[HN Gopher] The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of ...
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       The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler
       Building
        
       Author : cvarjas
       Score  : 43 points
       Date   : 2023-12-27 16:26 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com)
        
       | panzagl wrote:
       | Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the
       | article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very
       | apparent.
        
         | pseudosavant wrote:
         | My exact experience too.
        
         | mikestew wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | gumby wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | fnordpiglet wrote:
       | Another 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.
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Street_(Manhattan)
        
       | Kon-Peki wrote:
       | At 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.
        
         | epc wrote:
         | It's reflected in three properties on that block, the Chrysler
         | building itself and its neighbors (it's BBL 1297-23, 1297-27
         | and 1297-33). Oddly it only shows up on that block, blocks to
         | the north and south don't show the outline of the road.
         | 
         | Not sure if this will link correctly:
         | https://propertyinformationportal.nyc.gov/parcels/parcel/101...
        
           | wavesquid wrote:
           | I think you can see it up at a building on E 47th:
           | https://imgur.com/a/9dsKmGP
        
       | tmm wrote:
       | Nothing 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...
        
       | Trasmatta wrote:
       | I 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
        
         | entropy47 wrote:
         | The picture I was looking for in the article! Thanks.
        
       | Sniffnoy wrote:
       | This is a link to a tag on the blog rather than the particular
       | blog post. It should link here:
       | https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2022/09/15/the-ghost-...
        
       | Projectiboga wrote:
       | I live near Lexington ave and 29th street, so I will definitely
       | check this out.
        
       | tiborsaas wrote:
       | I've just seen a good video about art-deco buildings and their
       | comeback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VNP9RYIS_E
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-27 23:00 UTC)