscraper in your city in the 1870s or 80s or 90s (depending on how you want to define...
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Old Structures...
Baseball in New York 5 This is the last of the collection of little-known ballfields, following Brooklyn, Manhattan, and...
3 months ago
33

Baseball in New York 5

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
This is the last of the collection of little-known ballfields, following Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, and the little-known teams who played in those fields. It’s very difficult to find information about the only Bronx important ball field in the Bronx. While it’s sometimes...
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Old Structures...
Infrastructure Not all infrastructure is hidden – some, like elevated railroads, is more visible and audible than...
9 months ago
33

Infrastructure

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
Not all infrastructure is hidden – some, like elevated railroads, is more visible and audible than most people would prefer – but it often is and that can make it easy to forget. “The Cloud Under the Sea” by John Dzieza, with visuals by Kristen Radtke and Go Takayana, is an...
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Old Structures...
Onec You See It The current round of repair work on the Manhattan Bridge has reached the stage of painting the...
10 months ago
33

Onec You See It

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
The current round of repair work on the Manhattan Bridge has reached the stage of painting the towers. It has, to my eye, the unfortunate effect of making the bridge look like it’s wearing shorts.
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar – They’re Just Messing With Us Daredevil – Matt Murdock- is blind. He’s got radar, but that doesn’t allow him to read what’s...
2 months ago
33

It Looked Familiar – They’re Just Messing With Us

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Daredevil – Matt Murdock- is blind. He’s got radar, but that doesn’t allow him to read what’s printed on a flat surface. So why would he have a poster of the NYC subway map in his kitchen?
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: A Perfect Match Some gangsters in a car, running from The Shadow: A circa 1920 view of the Broad Street roman-temple...
7 months ago
33

It Looked Familiar: A Perfect Match

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Some gangsters in a car, running from The Shadow: A circa 1920 view of the Broad Street roman-temple facade of the New York Stock Exchange, with the Wilks Building immediately to its right and Federal Hall, with George Washington standing out front, on the far right. I don’t know...
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Old Structures...
It Can Go Either Way Much like the photo from Monday, this April 1959 photo by Angelo Rizzuto could be either demolition...
9 months ago
33

It Can Go Either Way

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
Much like the photo from Monday, this April 1959 photo by Angelo Rizzuto could be either demolition or construction. The steel frame on the left is on the site of 350 Park Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets on the west side of Park Avenue. The ornate masonry box just north of...
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Old Structures...
Uncluttered From 1946, a view from 501 Madison Avenue looking southwest past St. Patrick’s Cathedral to...
6 months ago
33

Uncluttered

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
From 1946, a view from 501 Madison Avenue looking southwest past St. Patrick’s Cathedral to Rockefeller Center. The International Building on the right partially blocks the view of the taller RCA Building, with the (old) Time-Life building off to the left. The construction site...
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Old Structures...
A Stylistic Joke As A Name There’s a large, somewhat ominous, vaguely art deco building in lower Manhattan commonly called the...
a month ago
33

A Stylistic Joke As A Name

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
There’s a large, somewhat ominous, vaguely art deco building in lower Manhattan commonly called the Tombs. The main portion of it is a courthouse with a lot of court-related office space, the northern wing – see below – is a short-term prison, mostly used to hold people awaiting...
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Old Structures...
Happy Thanksgiving ‘Nuff said.
2 months ago
33

Happy Thanksgiving

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
‘Nuff said.
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Old Structures...
Reuse, Well Done From Carol Highsmith’s archive, a Target store in Brooklyn in 2018. If you’re going to reuse an old...
5 months ago
33

Reuse, Well Done

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
From Carol Highsmith’s archive, a Target store in Brooklyn in 2018. If you’re going to reuse an old theater for your big-box store, why not reuse the marquee and vertical knife sign for advertising?
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Old Structures...
An Avatar Of Steel Another short trip: I was in Philadelphia last week, and I walked the not-quite two miles from my...
a month ago
33

An Avatar Of Steel

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
Another short trip: I was in Philadelphia last week, and I walked the not-quite two miles from my meeting to the train station on my way home. I took the two unimpressive pictures below on the way: That’s the rear, Arch Street side, of the Reading Terminal Market, which is, as...
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Old Structures...
Cartesian I’ve written before about the Washington Bridge over the Harlem River – not to be confused with the...
4 months ago
33

