Another Moment Of Transition
From Max Hubacher, March 1950, “Brooklyn Bridge”: We’re looking west from the Manhattan approach, a bit west of the Manhattan
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.
Last Night
My thanks to whomever shot and posted this footage, probably Mr. Rabinowitz: For reference, 1883:
History And Simultaneity
A partial list… A long time ago, before written history, people started spinning plates. It’s our job to keep them
Two Hundred and Fifty Plus, 9
Our last pre-revolution building, for the last day before July 4, 2026, is one that just made it before the
Proving Him Wrong
A long time ago, Brendan Behan said that New York was “a place where you’re least likely to be bitten
Proto-Modernist, Two Ways
I doubt I’ll ever run out of blog fodder because of what happened with this photo: I’ve walked by 135
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
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