NYC Facades

Top cornice on the building

This is a little pipsqueak of a building flanked by much larger ones on 57 street with some great details (and apparently it dates to the 1890s). It makes me wonder – in particular on major thoroughfares, such as 57 street – why squat little buildings exist when much larger ones surround them. I am told it is partly a function of the way in which leasing works in New York; someone might lease the land for 100 years, which means improvements made at the end of the lease probably will not benefit the leaseholder, who is also the person who will build the building.

New York Athletic Club

Arcade detail

I have long found this building, with its arcade high off the ground, to be enchanting, as though it is an Arabian castle or a cathedral in cross-section and in a diorama high on display. What is the story behind it?

The top of the corner.

2nd floor corner

West face column

The watertower, from the West.

The water tower, from the easet.

I was blown away by this building. It was understated, yet highly ornamented. Even the column in the gap between windows had a decorative framing. It also offered a number of strange features, such as:

• What is “corporation” on the water tower?
• Why is the water tower a different style altogether? (Yes, I made sure they’re the same building!)
• Why is the facade different on the Broadway  side versus the 57th street side? That is, in the first picture, why are there two angular tops on Broadway, and only 1 on 57th street?

Is that even a water tower at all? Why would there be an air conditioner coming from the window, then?

I have trouble identifying the style on this building. Is it historicist?

Three beautiful townhouses

I happened past these town houses and was simply awestruck.Their curb appeal is immense; set back, architecturally unique, well-kept. The whole block is something else. (See a mention of the style of this area in this article linked also from the St. Luke’s Church page.)

How did it come to pass that Harlem has the best single family home architecture? What architectural style are these in, anyway?

The building's least attractive side, from the south

The steel cross-bracing is common, although occasionally missing. Why is that?

Edit: An anonymous source gave the following answer to the “why” above.

Regarding the cross-beams at the back of the Park Row building, and your question as to why some buildings don’t have them: its all a question of bulk and engineering. Obviously the cross-beams create a “box” while still allowing an air shaft for more windows: this serves both the engineering and commercial needs.

All buildings must handle the horizontal load generated by a maximum value of wind stress, which becomes much greater as the height increases. Pre-war buildings used steel behind the brick or stone facade, but probably still relied on the sheer weight of the masonry component. My guess is that the tools used to calculate those stresses were not terribly sophisticated, so out of an excess of caution they added cross-beams. Take a look at the back side of the Woolworth building: it too has them.

By contrast, the Twin Towers were a marvel of engineering precisely because they defied the wind: two straight towers, 110 stories, with no setbacks and no visible bracing beams (either externally or internally). The trick was to closely space the exterior columns, so that they acted like tubes, to handle both vertical and horizontal loads. This solved the dual load problem for tall buildings in a very elegant fashion, because it allowed for lightweight floors with no internal columns except for the central core.

You might find it interesting to research the design philosophy of the architect (Minoro Yamasaki) and his earlier buildings–much like Roebling, he first tried out his signature concept out of town. Say what you may about why these design decisions contributed to the buildings’ collapse on 9/11; but at the time they were built, they represented a very dramatic and novel way to solve the problem. By contrast, the Hancock Tower in Chicago relies on giant exterior cross beams.

According to wikipedia, this was the tallest office building in the world for 9 years at the turn of the century. I also recommend the contemporary perspectives quoted on wikipedia; some of them are rather funny.