Category Archives: Collections

Geometrics

Collections, Manhattan, , ,

Geometrics is a gallery of New York architecture photos that I like for their strong lines and colors. Photos that are eye candy, more than documentary.

Click the Fullscreen link above the photos, and then the Play icon at the bottom, for a full screen slideshow. Press Esc to return to normal.

From time to time I’ll be adding to or changing this gallery, so if you’re a fan of geometry in architecture, please come back to visit.

In case you’re curious, the list below are the names and locations of buildings used in this gallery. Most are buildings that have their own individual galleries – click the links to explore.

Geometrics Buildings

Random: May 2014

Collections, Manhattan, , , , ,

Highlights from photos shot in May, 2014 – but not yet added to a New York neighborhood or specific building gallery. Mostly architecture, some whimsical, all except the last five in Lower Manhattan; the last five (Prada entrance) are from the Upper East Side.

These were all taken May 17, 18 & 20, while I was shooting residential buildings.

I started out in Chinatown, walked to the East River, then down to the Battery. I used the Staten Island Ferry Terminal as a viewpoint for some of the photos, and gathered the rest while walking up Broadway; the last five (Prada entrance) I spotted while walking down Madison Avenue.

Enjoy!

In this album:
  1. 202 Centre Street
  2. Takin’ his Chevy to the levee…
  3. Mulberry Street fire escape
  4. Mott Street
  5. God Bless America, Land of Firearms
  6. Brooklyn Heights
  7. Sheriff’s car at Wall Street Heliport
  8. Governor’s Island Ferry Terminal
  9. Governor’s Island Ferry Terminal
  10. 20 West Street
  11. 33 & 3 – 33 Whitehall Street and 3 NY Plaza
  12. 33 & 3 – 33 Whitehall Street and 3 NY Plaza
  13. 33 & 3 – 33 Whitehall Street and 3 NY Plaza
  14. Custom Reflection
  15. Trinity Church
  16. 2 Rector Street
  17. 40 Wall Street (Trump Building)
  18. Old & New
  19. Old & New
  20. Detail: Europe (Alexander Hamilton US Custom House)
  21. Trinity Building cupola
  22. 29 Broadway
  23. 2 Rector Street
  24. Trinity Building cupola
  25. Trinity Church
  26. Trinity Building entrance
  27. Trinity Building entrance
  28. United States Realty Building entrance
  29. Park Row Building – north tower
  30. Surrogate’s Court
  31. Surrogate’s Court
  32. Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building
  33. A Six Park
  34. Batty
  35. Smoker
  36. Blue
  37. Purple
  38. Who Me?
  39. Pair of Hooters
  40. Brass Bird
  41. Brass Bird
  42. Grace Church detail
  43. Grace Church detail
  44. 808 Broadway
  45. Roosevelt Building
  46. Clock. Tower.
  47. Entry detail [1]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  48. Entry detail [2]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  49. Entry detail [3]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  50. Entry detail [4]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  51. Entry detail [5]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street

Financial District Revisited

Collections, Manhattan, , ,

The Financial District is where New York City’s architectural diversity started, and where it still flourishes thanks to preservation. From West Street east to Water Street, Cedar Street south to Battery Park, it seems that every other building is a past or future landmark. Nothing that I write here even comes close to doing the district justice.

Recycling seems to be a big part of the area’s preservation: Office buildings that might otherwise have been razed have been converted to condos, hotels and even schools.

Photographers will find lots to snap – and lots of challenges. The “canyons” metaphor is so appropriate for the Wall Street area – tall buildings and very narrow streets: Some building facades are in almost perpetual shadow; some of the most interesting architectural details can only be seen from blocks away. Post-9/11 and Occupy Wall Street barricades limit your viewpoints. Last but not least, this is a huge tourist attraction, so resign yourself: A photo of the George Washington statue on the steps of Federal Hall will include goofy strangers in sometimes weird poses.

