Author Don Friedman Published on: April 15, 2026 Tags ConcreteConstructionFoundationHistoryNew York Equitable on Broad Street 3 The demolition of the superstructure of the Mills Building left a cellar hole full of masonry walls, as seen on
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 14, 2026 Tags DemolitionHistoryNew York Equitable on Broad Street 2 The first order of business for constructing the new Equitable Building at 15 Broad Street was the demolition of the
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 13, 2026 Tags ArchitectureHistoryNew York Equitable on Broad Street 1 I’m going to spend a few days on a sequence of construction photos from 1926, because the sequence is more
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 12, 2026 Tags Design Eat Your Heart Out, Escher I may have used this picture before, but I can’t find it if I have. One of the stairs at
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 11, 2026 Tags EnvironmentNew York Blossoms Spring must be here: the blossoms are out.
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 10, 2026 Tags Historic PreservationProfessional Practice Not The Usual Topic This afternoon I will be attending the 2026 Preservation Conference of the Historic Districts Council, on the topic of “Making
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 9, 2026 Tags ArchitectureHistoryNew York Speculative Weirdness Forest Hills Gardens in Queens was constructed as a rail suburb, taking advantage of the nearby main line of the
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 8, 2026 Tags DesignHistoryNew York The Other End Last week, I was talking about a postcard showing the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge. From 1912, here’s the
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 7, 2026 Tags HistoryLandscapeNew York An Obsession It’s a cliché to state that land is expensive in Manhattan because it’s an island surrounded by large rivers and
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 6, 2026 Tags EnvironmentHistoryNew York Daylighting Ten years ago (!) I discussed[1] the restoration of a portion of the Saw Mill River in central Yonkers to
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 5, 2026 Tags EnvironmentInvestigation Not Quite “The Last Of Us” My first thought was to wonder why someone had been using spray-foam insulation in an abandoned building. Then I realized
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 4, 2026 Tags Philosophy A Surprising Source I don’t go into the Port Authority Bus Terminal expecting to agree with the management on much, but on January
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 3, 2026 Tags EnvironmentNew York Not Quite Waterworld A good article on life in a city near sea level: “A Fifth of NYC Built on Bygone Water Now
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 2, 2026 Tags Engineering Influences This is not Artemis II: That’s Apollo 11. I have some vague memories from the summer of 1969, when I
Author Don Friedman Published on: April 1, 2026 Tags DesignHistoryNew York Multimodal From 1911, a much-worn postcard showing Park Row: City Hall is off to the left, amongst the trees; the big
Author Don Friedman Published on: March 31, 2026 Tags AnalysisInvestigationMasonry Not Recommended A photo of a tile arch floor from a 2018 site visit: Starting with the easy stuff: the hung ceiling
Author Don Friedman Published on: March 30, 2026 Tags DemolitionHistoryNew YorkSteel Emphasized During Demolition February 1, 1956, Max Hubacher shows us the demolition of the el, titled “42nd Street and 3rd Avenue, Manhattan”: The
Author Don Friedman Published on: March 29, 2026 Tags ArchitectureArtNew York It Looked Familiar: An Unsurprising Location An outside-the-courthouse dramatic moment in a Daredevil comic: Looking south from the sidewalk in front of the New York County
Author Don Friedman Published on: March 28, 2026 Tags ArtNew York Internal Discussion We use Slack for intraoffice communication. Even before Covid, when we were not working hybrid, people were often on site,
Author Don Friedman Published on: March 27, 2026 Tags ArchitectureNew York So Badly Mislabelled A circa-1811 postcard named after the Ansonia, one of the nicest apartment houses on the Upper West Side: The flip