High-Visibility Low-Visibility
I’ve mentioned before that our work is usually invisible in completed projects. With a few exceptions you generally can’t even
Journal
Our work with old buildings has us studying a lot of different topics in addition to structural engineering – for example, architecture, history, and historic preservation – and we like sharing stories about what we’ve found.
Two Hundred and Fifty Plus, 8
The oldest religious building in New York, the Friends Meeting House in Flushing, was originally constructed in 1694, and greatly
Translation
While I’m playing with that more-than-hundred-year-old management book…how to reproduce drawings: It occurs to me that most people reading this
Timesheets
From an early-1900s textbook on managing an architecture or engineering office, an illustration of a daily log book: It looks
Two Hundred and Fifty Plus, 7
Structural typologies have been around far longer than modern structural engineering. The last pre-1776 building I discussed was a grist
Getting Crowded
From Max Hubacher, February 9, 1951, “Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y.”: That’s the Willamsburg Bank tower in the center, looking
People Are Weird
From 1907 or so, a postcard of “New York. The site for the Tunnel Terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad 34th.
Perspective Based On Geography
When the Brooklyn Bridge was in construction, and when it was new, there were any number of reports on how
Two Hundred and Fifty Plus, 6
Sometimes, very old buildings gain glamor as they age. Another of our pre-Revolution projects with John G. Waite Associates, Architects
It Looked Familiar: Collegiate
Matt Murdoch, in his day job of being not Daredevil, is at the law school of Empire State University: The
Review Of Movie Architecture: Backrooms (2026)
As is only fair with a horror movie, I’m not going to give any plot spoilers. To some extent that’s
Priorities In Memorials
There are at least 23 memorials of various types to the Union armed forces of the US Civil War in
Throwing Garbage As A Sign Of Respect
Ticker tape, as such, has been defunct for more than 50 years. The machines were a form of telegraph connected
A Moment Of Transition Captured
Kami was on site and saw some interesting buildings across the street: Every place has a feel to it based
A Medieval Fortress, Not
From somewhere between 1901 to 1907, a picture of the Sands Street gate to enter the Brooklyn Navy Yard: The
Two Hundred and Fifty Plus, 5
Old houses tend to pile up names, even more so than old buildings in general. An old office building in
Knickerbocker
The word entered common use as a meaningless but Dutch-sounding name, used by Washington Irving in 1809 as a pen-name
Indistinguishable
Looking into the space above the ceiling and below the roof joists in a tenement: The vertical surface past the
Two Hundred and Fifty Plus, 4
Buildings and reputations can change over time. The oldest building in Westchester County, New York, (immediately north of the city,
Looking Closer
A nice day in Tribeca, and a couple of old buildings with a shared retail space: Unlike in Soho, further