History

The year was 1956. Plans to demolish Penn Station hadn't yet been set into motion. But plans to demolish NYC's other famous train station were well underway. When Grand Central was constructed in 1913, its architects envisioned that it would one day be the base of a skyscraper, but in the early 1950s, developers hoped to demolish the terminal altogether to make way for what would have been the tallest building in the world. Famed architect I.M Pei was tasked with the job, and he designed an 80-story, hourglass-shaped, futuristic tower known as the Hyperboloid.
More details and a video on the never-built project

Image via wackystuff/Flickr

November 16, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Women in the Workplace and the Changing Face of Print Media

“New York in the ’60s” is a memoir series by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, each installment explores the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In the first two pieces we saw how different and similar house hunting was 50 years ago and visited her first apartment on the Upper East Side. Then, we learned about her career at an advertising magazine and accompanied her to Fire Island in the summer. Our character next decided to make the big move downtown, but it wasn’t quite what she expected. She then took us through how the media world reacted to JFK’s assassination, as well as the rise and fall of the tobacco industry, and now she sheds some light into how women were treated in the workplace at this time.
Read the first-hand account here

History

Interview: Ansonia Insider Michel Madie Shares Stories of the Iconic NYC Building

Photo of the Ansonia by Jeffrey Zeldman

November 10, 2015

Interview: Ansonia Insider Michel Madie Shares Stories of the Iconic NYC Building

By 6sqft

Today, the Upper West Side's Ansonia is considered one of the city's most iconic and prestigious addresses. With former residents ranging from Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gustav Mahler, Babe Ruth and more recently Natalie Portman, its history reaches far back. And along its more than century-old ride, it's no surprise that it has also attracted plenty of strange activity, including playing host to what probably was the city's first rooftop farm in 1904 and a debaucherous sex club known as Plato's Retreat. While there's lots of ground to cover when looking back on this 111-year-old building, we decided to tap an insider for his take on this storied structure. Michel Madie of Michel Madie Real Estate Services has over the years become an unofficial historian of sorts to the Ansonia. Madie moved from France to New York in 1984 and almost immediately fell in love with the French-inspired building. However, being near-penniless at the time, the thought of ever taking up space in such a grand building seemed like just a dream. But as he found success in the real estate business, he focused his attention on the Ansonia. He eventually purchased an apartment and then spent decades tending to the architecture, restoring its original layouts and recreating original finishes and fixtures in the building's many units whenever the opportunity would arise. During this time, Madie also learned a thing or two about the residence, stories which he shares with 6sqft ahead.
stories from michel this way

November 6, 2015

Yet Another Burial Vault Uncovered Near Washington Square Park, Comes Filled With Coffins

Employees of the Department of Design and Construction are definitely being kept on their toes this week. After uncovering a hidden vault containing the skeletal remains of at least a dozen people believed to be approximately 200 years old, workers have uncovered a second burial vault, this one filled with wood coffins. Workers tasked with upgrading 19th-century water mains under the park stumbled upon the latest burial ground Wednesday night, a day after their first finding at the corner of Waverly Place and Washington Square Park East.
find out more here

History

November 6, 2015

Did You Know Brooklyn Has Its Own Saint?

Neither did we. But the New York Times sheds some light on Raphael Hawaweeny, a Syrian (not Catholic or European) who helped bring the Eastern Orthodox Church to America, and who is being celebrated tonight and tomorrow to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. In 1904, Saint Raphael of Brooklyn became the first Orthodox Christian bishop consecrated in North America, leading him to found the present-day Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. The first of its 29 parishes was and is located in Boerum Hill–the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Brooklyn–not far from what was then Little Syria. The Archdiocese describes him as "neither a wonder-worker nor a clairvoyant elder, St. Raphael embraced a life of total abandonment of self for the service of God and his fellow man: a life of true spiritual asceticism."
Find out more

November 5, 2015

Hidden Burial Vault and the Skeletal Remains of 12 Found Under Washington Square Park

