Category Archives: Collections

Astor Place and Vicinity

Collections, Manhattan, , , ,

The Cooper Union Foundation Building has New York City and National landmark status, as the first building in the U.S. to use steel beams. Across the street on Cooper Square is the equally striking Arthur Nerken School of Engineering. Next door is sail-shaped Cooper Square Hotel.

It seems that every block in the area has a landmark – or future landmark – building. Hey, even the local K-Mart is in a landmark building, the former Wanamaker Department Store Annex.

Here’s a brief tour to whet your appetite.

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East River Bridges

Bronx, Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, Queens, , , ,

New York has more than 75 bridges connecting the boroughs to each other and to New Jersey. It’s fascinating how so many different engineers came up with so many different solutions for the same problem: How to cross a river. Here are views of some of the principal East River bridges.

To come: Bronx-Whitestone, Throggs Neck and Rikers Island bridges.

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Riverside Drive

Collections, Manhattan, , , , ,

Riverside Drive was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted – part of the package with Riverside Park. As part of the park’s scheme, the route is scenic – full of curves, dips and rises – not straight as the city’s grid pattern would dictate. The buildings along Riverside Drive try to live up to the scenic expectation; most were built in the era when lavish decoration and detailing were fashionable.

Riverside Drive extends from West 72nd Street to 153rd Street; this photo gallery covers the area up to 123rd Street.

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Union Square

Collections, Manhattan, , , , ,

Union Square is ever-changing, though many surrounding buildings have stayed the same.

At one time known for political rallies and the annual May Day rally, the park was overrun by druggies in the ’70s. Union Square has since been cleaned up – figuratively and literally – with new fences, new landscaping and new pavement from East 14th Street to East 17th Street. The peddlers are still out in force, though their products are now veggies, art and souvenirs instead of drugs.

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Statues

Architecture, Collections, Parks & Monuments,

Statues are part of the “built environment” of architecture; they help to define and decorate our spaces. Some statues are better known than their locations; some are so obscure you’ll only see them by accident. New York has plenty of both categories, which we will include. However, we haven’t gone on a statue-hunting expedition – these photos are incidental to other categories, so this gallery will continue to expand over time.

We’re using an arbitrary definition of statue here – a representation of a real person. Thus, we include Hans Christian Anderson but exclude Alice in Wonderland (who lives happily ever after within the Sculptures gallery).