The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building (opens in new tab)

(ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com)

64 pointscvarjas2y ago23 comments

23 comments

I live in NYC and I'm killing time at Grand Central reading this. I'm going to walk over literally right this moment to take a look, it's just down the street.

EDIT: can confirm, here are two pics I just took: https://imgur.com/a/EqAyICA

entropy472y ago

The picture I was looking for in the article! Thanks.

NotSammyHagar2y ago

I understand from the article that the building was a trapezoid, not square, but I'm not savvy enough to tell that non-squareness from those pics of the upper shape of the building.

Can you elaborate?

1 more reply

fnordpiglet2y ago

Another colonial era street, which actually still exists, is Stone St. It was bisected by the construction of 85 Broad street, which was built on top of stone street. However the street actually continues THROUGH the lobby, which is the original cobble stones, and is still a public space (although you have to go through security to travel the original street). There are excellent bars and restaurants on the outdoor parts of the original stone street.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Street_(Manhattan)

greenyoda2y ago

The most prominent example of a colonial era street is Broadway, whose path predates Manhattan's rectangular street grid, and thus cuts diagonally across many streets.

> Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island.

> Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail was widened and soon became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Manhattan)#Colonial_...

The historic Flatiron Building, at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, has a triangular footprint.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building

tmm2y ago

Nothing to add about the article, but I think the Chrysler Building is the most beautiful skyscraper I’ve ever seen.

Somehow it only ranks 9th in the list of America’s Favorite Architecture[1]. Which I suppose has more to do with name recognition than anything else.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Favorite_Archite...

fsckboy2y ago

here's my pet peeve about #1 on that list: everybody pronounces its name wrong.

it's not "TheEmpire...StateBuilding"

New York State's nickname is "The Empire State", so the name of that skyscraper needs to be pronounced

TheEmpireState...building

suzzer992y ago

Agreed. I put the Chrysler Building up there with the Pantheon in Rome and El Castillo in Chichen Itza as buildings I could sit and stare at for hours.

WillPostForFood2y ago

It has a fantastic lobby as well.

Sniffnoy2y ago

This is a link to a tag on the blog rather than the particular blog post. It should link here: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2022/09/15/the-ghost-...

Kon-Peki2y ago

At some point, decades prior to construction, the road would have been vacated and either became a stand-alone parcel or (more likely) became part of the parcel directly to the east. You can probably assume that a fairly important/large building was there in the late 1800s.

If the road still existed when the Chrysler Building was being planned, you would assume that NYC would have vacated it and made it part of that parcel. And then the Chrysler Building would have a perfectly rectangular base.

epc2y ago

It’s reflected in three properties on that block, the Chrysler building itself and its neighbors (it's BBL 1297-23, 1297-27 and 1297-33). Oddly it only shows up on that block, blocks to the north and south don't show the outline of the road.

Not sure if this will link correctly: https://propertyinformationportal.nyc.gov/parcels/parcel/101...

wavesquid2y ago

I think you can see it up at a building on E 47th: https://imgur.com/a/9dsKmGP

Aloha2y ago

If you look at maps and satellite photos, boundaries that ceased to exist long ago are often quite visible today.

You can spot the borders of spanish land grants still in Los Angeles and North Orange County still for example. You'll see an acute angle in an area that is otherwise a sea of grid.

twobitshifter2y ago

Wow the side facing the East River closer to 42nd has an obvious attempt to paper the weird angle over. Whereas the 43rd side has three step backs in the elevation, the 42nd side has only 1. This gets the eventually gets the building to an even square profile.

tiborsaas2y ago

I've just seen a good video about art-deco buildings and their comeback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VNP9RYIS_E

trbleclef2y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Post_Road

Projectiboga2y ago

I live near Lexington ave and 29th street, so I will definitely check this out.

panzagl2y ago

Somehow none of the included pictures made obvious to me what the article was talking about, but the google maps view makes it very apparent.

gumby2y ago

I imagine the author to be a long time / lifetime new yorker and that they assumed the reader to be the same.

I had no problem visualising the situation not because I have some special brainpower but just due to knowing the building and Manhattan.

mikestew2y ago

When I took enough time to look at the picture of the old map, then read the paragraph, and refer back to the map, then I could see it. But, yeah, it becomes readily apparent once you go to the map app of your choice and look at 42nd and Lexington to find the east side of the Chrysler building.

Were the author to superimpose the Chrysler building plot on top of that old map, it would have been much more clear, IMO.

pseudosavant2y ago

My exact experience too.

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