By Rebecca Paul

It's pretty well known that Washington Square Park started out as a potters field, a burial ground for the poor, and later as a resting place for those who died from yellow fever. But this has always been something out of the history books. Until now. Recently, a group of city workers in the process of upgrading water mains under the park came upon a hidden vault containing the skeletal remains of at least a dozen people believed to be approximately 200 years old. According to officials from the Department of Design and Construction, the vault is eight feet deep, 15 feet wide, and 20 feet long. While the exact details are unknown right now, a team of anthropologists and and archaeologists will be requested to evaluate and determine the age of both the remains and the vault.
Find out more

History

October 28, 2015

VIDEO: Ride the Elevator Up to the Marriott Marquis’ Secret 55th Floor

The Marriott Marquis may not have the illustrious, storied past of NYC's landmarked hotels like The Plaza or the Algonquin, but that doesn't mean it doesn't keep its fair share of secrets. As you probably know, the Times Square locale is famous for its spectacular high-tech Schindler Miconic 10 elevators which zip passengers up and down the building while offering incredible views over the hotel's massive atrium lobby below. While the building is said to be just 48 floors tall, rumor has it there's actually a secret 55th floor that no regular person has been to before. Could it be true? One intrepid guest of the Marriott was daring enough to find out.
check it out here

October 28, 2015

Detailed Infographic Shows the Ebb and Flow of NYC Skyscraper Construction

Charts related to skyscrapers typically compare the world's tallest buildings, but a new interactive timeline from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) shows the ebb and flow of skyscraper construction in NYC and how it resembles the country's boom and bust cycles (h/t CityLab). The timeline is part of a larger report called "New York: The Ultimate Skyscraper Laboratory," which also examines the function and location of recent supertall towers going up during today's boom cycle.
More infographics and details

History

In 1872, Broadway Almost Became a Giant Moving Sidewalk

Image via All Ways NY

October 20, 2015

In 1872, Broadway Almost Became a Giant Moving Sidewalk

6sqft readers may remember a 1951 proposal by Goodyear Tires for a giant conveyor belt to carry people between Times Square and Grand Central. And though this was certainly a wacky idea for the time, there was an even earlier proposal for a moving sidewalk that took the city by storm. Back in the late 1860s/early 1870s, inventor and businessman Alfred Speer was fed up with street congestion in front of his wine store on Broadway near City Hall. Though elevated trains were popping up around the time, they were mostly above 14th Street, so Speer designed an aerial, steam-powered sidewalk (much cleaner than the locomotive trains) that would make a loop up and down Broadway to alleviate traffic. It would be constantly in motion at 10 miles per hour, carrying passengers by foot or in its movable chairs for five cents a ride. Speer even went so far as to patent the idea, officially called the "Endless Traveling" or "Railway Sidewalk."
So what happened?

New York in the ’60s: The Assassination of JFK and the Plight of the Tobacco Industry

Read it all right here

History

October 9, 2015

1970s Documentary Shows Tribeca Skybridge and Vintage Subway Cars

"News from Home" is a 1976 documentary by filmmaker Chantal Akerman that uses New York City as a backdrop while she reads aloud letters her mother had written her while she was living in the city. The film wasn't groundbreaking by any stretch, but 40 years later, it provides a glimpse into a bygone era in New York. Tribeca Citizen unearthed a digital version of the documentary on Hulu and took some great stills, including those of vintage subway cars and Tribeca's Staple Street skybridge. The latter (which is actually where the film begins) has made headlines recently as it's one of Manhattan's last skybridges and the two residences on either side of it (one a townhouse, one an apartment) are currently for sale for $30 million, meaning one lucky buyer can claim the historic structure as part of their home.
See more of 1970s NYC

