A Pictorial Description of Broadway in 1899
Broadway, East Side. Wall to Liberty St. (Courtesy NYPL)
Last week, we came across illustrator James Gilliver Hancock’s series of playful block elevations titled “All the Buildings in New York.” It turns out this impulse to sketch block upon block of New York’s architecture has been around for quite some time. In 1899, the Mail & Express newspaper company published a graphic journey down Manhattan’s Broadway in a book called A Pictorial description of Broadway now archived at the New York Public Library.
The stroll down Broadway 112 years ago reveals just how much New York has evolved over the past century. As the NYPL says, “The result, as you can see here, is a 19th century version of Google’s Street View, allowing us to flip through the images block by block, passing parks, churches, novelty stores, furriers, glaziers, and other businesses of the city’s past.”
Last Chance> Paradise Lost in New York
Courtesy Andrea Blum
- Paradise Lost by Andrea Blum
- Sikkema Jenkins & Co
- 530 W. 22 Street
- New York, NY
- Through March 5
The dialogue between architects and artists in New York is one of the great-if often over looked- strengths of practice in this city. In fact, many architects visit New York not to see the latest building, but the exhibits in its galleries and museums. It has been the case, at least since MOMA’s epic modernism exhibit of 1932 and later Frederic Kielser’s Endless House series of exhibitions that the conversation between architects and artists in this city is endlessly complex and without equal in any other city.
Quick Clicks> On Decq, Walkup, Toxic Town, Pei OK
Shanghai Information Center by Odile Decq (Courtesy Odile Decq)
Odile Speaks. French architect Odile Decq, designer of the recently completed Macro Museum in Rome, will be delivering a lecture at Hunter College in New York on Friday, March 4. The event takes place on the second floor of the MFA building (450 West 41st Street) at 6:00 PM.
Walk-way-up. At 45 stories, a skyscraper in Caracas, Venezuela could be the world’s tallest walk-up. The New York Times has the story of the stalled tower that’s now home to some 2,500 squatters. While the building lacks amenities like an elevator, proper bathrooms, or guardrails, it’s said to offer a commanding view of the surrounding city.
Toxic Town. Forbes ranks the ten most toxic cities in America and Philadelphia rises up as champion – toxic champion. Based on air and water quality, Superfund sites, and data from the EPA, the list generalizes that the west coast suffers from morbid air quality while New York, 4th worst, could improve its water quality.
Pei Okay. The Wall Street Journal reviews I.M. Pei’s Manhattan Centurion apartment building and finds that it “embodies an unfussy, functional, and elegant ethos that elevates it well above the schlocky residential construction now omnipresent in New York City.” Pei collaborated with his son on the project, which might not be their last.
Event> Architecture-Made Music
Diagram of Blake Carrington's Cathedral Scan (Courtesy Blake Carrington)
Architecture is often referred to as frozen music, but with a little digital technology, artist Blake Carrington has learned to capture the “diverse rhythms, drones and textures” from the stone walls of cathedrals. In his aural performances called Cathedral Scan, Carrington uses a church’s floor plan combined with the space’s unique acoustics to create to generate his his unique architectural sounds. Here’s more from the artist:
Groups of scanners filling the sonic spectrum may act in synch, forming a single harmonically-dense rhythm, or they may scan the plans at different speeds, resulting in complex polyrhythms. Each plan is treated as a modular score, with a distinct rhythm and timbre of its own. Also, by varying the speed and intensity of each scanning group, drone-like sounds may emerge based on the “resonant frequency” of the black and white plan.
This Thursday, March 3, Carrington will reveal the hidden sound of New York’s Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral for a CD release concert. He will be joined by audiovisual artists Mark Cetilia (of Mem1) and Kamran Sadeghi. More information on the AN events diary. (Via BldgBlog.)
