NYC Urbanism

Exploring NYC Architecture, Urban Planning, Preservation, and Real Estate. Visit our website for long-form pieces and browse our print shop. nycurbanism.com

Exploring architecture, urban planning, and history.

06/09/2025

North Brooklyn Gangs, NY Times, 1974

02/22/2025

The “Tombs” or City Prison in 1905. The prison got its name from the first jail (1833) on this site, architecturally inspired by an Egyptian Tomb. In 1896 the Tombs was demolished to make way for the second jail on this site, pictured above. The Tombs has always been used for prisoners awaiting trial, who if convicted are sent to Rikers or other upstate prisons. The recently Brutalist buildings on the site known as the “Tombs” was built in 1974 and is officially named Manhattan Detention Complex.

12/20/2024

121 years ago today the Williamsburg Bridge opened, it was the second bridge to cross the East River after the Brooklyn Bridge (1883), and followed by the Manhattan Bridge in 1909.

12/17/2024

! “Bird’s-Eye View of Brooklyn” circa 1908. The map shows development absorbing the remaining farms in south Brooklyn, establishing residential neighborhoods like today’s , , and . Companies like the Empire Keystone Improvement Company, who created this map, would buy farms from farmers who decided to cash in their land for hefty sums so it could be developed. Linked with local streetcar and elevated transit lines these neighborhoods quickly grew to the Brooklyn we know today.

09/21/2024

The Manhattan Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street was built in 1914, designed by the architecture firm McKim, Mead & White who had previously designed New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. The 559-foot beaux-arts skyscraper is clad in Maine granite and features four pinnacle turrets (symbolizing the four boroughs surrounding Manhattan) topped by a cupola and the gold Civic Fame statue designed by Adolph Weinman.

The U shape of the building bordered with a grand collonade at the entrance along Centre Street. Built on an irregular block, the building straddles Chambers Street east of Centre, which was later demapped with the construction of One Police Plaza.

Today the building is home to over 3,000 employees in nearly one million square feet of floor space and serves around 2,000 people daily visiting the various agencies. While off-limits to the public, the cupola is accessible via a single elevator. There are occasionally times when the cupola is accessible to members of the public.

08/25/2024

The population of Brooklyn is now larger than Chicago for the first time since 1880 - making it the third largest city in the country if Brooklyn was its own city. (Credit: World Population Review)

08/11/2024

Girl on NYC subway, 1980. Bruce Davidson

07/08/2024

Did you know that Battery Park City was created by dumping landfill from the excavation of the World Trade Center into the Hudson River? When the new land was first created it was 133 acres of empty waterfront property – open fields and sandy dunes. In the eighties, it was even used as a beach as seen in this terrific photo from a Times photographer. In 1982, the public art project by Agnes Denes “Wheatfield—A Confrontation” was commissioned by the city’s Public Art Fund on the land before the first buildings were constructed.

06/26/2024

These 23 subway stations that were planned for ADA accessibility upgrades are no longer happening due to the Governor’s cancellation of congestion pricing.

06/25/2024

New design from Foster + Partners for the PEN15 supertall tower at the site of the recently demolished historic Hotel Pennsylvania across from Penn Station, originally designed by Mckim Mead & White. The proposed 50-story would top out at 1,000 feet and offer 2.2 million square feet of office space.

What do you think of the new proposal?

05/26/2024

Amazing detailed view of the City Hall Post Office in front of the Woolworth Building in 1938 before it was demolished.
The City Hall Post Office and Court House, built in 1869 was demolished in 1939 to expand City Hall Park to the south. Many New Yorkers thought the building was hideous and nicknamed it “Mullett’s Monstrosity” after it’s architect Alfred B. Mullett.

05/08/2024

Penn Station construction, March 23, 1910

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