Cartesian

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I’ve written before about the Washington Bridge over the Harlem River – not to be confused with the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River about a mile away – with good reason. There’s an argument to be made that this small (for NYC) bridge is the most beautiful in the...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Like A Movie Set First, a panel from “The Bat-Man – First Knight,” an alternate telling of the Batman story, set in...
10 months ago
33

It Looked Familiar: Like A Movie Set

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
First, a panel from “The Bat-Man – First Knight,” an alternate telling of the Batman story, set in 1939: Second, a photo of Staple Street in lower Manhattan, from Unsplash: Note that the comic-book artist has flipped the image left-right – visible at the asymmetry in the bridge....
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Old Structures...
The Function of Color It’s a matter of personal taste, but I find the 74-year-old illustrations in The Function Of Colour...
4 months ago
32

The Function of Color

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
It’s a matter of personal taste, but I find the 74-year-old illustrations in The Function Of Colour In Factories, Schools & Hospitals, as scanned by the design and stationary mavens at Present & Correct, to be astonishing. Here’s one example: and the rest are: here. And there’s a...
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Old Structures...
Some Good News To Start The Year From Ars Technica, “40% of US electricity is now emissions-free” by John Timmer has a pretty...
a year ago
32

Some Good News To Start The Year

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
From Ars Technica, “40% of US electricity is now emissions-free” by John Timmer has a pretty self-explanatory headline. The short version: wind and solar have advanced quickly because of decreases in their cost, coal use has dropped, and there’s more storage coming on line to...
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Old Structures...
An Exotic Foreign Land From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, what appears to be a page of illustrations from a...
a month ago
32

An Exotic Foreign Land

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, what appears to be a page of illustrations from a European tourist guide to New York: Let’s start with the non-controversial item in the lower left: That is a decent engraving of Das Stadhaus / The City Hall / La maison de Ville as...
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Old Structures...
Travelog: Listed When I’m traveling and therefore don’t know anything about most of the structures around, I simply...
10 months ago
32

Travelog: Listed

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
When I’m traveling and therefore don’t know anything about most of the structures around, I simply take pictures and hope that I’ll be able to identify them later. Sometimes it’s quite easy. I came across this little Victorian masterpiece last week and it turns out it’s listed,...
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Old Structures...
Baseball in New York 2 Yesterday’s list of teams was fun to out together, but this is ultimately a blog about the built...
3 months ago
32

Baseball in New York 2

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Yesterday’s list of teams was fun to out together, but this is ultimately a blog about the built environment, so let’s discuss what’s really important: the fields and stadiums where the various teams played. Today: some of the fields in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Atlantics, played...
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Old Structures...
Three Generations With Little Resemblence From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, a page from 1918 showing the Hotel Marguery on the west...
2 months ago
32

Three Generations With Little Resemblence

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, a page from 1918 showing the Hotel Marguery on the west side of Park Avenue, between 47th and 49th Streets. The building’s address was 270 Park Avenue. That odd two-wing configuration is what happens when you plan a building around a...
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Old Structures...
Specialization From 2018, a photo by Carol Highsmith taken from the Empire State Building and showing the variety...
7 months ago
32

Specialization

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
From 2018, a photo by Carol Highsmith taken from the Empire State Building and showing the variety of buildings on the east side of midtown south. I think most people will agree that this is a very New Yorky view of New York. The discussion at the “Office To Residential Summit”...
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Old Structures...
Happy Presidents’ Day The cover of the dinner menu for Washington’s Birthday from the SS Columbia of the Hamburg-Amerika...
11 months ago
32

Happy Presidents’ Day

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
The cover of the dinner menu for Washington’s Birthday from the SS Columbia of the Hamburg-Amerika Line. That’s a portrati of the Columbia on the right, apparently about to run down a sailboat. Columbia had a weird history, having served as a liner between Germany and the US,...
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Old Structures...
The Black Tower For all you Lord of the Rings fans, remember: Brooklyn is not Mordor. No matter what similarities...
9 months ago
32

The Black Tower

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
For all you Lord of the Rings fans, remember: Brooklyn is not Mordor. No matter what similarities may exist.
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Old Structures...
Fame, Compressed From 2018, a Carol Highsmith photo titled “View of the Manhattan skyline from the Empire State...
4 months ago
32