History

October 8, 2015

There’s an Historic English Muffin Oven Hiding Underneath This Chelsea Co-op

By Emily Nonko

Although the popular song would have you believe that the muffin man lives on Drury Lane, he actually has digs right here in Chelsea on West 20th Street. 337 West 20th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, is a nondescript, four-story brick building that is officially known as "The Muffin House." Looking at the building from outside, you wouldn't think there's anything special to it. But underground, preserved below what is now a modest co-op complex, there's a massive bakery oven. And not just any old oven, although that discovery is unique in and of itself. This is the oven once operated by a very well-known baker, the one responsible for introducing English muffins to the United States.
His name was Samuel Bath Thomas

New York in the ’60s: When Chelsea Apartments Were $111 a Month

Photo via NY Through the Lens

October 5, 2015

New York in the ’60s: When Chelsea Apartments Were $111 a Month

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first two installments we saw how different and similar house hunting was 50 years ago and visited her first apartment on the Upper East Side. Then, we learned about her career at an advertising magazine…looking in on the Donald Drapers of the time. In our fourth installment, we accompanied her to Fire Island during the warm summer months. Last time, our main character decided to make the big move downtown, but it wasn't quite what she expected. Now she'll take us through what it was like to live below 23rd street in the '60s.
Read all about it

History

October 5, 2015

October 18th Is Your LAST CHANCE to See the TWA Flight Terminal In All Its Glory

If you’re an architectural purist who’s somehow managed to miss exploring Eero Saarinen’s masterpiece at JFK in person all these year, you won't want to miss out on what will foreseeably be your last chance to experience the structure as it was meant to be. For one day only, the iconic building will open to the public for FREE for just four hours as part of the annual Open House New York Weekend festival. As written in an OHNY Weekend press release, Sunday, October 18th, "is likely to be the last time the TWA Flight Center will be open to the public in its current form." As 6sqft previously reported, the terminal will soon be redeveloped into a 505-room hotel by MCR Development and JetBlue.
FInd out more details here

September 30, 2015

Revenge Architecture: Four New York Buildings Constructed out of Spite

By Rebecca Paul

We don't have to love our neighbors, but life is most certainly less stressful when they're easy to get along with. But as we all know, this is not always the case, and in several instances in New York's turbulent history, a friendly local feud has resulted in some rancor constructions—or what's better known today as "spite houses." According to Wikipedia, a spite house is a building constructed or modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. While this definition illustrates the basic concepts of the act, it doesn't quite capture the vengeful spirit that powers it. With that said, we've perused the archives and put together a quick history lesson featuring a few famous examples of spiteful architecture that's risen in New York over the past centuries.
read more about four of new york's spite houses

September 30, 2015

120 Years Ago Today, The NY Times Wrote of a Sea Serpent Spotted off the Coast

There's a lot of strange stuff floating around the Hudson River, but this just might be the best thing ever spotted in its murky waters. On September 30, 1895, the headline "THINKS HE SAW A SEA SERPENT" made its way into the pages of the New York Times. The article (h/t Gothamist), spoke of a Newark, New Jersey man named Philip N. Jackson who confirmed to reporters that he had indeed seen the same sea monster spotted just a week earlier by a Manhattan resident by the name of Willard P. Shaw. Jackson told the Times that with "his naked eye," he saw the serpent zipping through the water, at times whipping its 100-foot-long body into the air.
Find out more here

History

September 28, 2015

Explore Manhattan When It Was Just Forests and Creeks With the 1609 Welikia Map

It's hard to imagine New York as anything but a dense landscape of glassy towers, apartment buildings and millions of bodies moving throughout the streets. But once upon a time, the city wasn't much more than forests, creeks and wildlife. The Welikia Project, formerly known as the Mannahatta Project, has gotten a powerful update that now lets you explore the city's historic ecology using a satellite map that imagines how Manhattan might have looked back in 1609—and all the years between then and now.
Access the NYC of 1609 here

History

September 25, 2015

Find Out What Businesses Were on Your Block Way Back in 1855 With This Interactive Map

If you think your neighborhood has changed since you moved in, step back and have a look at this incredible map to get some real perspective. One of the many maps maintained within the NYPL's Map Warper project, this particular cartogram dubbed the 1855 New York Business Map shows the location of more than 3,000 mid-19th century New York businesses—as well as some other fun stuff like stables, churches and schools. Want to know what life was like in your neighborhood way back in 1855? Jump ahead for more.
Access the map here

History

September 25, 2015

VIDEO: Why Did the Nazis Want to Destroy This Secret Power Substation Below Grand Central?

