The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
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The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
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Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#2Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very apparent.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#3Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very apparent.
My exact experience too.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#4Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very apparent.
When I took enough time to look at the picture of the old map, then read the paragraph, and refer back to the map, then I could see it. But, yeah, it becomes readily apparent once you go to the map app of your choice and look at 42nd and Lexington to find the east side of the Chrysler building.
Were the author to superimpose the Chrysler building plot on top of that old map, it would have been much more clear, IMO.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#5Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very apparent.
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Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#6Another 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 parts of the original stone street.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#7Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very apparent.
I imagine the author to be a long time / lifetime new yorker and that they assumed the reader to be the same.
I had no problem visualising the situation not because I have some special brainpower but just due to knowing the building and Manhattan.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#8At some point, decades prior to construction, the road would have been vacated and either became a stand-alone parcel or (more likely) became part of the parcel directly to the east. You can probably assume that a fairly important/large building was there in the late 1800s.
If the road still existed when the Chrysler Building was being planned, you would assume that NYC would have vacated it and made it part of that parcel. And then the Chrysler Building would have a perfectly rectangular base.
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#9Nothing to add about the article, but I think the Chrysler Building is the most beautiful skyscraper I’ve ever seen.
Somehow it only ranks 9th in the list of America’s Favorite Architecture[1]. Which I suppose has more to do with name recognition than anything else.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Favorite_Archite...
Re: The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building
#10I 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