Fame, Compressed

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From 2018, a Carol Highsmith photo titled “View of the Manhattan skyline from the Empire State Building in New York, New York.” We’re looking northeast across part of midtown to the Queensboro Bridge, Queens and the Bronx, and suburban Long Island and Westchester beyond. What’s...
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Old Structures...
Also From The Train, Again I was going through some old photos and found this, and was gong to use it for a blog post until I...
4 months ago
32

Also From The Train, Again

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
I was going through some old photos and found this, and was gong to use it for a blog post until I looked and realized that I already had. So here it is again: That’s the West Shore railroad, as seen from the Hudson line (AKA the New York Central main line), and from across […]
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Archetypical From a graphic novel about art called Naked City: how do you capture the spirit of New York? A...
a month ago
31

It Looked Familiar: Archetypical

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
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.
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Old Structures...
Subtle Design and Not Two buildings on a single block, separated by about 110 years and a huge difference in design...
a month ago
31

Subtle Design and Not

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
Two buildings on a single block, separated by about 110 years and a huge difference in design philosophy… First up, how do you turn the corner from a busy avenue to a quiet side street? The one-story red-brick building on the far left is a modern replacement for an old commercial...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Boom One of the problems with electing Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin, as mayor of New York, is that he has a...
6 months ago
31

It Looked Familiar: Boom

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
One of the problems with electing Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin, as mayor of New York, is that he has a lot of enemies who will try to kill him by, say, blowing him up in his sleep. This is a preservation problem because the mayor’s residence is Gracie Mansion, a 1799 wood-frame...
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Old Structures...
Caught In The Act This October 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is titled “Aerial view of Manhattan” but it most obviously...
9 months ago
31

Caught In The Act

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
This October 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is titled “Aerial view of Manhattan” but it most obviously shows the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Like a lot of Rizzuto’s photos, it catches the East River waterfront and adjacent areas in the process of changing, even if it was not...
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Old Structures...
Travelog: A Building Type Speaking only for myself, it’s easy to mentally categorize subways (i.e., electric mass transit,...
10 months ago
31

Travelog: A Building Type

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Speaking only for myself, it’s easy to mentally categorize subways (i.e., electric mass transit, mostly underground) as something different than railroads. Different lengths of routes, different spacing of stations, different rolling stock, and so on. The differences are often...
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Old Structures...
Skyscrapers at the IStructE A reminder: On Thursday I’ll be talking about the technological origins of skyscrapers and the New...
11 months ago
31

Skyscrapers at the IStructE

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
A reminder: On Thursday I’ll be talking about the technological origins of skyscrapers and the New York contribution to that history, at the Institution of Structural Engineers. If you’re in London – as most of you are not – come in person; otherwise, the talk will be available...
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Old Structures...
Gaudy This scrapbook clipping is listed as 1895 to 1945. The presence of the entrance kiosk for the City...
a month ago
31

Gaudy

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
This scrapbook clipping is listed as 1895 to 1945. The presence of the entrance kiosk for the City Hall subway stop means it’s after 1904. I’m not sure if the Municipal Building (built 1909 to 1914) would be visible from this angle or would be off the left side of the frame; the...
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Old Structures...
Just Because I Like It A view of 99 Prince Street: It’s a little hard to believe it today, but this was built simply an...
3 months ago
31

Just Because I Like It

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
A view of 99 Prince Street: It’s a little hard to believe it today, but this was built simply an ordinary commercial building with retail and office space. It was completed in 1888 by architect William Schickel working for “J. J. Astor.” That was either John Jacob Astor III near...
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Old Structures...
Regular, Fast, Very Fast Are you really an engineer if you don’t laugh out loud at this xkcd strip?
5 months ago
30

Regular, Fast, Very Fast

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
Are you really an engineer if you don’t laugh out loud at this xkcd strip?
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Old Structures...
Two Ridiculous Snippets First, Batman at the plate as a bat man: Second, the National League standings:
3 months ago
30

Two Ridiculous Snippets

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
First, Batman at the plate as a bat man: Second, the National League standings:
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Old Structures...
Misleading Words In 1941, Robert Moses demolished the New York Aquarium, located in Castle Clinton in Battery Park,...
9 months ago
30

Misleading Words

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
In 1941, Robert Moses demolished the New York Aquarium, located in Castle Clinton in Battery Park, in a fit of pique over losing his fight to build a bridge from the Battery to Brooklyn. (That project became the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.) The aquarium was a three-story building on...
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Old Structures...
Slow Death Of An Unneeded Building A lot of rail was built in and around New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,...
10 months ago
30

