The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
21–25 of 25 posts
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#22I live in NYC and I'm killing time at Grand Central reading this. I'm going to walk over literally right this moment to take a look, it's just down the street. EDIT: can confirm, here are two pics I just took: https://imgur.com/a/EqAyICA
The picture I was looking for in the article! Thanks.
I understand from the article that the building was a trapezoid, not square, but I'm not savvy enough to tell that non-squareness from those pics of the upper shape of the building.
Can you elaborate?
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
The picture I was looking for in the article! Thanks.
I understand from the article that the building was a trapezoid, not square, but I'm not savvy enough to tell that non-squareness from those pics of the upper shape of the building. Can you elaborate?
Take a look at the second picture I posted. I was looking at the building head on, and you can see how the wall is slanted.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#24If you look at maps and satellite photos, boundaries that ceased to exist long ago are often quite visible today.
You can spot the borders of spanish land grants still in Los Angeles and North Orange County still for example. You'll see an acute angle in an area that is otherwise a sea of grid.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#25Another colonial era street, which actually still exists, is Stone St. It was bisected by the construction of 85 Broad street, which was built on top of stone street. However the street actually continues THROUGH the lobby, which is the original cobble stones, and is still a public space (although you have to go through security to travel the original street). There are excellent bars and restaurants on the outdoor p…
The most prominent example of a colonial era street is Broadway, whose path predates Manhattan's rectangular street grid, and thus cuts diagonally across many streets.
> Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island.
> Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail was widened and soon became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Manhattan)#Colonial_...
The historic Flatiron Building, at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, has a triangular footprint.