"In the past, if you'd stepped into this elevator by mistake, you faced being shot at the other end, in case you told anyone what you saw," says the narrator of this video from the Science Channel. And this is, essentially, what happened to two German spies when they tried to attack this hidden power substation below Grand Central. But let's back up. When Grand Central was built in 1913, part of the plan was to add a top-secret power substation. After tunneling down through ten stories of solid bedrock, engineers blasted and carved out a top-secret chamber known as M42, almost as wide as the terminal itself and covering 22,000 square feet. Here, nine rotary converters each weighing 15 tons and reaching heights of 20 feet, transferred 11,000 volts of alternating current to power the trains above. In 1941, when America joined WWII, the secrecy paid off.
Find out how Adolf Hitler almost destroyed the substation

History

September 21, 2015

VIDEO: The History of the Upper East Side Mansion Where the Pope Is Staying

Talk surrounding the Pope's Upper East Side crash pad has been mainly focused on street closures and insane security precautions, but this video by Regis High School (h/t Carl Quintanilla) provides the interesting history of the townhouse, providing a behind-the-scenes look at Pope Francis' "home away from Rome." Built in 1894, 20 East 72nd Street was originally home to Julia Murphy Grant, daughter of U.S. Senator Edward Murphy of New York, and Hugh J. Grant, the youngest man ever elected mayor of New York City. When Grant died in 1910, he left behind a $9 million estate to his wife. Being devoutly Catholic, she used the money to establish Regis High School before her death in 1944. In 1975, their son Hugh Grant, Jr. donated his parents' former home to the Archdiocese of New York. Since then, it's been the home of the Vatican's representative to the United Nations, and beginning with Pope John Paul II’s visit to New York City in 1979, it has served as the official residence of visiting pontiffs.
Watch the video here

History

September 16, 2015

Back in ’68 an East Village Hippy Ran for President Against Nixon

Before there was the wild presidential run of Donald Trump, there was another absurd (albeit much more endearing) campaign by an East Village hippy looking for political greatness. A fun and fascinating recollection by Ephemeral NY tells the tale of Louis Albolafia, a 27-year-old abstract expressionist artist, nudist, and the first person to establish a runaway shelter and hotline in New York, who ran on the "Love" party ticket. Though Albolafia was obviously not the term winner (that title goes to Richard Nixon), he did get a considerable number of write-ins during the race.
Find out more about his campaign here

History

September 15, 2015

Never-Built Coney Island Globe Tower Would Have Been a Massive Boardwalk in the Air

In 1906, architect Samuel Friede announced his plans to build the Coney Island Globe Tower, a 700-foot-tall, 11-story structure that would have contained the Brooklyn neighborhood's attractions in one giant globe in the air. A New York Tribune cover revealing the project said investors were being offered "a ground floor chance to share profits in the largest steel structure ever erected...the greatest amusement enterprise in the whole world...the best real estate venture." Had the $1,500,000 plan gone through, the whimsical structure (part Unisphere, part Eiffel Tower) would have contained restaurants (one of which would rotate), an observatory, the United States Weather Observation Bureau and Wireless Telegraph Station, a vaudeville theater, the world's largest ballroom, bowling alley, roller skating rink, casinos, 50,000-room hotel, 5,000-seat hippodrome, and a four large circus rings.
Read the rest of the history

History

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first two installments we visited her first apartment on the Upper East Side and saw how different and similar house hunting was 50 years ago. Then, we learned about her career at an advertising magazine… looking in on the Donald Drapers of the time. In our fourth installment, we accompanied her to Fire Island during the warm summer months. Now, our main character decides to make the big move downtown, but it’s not quite what she expected.

September 14, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Moving Downtown Comes With Colorful Characters and Sex Parties