Slow Death Of An Unneeded Building

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
A lot of rail was built in and around New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, much of it overlapping. Railroad as such had been around for a long time, but the idea of tailoring stations and schedules to fit huge masses of commuters was relatively new;...
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Old Structures...
Someone Else’s Entertainment Not everything you find on a rooftop is of much interest.
a month ago
30

Someone Else’s Entertainment

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
Not everything you find on a rooftop is of much interest.
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Old Structures...
Fun With Framing From a recent trip to Staten Island, a view looking north across the harbor to Manhattan and...
2 months ago
30

Fun With Framing

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
From a recent trip to Staten Island, a view looking north across the harbor to Manhattan and Brooklyn: New York looks, unfortunately, much like a chain-link fence. The catenaries that we see are some nearby power lines, not far-off suspension bridges. Cropping helps but not...
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Old Structures...
Embracing office-to-residential conversion in the ‘City of Yes’ A timely ‘Yes’ to converting older buildings is set to further fuel Manhattan’s current...
a month ago
30

Embracing office-to-residential conversion in the ‘City of Yes’

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
A timely ‘Yes’ to converting older buildings is set to further fuel Manhattan’s current office-to-residential boom. New York City Council recently passed Mayor Adams’ ‘City of Yes’ proposal to create over 80,000 new housing units across the city over 15 years. Among the historic...
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Old Structures...
Ancient Sensationalism Sometimes you learn a little historical nugget and you don’t think about it. It sits in the back of...
3 months ago
30

Ancient Sensationalism

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Sometimes you learn a little historical nugget and you don’t think about it. It sits in the back of your head for years – decades, actually, in this case – until you’re reminded of it. The murder of Gulielma Sands in 1799 is a good example. It was a tragedy for Ms. Sands and a...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: A Busy Intersection Daredevil battles Stiltman – possibly the most ridiculous villain Marvel has invented – at the...
4 months ago
30

It Looked Familiar: A Busy Intersection

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
Daredevil battles Stiltman – possibly the most ridiculous villain Marvel has invented – at the corner of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, with the Chrysler Building on the left and the Socony-Mobil Building on the right. Also, per the Landmarks Preservation Commission:
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Old Structures...
Messy First I apologize for the reflections and glare artifacts in the picture: trying to get a decent...
a month ago
30

Messy

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
First I apologize for the reflections and glare artifacts in the picture: trying to get a decent photo through a clean and polished storefront window on a sunny day is a frustrating endeavor. But at least that gives a second meaning to the post title. Second – but really first –...
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Old Structures...
Genteel That’s the Hotel Marlborough at 36th Street and Broadway, shortly after 1900. The hotel opened in...
a month ago
29

Genteel

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
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...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Wha? From a 25-years-old Avengers story: a man sees some news on televsion: The Verrazano Narrows Bridge,...
4 months ago
29

It Looked Familiar: Wha?

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
From a 25-years-old Avengers story: a man sees some news on televsion: The Verrazano Narrows Bridge, huh? It sure looks like something else…
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Old Structures...
A Generational Change A view of Park Avenue by Angelo Rizzuto from June 1959m looking south. The big tower on the left is...
9 months ago
29

A Generational Change

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
A view of Park Avenue by Angelo Rizzuto from June 1959m looking south. The big tower on the left is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, with St. Bart’s in front of it; the ornate tower that seemingly ends the avenue is the New York Central Building, not yet sold by the railroad and...
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Old Structures...
A Thomas Nast Holiday – 2 of 3 Santa looks a bit like Horace Greeley in this one.
a year ago
29

A Thomas Nast Holiday – 2 of 3

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
Santa looks a bit like Horace Greeley in this one.
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: A Project Tony Stark and Emma Frost – currently in a sham marriage – take a stroll: Bridge 28 in Central Park...
7 months ago
29

It Looked Familiar: A Project

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

7 months ago
Tony Stark and Emma Frost – currently in a sham marriage – take a stroll: Bridge 28 in Central Park – currently in restoration – where we’re working: If you don’t see it, look at the iron handrail.
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Old Structures...
Big I sometimes wonder how much my interest in steel construction comes from looking at the structure of...
5 months ago
29

Big

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
I sometimes wonder how much my interest in steel construction comes from looking at the structure of elevated portions of the subway system when I was kid. Under the M train in Glenwood:
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Old Structures...
Originality Is Not Easy, Part 2 A piece of a patent – number 612,365 to Willard Sears, applied for March 16, 1898, and awarded...
4 months ago
29