Included Buildings
  • 1 New York Plaza
  • 33 Whitehall Street
  • 3 New York Plaza
  • 60 Wall Street
  • American International Building (70 Pine Street)
  • ITT Building
  • 67 Wall Street (Crest Lofts, originally Munson Building)
  • 50 Broad Street
  • 80 Broad Street
  • 90 Broad Street
  • William Beaver House (15 William Street)
  • Trump Building (40 Wall Street)
  • 18 Beaver Street
  • 20 Exchange Place
  • 30 Wall Street
  • Liberty Tower
  • Trinity Building

Random: April 2014

Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Highlights from photos shot in April, 2014 – but not yet added to a New York neighborhood or specific building gallery.

In this album:
  • Metro theater, Broadway at W 99th Street – go there, see how the neighboring tower facade mimics the theater accent lines.
  • Saint Michael’s R. C. Church, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I was drawn to the church’s unusual steeple, but on closer examination the doors were more interesting.
  • Belvedere Castle, Central Park. For a change, I decided to frame the shot.
  • The Alexandria apartments, 201 W 72nd Street at Broadway. The cascade of ladders reveals facade repairs in progress.
  • 171 E 77th Street – terra cotta grill detail.
  • French Embassy Cultural Services – the doors of adjoining buildings on Fifth Avenue (975 and 972) next to the Ukrainian Institute.
  • Guggenheim Museum detail.
  • The Capitol Apartments, 12 E 87th Street. The top half of the cornice was removed; the remaining brackets give the roofline a toothed appearance.
  • Park Avenue Synagogue. Beautiful detailing.
  • 67 and 65 E 93rd Street. Notice the “65” in the transom grille.
  • Essex House: the iconic sign on Central Park South is now reflected in One57, the apartment tower two blocks behind (south).
  • The Dorilton: I usually shoot the maidens head on. This time I shot from the side, to bring them closer together – conversational distance.

Long Island City Walkabout

Collections, Queens,

This post started as a simple collection of interesting architecture in my neighborhood, Long Island City / Astoria. Then I found a couple of oddities that roused my curiosity.

On the east side of 33rd Street between 34th Avenue and Broadway I found an old two-story wood-frame house, clad in cedar shakes, built diagonally across the lot. That was odd in itself, but right next to it were a pair of low-rise brick apartment buildings with two sets of house numbers. A resident of the block told me that the oddly-angled house was originally a farmhouse, built before there were streets in the area. He had no explanation for the double-numbered buildings.

According to the online New York City Map, the “farmhouse” 32-53 33rd Street was built in 1901. So I looked online for 1900s maps of Long Island City. I found maps – but the street names were all different. Ultimately I found the odd-angled house on every map going back to 1865. It was in what appeared to be undeveloped land (a farm?).

Now, for the mystery house numbers. The street names changed over the years. Today’s 33rd Street was originally Rapelje Avenue and later Fourth Avenue. As it happens, Queens renamed most of its streets between 1915 and 1926, assigning new house numbers at the same time. In 1925, 510 and 512 Fourth Avenue became 32-59 and 32-57 33rd Street, respectively.

As anyone who has driven across Queens can tell you, the borough’s streets are a mess! Streets, avenues, drives, lanes, roads, and terraces meet and cross at odd angles, as if planned by someone with right-angle phobia. Only history provides an explanation. What we now call Queens was originally a collection of 60 villages, each with its own street plan more or less parallel with the nearest body of water (as waterfront property was first to be developed). As the villages expanded their streets began to merge – at odd angles.*

That led to other problems: Streets abruptly changed names at village borders. And there were duplicate names – 10 “Main Street” thoroughfares, and about 30 named for President Washington.

In 1911 the borough created a master plan for a numbered street system – just as Manhattan had 100 years earlier. The full story is well told at Bringing Order Out of Chaos in Street Naming and House Numbering.

If you’re curious about a street’s former name(s), see Queens Street Names.

Historic Map Works is a good source of old maps, or you could just do a Google image search.

The old street names live on in the names of old buildings, businesses – and the subway system. The G, N/Q and 7 lines still have platform signs such as “36th Street – Washington” recalling names that expired a century ago.

* I call this the ice cube theory of street planning. Like water in an ice cube tray, the structure solidifies at its edges first, crystallizing inwards.

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