We’re Hiring
Old Structures is looking for an entry-level engineer. (The ad says zero to three years experience, in case you’re wondering
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.
Anticipation
(I probably should have run this yesterday and yesterday’s post today, but whatever.) From 1896, a view of the use
Heat Wave
Today is the hottest day of the summer so far, by far, so let’s sit in our air-conditioning to the
Unexpected, Even Then
The number of public gas stations in Manhattan has been steadily dropping for decades, and is now, apparently, somewhere below
Step By Step
The traditional way to have one wood beam carry another one in the same plane is a mortise-and-tenon connection, which
It Looked Familiar: Background Only
Batman swings past some odd small buildings with a pair of tall buildings in the background. The Whitehall Building (in
A Little Mystery, A Little Spooky
The starting point, an undated Wurts Brother photo of a mansion: Seeing as how it is literally Gothic (style), it’s
Head In The Clouds
Sailors have known for some 400 years that the New York Bight is subject to fog at any time of
Bringing back communities through office-to-residential conversion
The rise in New York office-to-residential conversions presents a timely opportunity for developers, architects and building owners amid the urgent
Mysterious Geometric Outcroppings
There’s a lot of stuff on NYC rooftops. Some of it is on roofs everywhere – drain vent pipes, for
After Its Time
The use of structural cast iron came to a screeching halt in New York in 1904, after years of decline,
Checkerboard
The Merchants’ Association Street and Distance Map from 1906: Each square is half a mile on one side, so you
Five, Sixty-Seven, One Hundred and Eight, One Hundred and Sixty-Four
2020, Union Square: 1958, Park Avenue and 68th Street: 1917, Fifth Avenue and 48th Street 1861, Union Square: I could
Stereotypical, Again
Last year, I looked at a lot of photos from Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York” project. In many of them
Anomalous
Sometimes you learn a lot when you see something that doesn’t make sense. For example, seeing terra-cotta block making up
This Is An Easy One
Access for inspecting a church spire: Note the scaffold stair on the left. It may be a long way up,
Generic But Not
From, probably, the 1930s, the Fred F. French Building at 551 Fifth Avenue, corner of 45th Street. (I doubt that
Architecture Into Art
The fact that the Empire State Building is good-looking almost certainly was a contributing factor in its rise to fame.
Watching The Watchers
The Staten Island ferries have an outer corridor on each side that can be open to the weather or enclosed,
Another Factor To Consider
Since Moynihan Train Hall – the conversion of the old General Post Office west of Eighth Avenue to the new