Originality Is Not Easy, Part 2

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4 months ago
A piece of a patent – number 612,365 to Willard Sears, applied for March 16, 1898, and awarded October 11, 1898 – titled “Construction of Buildings”: Like yesterday’s patent, this is a riff on the then-new concepts of skeleton-frame buildings, with the exterior walls supported on...
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Old Structures...
The Right Angle I’m not working on any of the buildings in this photo, but if I were… Raking sunlight is a fantastic...
10 months ago
29

The Right Angle

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
I’m not working on any of the buildings in this photo, but if I were… Raking sunlight is a fantastic way to get information about a facade. Any out-of-plane geometry is immediately visible as a shadow. You can see the natural irregularity of a brick wall: and a bulge that might...
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Old Structures...
Top To Bottom From Scientific American, December 8, 1894, an interesting view of two buildings: drawings that...
a month ago
29

Top To Bottom

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
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...
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Old Structures...
A Holdout In January 1958, Angelo Rizzuto took this photo from the east side of Lexington Avenue, between 53rd...
8 months ago
29

A Holdout

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
In January 1958, Angelo Rizzuto took this photo from the east side of Lexington Avenue, between 53rd and 54th Streets, looking west toward Park Avenue. The block bounded by those four streets was at that time entirely empty except for this old rowhouse at 620 Lexington. It was...
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Old Structures...
Shorter From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, two pictures of St. George’s Episcopal Church at the...
3 months ago
29

Shorter

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, two pictures of St. George’s Episcopal Church at the corner of 16th Street and Rutherford Place, on the west side of Stuyvesant Square: Something seems different…can’t quite put my finger on it… The spires were removed in 1889, 33...
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Old Structures...
Infrastructure Density From 1954, “Sunnyside Yards” probably requires some explanation for people unfamiliar with western...
6 months ago
28

Infrastructure Density

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

6 months ago
From 1954, “Sunnyside Yards” probably requires some explanation for people unfamiliar with western Queens. The yard (foreground) was built with Penn Station in the aughts because there was simply not enough room near the station, in Manhattan, for a proper yard. So, except for a...
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Old Structures...
An APT Webinar I’m giving a webinar on February 27 for the Association for Preservation Technology on our analysis...
11 months ago
28

An APT Webinar

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
I’m giving a webinar on February 27 for the Association for Preservation Technology on our analysis of a somewhat weird building with concrete and masonry structure, and the implications for investigation and analysis of buildings with old concrete structure. More information...
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Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 1 – Overall When I was in London a few weeks ago, David Kelly and Chris Tucker of Fortis Facades were kind...
10 months ago
28

Adelaide House, Part 1 – Overall

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
When I was in London a few weeks ago, David Kelly and Chris Tucker of Fortis Facades were kind enough to give me a thorough tour of Adelaide House, a 1925 landmark building currently in renovation. They’re working on the facade, but the tour included both the facade and the...
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Old Structures...
Smooth Still in Montreal, the roof of a now enclosed, formerly (I think) open areaway in front of a high...
2 months ago
28

Smooth

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
Still in Montreal, the roof of a now enclosed, formerly (I think) open areaway in front of a high rise: In case that’s difficult to make out, it’s a glass slab roof supported on laminated glass beams. The hand belongs to Will Teron, who was standing on the same stair landing I...
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Old Structures...
Pro Tip, As They Say A slightly-redacted photo from a Brooklyn site visit, showing a diagram on the wall in a maintenance...
3 months ago
28

Pro Tip, As They Say

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
A slightly-redacted photo from a Brooklyn site visit, showing a diagram on the wall in a maintenance room: No one I spoke to had floor plans of any kind for the building. I knew it had a steel frame but not where the interior columns were. And then, during a site visit, a handy...
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Old Structures...
Housekeeping The two-site business is done. Oldstructures.nyc now redirects to Oldstructyres.com, so everyone is...
a year ago
28

Housekeeping

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
The two-site business is done. Oldstructures.nyc now redirects to Oldstructyres.com, so everyone is seeing the same, new website. We’re still working some kinks out. If you have an email or WordPress subscription to the website, I think you’ll have to update it. Or maybe not, who...
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Old Structures...
The Back Side I’ve discussed the old Croton Distributing Reservoir several times before. It was the southernmost...
10 months ago
28