Quick Clicks> Wren, Denver, Pike, & Livability
London Skyline with Wren's cathedral at right (Courtesy James Cridland/flickr)
Wren’s Dome. Some 300 years ago, Christopher Wren completed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Now with today’s modern icons transforming the city’s skyline, the Telegraph pays homage to his lasting landmark amongst the new “Shards, Gherkins and distorted walkie-talkie-shaped skyscrapers.”
Green Mile High. The Editor-at-Large brings news that the USGBC has named Denver the “greenest” city in the United States with about 230 LEED registered or certified buildings. Two have earned LEED Platinum since 2010.
Pike Park. StreetsBlog reports that construction has begun on permanent Pike Street pedestrian improvements to be completed this fall in Manhattan. The project replaces temporary materials DOT installed in 2009 to calm traffic along Pike and Allen streets.
Shut Out. Reuter’s has the list of the world’s most (and least) livable cities ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Vancouver topped the list (Harare, Zimbabwe came in last). No city in the United States managed to break into the top ten.
Space Available on the High Line
Space Available by Kim Beck, 2008 (Courtesy High Line)
This Friday, three massive billboards will debut along the High Line, but instead of blasting consumerism, the art installation by Kim Beck hopes to provoke visitors to think of public space. From the High Line: “Kim’s work will encourage park visitors to reconsider the water towers, exhaust pipes, HVAC systems, roof decks, green roofs, and other building elements that are integral components of the cityscape views along the High Line.”
Called Space Available, Beck will install three “skeletal” blank billboards. Experiencing the signs from different angles can provide the illusion of three dimensionality, when in fact each sign is really flat.
Video> Pick Up The Pace, New York
Still from Josh Owens' NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse
If you thought the pace of life in Manhattan couldn’t get any more hectic, think again. Photographer Josh Owens has compiled a stunning collection of time lapse scenes from around New York. Despite its fast pace, there’s something distinctly calming about the hustle. (Via swissmiss.)
Quick Clicks> Legos, Towers, Loop, Rich Zip
Towering Ambition at the National Building Museum (Courtesy Andrew Bossi/flickr)
Towering Ambition. An amazing exhibition that recreates some of the world’s most iconic buildings in miniature is ongoing at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C through September 5th. Design Quarterly has more info on the Lego structures by Adam Reed Tucker (via Notcot) and the NBM has an interview. (There’s also a lecture on architectural toys planned this Thursday.)
High Hopes. The Atlantic features an Ed Glaeser article on the benefits of building up, detailing the benefits of the skyscraper and acknowledging the “misplaced fear” that planners and preservationists harbor toward the tower.
Loop the Loop. In St. Louis, a proposed streetcar line connecting Forest Park with the Delmar Loop is right on track. With an Environmental Impact Study expected any day now, the St. Louis Business Journal says $3 million of a $25 million federal grant will push the project forward.
Rich Zip. New York’s bronze-clad Seagram Building by Mies van der Rohe has long been a symbol of wealth, but now the Wall Street Journal reports that the 38-story tower, with its own zip code (10152 if you were wondering), is also home to the wealthiest per capita income in the U.S. at $13.9 mil. The General Motors building came in second with an average income of $9.9M.
Quick Clicks> Scanning, Aedas, Retro, Epic Growth
Mayor Bloomberg demonstrates how to scan QR codes on building permits. Photo: Edward Reed/flickr.
Vox populi. Complaining just got easier for neighborhood watchdogs in NYC. This week Mayor Bloomberg announced that building permits posted at construction sites will soon have QR (Quick Response) codes that can be scanned by smart phones. A wave of the wrist will bring up all the particulars of the construction site online and allow passers-by to report anything amiss or just find out more about project. More details about digitization of the buildings department on the mayor’s website.
Gardens grows. The Architect’s Journal reports that Aedas, Glenn Howells, and Jestico + Whiles have been selected to design the replacement for Robin Hood Gardens housing complex in east London. The plan for the £500 million development includes the demolition of the early 1970s buildings designed by Alison and Peter Smithson.