The Back Side

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
I’ve discussed the old Croton Distributing Reservoir several times before. It was the southernmost visible part of New York’s first really good water system, and occupied the same spot that the New York Public Library does today: 40th to 42nd Street, from Fifth Avenue to a little...
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Old Structures...
The Public Realm This is the 1895 firehouse constructed for Engine Company 31 and Battalion 2 of the Fire Department...
5 months ago
28

The Public Realm

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
This is the 1895 firehouse constructed for Engine Company 31 and Battalion 2 of the Fire Department of New York, at Lafayette and White Streets. The fire department facilities were moved elsewhere over 50 years ago, but the building is landmarked and reusable, so it has been...
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Old Structures...
A Story With A Happy Ending There’s a moral at the end of this story – a story which has nothing to do with engineering,...
11 months ago
28

A Story With A Happy Ending

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
There’s a moral at the end of this story – a story which has nothing to do with engineering, architecture, construction, or NYC history – that has something to do with engineering, architecture, and construction, and maybe NYC history as well. I like mechanical keyboards, with a...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Under One of the most formal elements in Central Park is the Bethesda Fountain and Terrace, just south of...
3 months ago
28

It Looked Familiar: Under

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
One of the most formal elements in Central Park is the Bethesda Fountain and Terrace, just south of The Lake. The terrace overlooks the fountain from the elevation of the 72nd Street crosstown drive, and has three sets of stairs leading down; the undercroft of the terrace is a...
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Old Structures...
Elsewhere in the Archipelago After more than 30 years, it will soon be possible for the public to again visit Hart Island, at...
a year ago
27

Elsewhere in the Archipelago

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
After more than 30 years, it will soon be possible for the public to again visit Hart Island, at least on some days and as part of guided tours. Given the nature of the island – it’s been the potter’s field for New York City for over 150 years – it’s a slightly weird place to go,...
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Old Structures...
Look Closely For A Surprise This 1900 map of Manhattan looks, at first glance to be simply another detailed map with building...
11 months ago
27

Look Closely For A Surprise

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
This 1900 map of Manhattan looks, at first glance to be simply another detailed map with building outlines shown: But there’s a surprise when you zoom in: The buildings are little isometric drawings rather than just outlines. They’re not particularly accurate drawings – I...
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Old Structures...
Look, Ma! No Hands! There is absolutely nothing unique about a masonry flat arch serving as a window head, but it’s...
9 months ago
27

Look, Ma! No Hands!

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
There is absolutely nothing unique about a masonry flat arch serving as a window head, but it’s relatively rare on steel-frame buildings like this 1920s apartment house on the Upper East Side. There are two tip-offs that it’s a real arch and not just a cleverly-hidden lintel:...
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Old Structures...
The Power of Drawing Another Cass Gilbert sketch, “Looking west from corner 5th ave + 42nd St”, from June 1917. Based on...
10 months ago
27

The Power of Drawing

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Another Cass Gilbert sketch, “Looking west from corner 5th ave + 42nd St”, from June 1917. Based on the angle, he was standing on the northwestern corner of the intersection. The generally most interesting building nearby is the New York Public Library; the dark scribbles on the...
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Old Structures...
The Queen Anne Style Is Rare In New York I was on the Upper East Side and saw two houses that don’t quite fit in on Park Avenue north of 69th...
a year ago
27

The Queen Anne Style Is Rare In New York

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
I was on the Upper East Side and saw two houses that don’t quite fit in on Park Avenue north of 69th Street. Those two rowhouses are listed in the records of the Upper East Side Historic District as having been built between 1882 and 1885 as part of a larger row, with the other...
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Old Structures...
Different Types of Commercial Use From 1880, a view of Broadway looking north from Morris Street to Trinity Church. Given how deserted...
10 months ago
27

Different Types of Commercial Use

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
From 1880, a view of Broadway looking north from Morris Street to Trinity Church. Given how deserted it is, it’s either early in the morning on a weekend or a holiday. Wm. M Fleiss & Co, on the left, is at 47 Broadway. Broadway is lined with office and loft buildings which are...
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Old Structures...
Quite Far I was at a project site in Rockaway this week. As the crow flies, about 13 or 14 miles from the...
a month ago
27

Quite Far

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
I was at a project site in Rockaway this week. As the crow flies, about 13 or 14 miles from the office; by subway about 18 miles and a little over an hour. (It would have been less, but the lift bridge on the train causeway was open for a boat to pass.) Apple Maps […]
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Old Structures...
Sequencing In Detailing That’s an illustration from a 1913 article called “Engineering Design Of The Woolworth Building”...
12 months ago
27