Midlife crisis. Owners of mid-century modern homes in Massachusetts are retrofitting aging residences designed by TAC and other firms, equipping them for the future and saving them from the wrecking ball in the process, writes Kathleen Burge in the Boston Globe.
Before and after, epic version. Web Urbanist presents the rise of the modern metropolis through a series of eye-popping images. (Shenzen, China wins for most dramatic transformation, while New York 1954 and New York 2009 look eerily similar.)
Quick Clicks> Cooper, Dharavi, Evolution, Charts
35 Cooper Square in 1917 (Courtesy Bowery Alliance)
Keeping Cooper. There’s a fight brewing over the demolition of the 186-year-old 35 Cooper Square. A demolition permit had been issued and subsequent stop work orders and candlelight vigils. The small federal style structure was once home to descendants of Peter Stuyvesant and beatnik Diane DiPrima. Keep tabs on the little building at EV Grieve and the Bowery Alliance (And in other Cooper Square preservation news, what’s going to happen to the Astor Place mosaics under the planned pedestrian plaza upgrades?)
Slum for Sale. In the heart of Mumbai, India, the Dharavi settlement is under pressure to redevlop. Polis has a review of a new documentary on the struggles of a “city tearing at the seams” trying to balance capital growth and the needs of its inhabitants.
Urban Evolution. Cities are constantly changing, but we rarely take the big step back and look at how an area has evolved over, say, the past 500 years. Aid Watch put together a visual history of one block in New York’s Soho neighborhood, from wilderness, to brothel central, to home of high-end retail. (Via Economix.)
Infographic. Gothamist uncovers an interesting chart comparing Chicago and New York by the statistics. Categories include miles of transit track, cost of living, and even who has better pizza.
Check out an even older view of 35 Cooper Square after the jump.
Quick Clicks> Drawing, Green, Aerial, Plans
Rivington Street, All the Buildings in New York, by James Gulliver Hancock
Block by Block. Brooklyn-based illustrator James Gulliver Hancock is attempting to draw All the Buildings in New York in quite beautiful pen and ink sketches like the one above. Watch a video of the artist explaining his inspirations, style, and how a chained up wheelchair is architecture after the jump. (via Gothamist.)
Leeders. Blair Kamin discusses the competitive race to build green among major cities today. Chicago is still number one for the most LEED-certified buildings, but the self-proclaimed “greenest city in America” faces some stiff competition.
Aerial. Building Design is running a new series of aerial photos showing progress at the 2012 Olympics site in London. 12,000 workers are reportedly on site working on the main stadium, aquatics center, and arena.
Master Plan. Now that South Sudan’s national independence has been approved, Sudan Votes reports that the government has revealed a model of a planned new capital city to replace the chaotic regional capital Juba, but not everyone is happy with the move. (via Planetizen.)
Quick Clicks> Apples, Trains, Fields, Banks
Grand Central to get Apple but no glass cube. flickr/Randy Le'Moine
Apple takes another bite. Once famous for its oysters, Grand Central will now be known for its Apples. Cult of Mac reports that the computer giant plans to open their biggest retail outlet yet, which will, no doubt be as busy as Grand Central Station.
High speed posturing. If you don’t want it, we’ll take it! That’s the message being sent out by Democratic governors to their Republican counterparts who are rejecting infrastructure dollars. Huff-Po’s Sam Stein notes that governors from New York, Washington, and California are lining up to take Florida Governor Rick Scott’s rejected $2 billion in federal funding for high speed rail line.
Goal! One more hurdle to go. DNA reports that Columbia’s Baker Field got the green light from the City Planning Commission to build the Steven Holl designed Campbell Sports Center. Part of the plan includes a James Corner/Field Operations-designed park and 17,000 square feet of restored marsh and shoreline.
Pool Hall Banking. A 1916 bank building on Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street will take on an adaptive reuse that its architect Horace Trumbauer surely never dreamed of. PlanPhilly reports that developer Paul Giegerich is thinking of turning the architect’s two story cathedral of commerce into a swanky pool hall with food created by a star (Steven Starr to be exact).
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