Sequencing In Detailing

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

12 months ago
That’s an illustration from a 1913 article called “Engineering Design Of The Woolworth Building” from The American Architect. That’s the design of the most heavily-loaded columns in the building, below the tower. To put it in perspective, that built-up column, composed of plates...
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Old Structures...
Snobbishness From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, a caption writer with an attitude: Here’s the original...
a month ago
27

Snobbishness

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, a caption writer with an attitude: Here’s the original photo: I agree that City Hall is a fine building. It’s unexpectedly small for the city, but its size made sense when it was completed in 1812. The city government would not today...
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Old Structures...
A Last Remnant I’ve mentioned before the way that the numbered street grid was literally cut though the once-hilly...
9 months ago
27

A Last Remnant

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9 months ago
I’ve mentioned before the way that the numbered street grid was literally cut though the once-hilly topography of Manhattan Island. It’s hard to find visible evidence of that process today. The Dyckman Farmhouse, near the north end of the island and dating to 1784, is on a hill...
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Old Structures...
Waste Not, Something Something I was passing through Tribeca last week and came across this little building. Very, very little....
11 months ago
27

Waste Not, Something Something

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
I was passing through Tribeca last week and came across this little building. Very, very little. Three stories tall, maybe 40 feet wide, and about four feet deep on the left and maybe a luxurious ten or fifteen feet deep on the right. You know you’re in a city where real estate...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Newsy A dying world from a horror comic called “Epitaphs from the Abyss”: What’s that on the right? The...
2 months ago
27

It Looked Familiar: Newsy

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
A dying world from a horror comic called “Epitaphs from the Abyss”: What’s that on the right? The New York Times Building as seen from Times Square (from the north) in 1908:
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Old Structures...
That Looks Old I was on my way to a site in Greenwich Village and came across this group at 12th Street and Hudson...
11 months ago
26

That Looks Old

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
I was on my way to a site in Greenwich Village and came across this group at 12th Street and Hudson Street: This is in the Greenwich Village Historic District, so I knew I could find a capsule history of the buildings with minimal effort, but I took a look at the usual fire maps....
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Unmistakable The Shadow returns home: R.M.S Olympic at sea: (It is surprisingly difficult to find a good view of...
8 months ago
26

It Looked Familiar: Unmistakable

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

8 months ago
The Shadow returns home: R.M.S Olympic at sea: (It is surprisingly difficult to find a good view of the ship from the rear. The front three-quarter view is the dramatic cutting-through-the-waves view, as well as being somehow less creepy.) Given how similar Olympic was to...
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Old Structures...
Three Dimentionality I was in Minneapolis a few months ago and took some pictures of the Lumber Exchange, one of the...
11 months ago
26

Three Dimentionality

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
I was in Minneapolis a few months ago and took some pictures of the Lumber Exchange, one of the first tall buildings constructed there. Here’s an overall view of the original wing (the building is L shaped, with the wings constructed at different times): It’s not deserted – the...
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Old Structures...
Happy Christmas I’m not so sure about that vest.
a month ago
26

Happy Christmas

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
I’m not so sure about that vest.
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Old Structures...
Imagine Standing There Every so often, I mention New York’s industrial past. Compared to a truly industrial city like...
11 months ago
26

Imagine Standing There

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

11 months ago
Every so often, I mention New York’s industrial past. Compared to a truly industrial city like Philadelphia or Chicago, it’s small-scale stuff, but compared to the present it’s astonishing. Looking at one of the parts of the city devoted to industry before 1920, it’s hard to...
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Old Structures...
Overgrowth It’s worth taking a look at two pictures of Newspaper Row/Printing House Square. First, around 1900:...
10 months ago
26

Overgrowth

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
It’s worth taking a look at two pictures of Newspaper Row/Printing House Square. First, around 1900: Second, 1936, from Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York” project. We have the same line-up in both pictures, from left to right: The World Building, the Tribune Building, the New...
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Old Structures...
New Year’s 1909 According to Puck, a trip to New York is the safety valve that keeps Brother Straightlace, leading...
a year ago
26

New Year’s 1909

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
According to Puck, a trip to New York is the safety valve that keeps Brother Straightlace, leading the simple life, from blowing up. Opinions vary.
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Old Structures...
Sideways One of our stranger projects… The pictures below show a sidewalk vault in Manhattan. The vault...
2 months ago
26

Sideways

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
One of our stranger projects… The pictures below show a sidewalk vault in Manhattan. The vault extends from the sidewalk (its roof) down two floors or about 25 feet, and was built around 1895. Since reinforced-concrete was still in its infancy then, it was not used for foundation...
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Old Structures...
Too Perfect Yet another view of lower Broadway, this time from 1908. It’s low resolution and artificially...
10 months ago
26

Too Perfect

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
Yet another view of lower Broadway, this time from 1908. It’s low resolution and artificially colored, so it’s really more of an illustration than a photo, but good enough for a postcard. This picture bothers me and it took me a while to realize why. The issue exists for a lot of...
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Old Structures...
Travelog: Minimal Observation How much can you determine about a building in a minute or two? The short answer is “not much” but...
10 months ago
26

Travelog: Minimal Observation

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
How much can you determine about a building in a minute or two? The short answer is “not much” but sometimes you can get useful information about the structure from the street. It’s certainly easier if you know the history of the area – I am far more efficient at building...
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Old Structures...
The Big Time We’re working on the Gothic Bridge in Central Park, seen above. Tim went to the night-before prep...
a year ago
26

The Big Time

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
We’re working on the Gothic Bridge in Central Park, seen above. Tim went to the night-before prep for the Thanksgiving parade and found this float: And then he watched the parade on TV and found it again, second from the end:
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Pre-1968 Batman climbs a skyscraper: Apparently, the Singer Building. Here’s a view of its top circa 1920:...
3 months ago
26

It Looked Familiar: Pre-1968

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3 months ago
Batman climbs a skyscraper: Apparently, the Singer Building. Here’s a view of its top circa 1920: And in 1967, with some scaffolding in place to begin its demolition:
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Old Structures...
Martin Luther King Jr. Day A few comments about today’s holiday. First, if you’re so inclined, the city Parks Department has...
a year ago
26

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
A few comments about today’s holiday. First, if you’re so inclined, the city Parks Department has opportunities for public service: here. Otherwise, memorials and celebrations: here. Some of the permanent memorials to King in New York: here. Some of his relationship to New York...
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Old Structures...
Once Again, In Plastic The restoration of Notre Dame deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it, but have I...
a month ago
25

Once Again, In Plastic

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a month ago
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...
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Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Bonus Geekiness For the end-of-summer holiday weekend, an extra. Daredevil makes a new friend: That’s one of the...
5 months ago
25

It Looked Familiar: Bonus Geekiness

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

5 months ago
For the end-of-summer holiday weekend, an extra. Daredevil makes a new friend: That’s one of the eagle hood-ornament sculptures at the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building. They’ve been fascinating people since Chrysler was first built. There’s a very big but not famous building...
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Old Structures...
Building, Blocks I looked up a bit more than usual today on a street that I’m on three or four times per week, and...
2 months ago
25

Building, Blocks

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

2 months ago
I looked up a bit more than usual today on a street that I’m on three or four times per week, and got this nice rear view of 75 Broad Street. The upper setbacks and tower are aligned with the overall cityscape; the lower base is aligned with ther curve of South William Street....
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Old Structures...
Skyscraperiness As I’ve said many times, in many venues, there really isn’t an objective description of...
10 months ago
25

Skyscraperiness

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
As I’ve said many times, in many venues, there really isn’t an objective description of “skyscraper.” That said, nearly everyone’s subjective definition contains a version of the idea that a skyscraper is tall for its context. Here’s an Irving Underhill photo centered on the...
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Old Structures...
Ephemeral Elephant I mentioned the Colossus of Coney Island once before, but it’s time to expand on that a bit. (The...
a year ago
25

Ephemeral Elephant

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

a year ago
I mentioned the Colossus of Coney Island once before, but it’s time to expand on that a bit. (The fact that I mentioned this building three and a half years ago and did not remember having done so until I searched for it makes me wonder if I’ve written too many blog posts.)...
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Old Structures...
History From Afar This is a fantastic, if weirdly inaccurate, map from 1840. It was, according to the text at the...
10 months ago
25

History From Afar

from Old Structures Engineering [alt+shift+b] in architecture

10 months ago
This is a fantastic, if weirdly inaccurate, map from 1840. It was, according to the text at the bottom, “Published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge”, located in London. I am all for the diffusion of useful knowledge, but the problem with this map is that its...
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