Author: aleksandar (Page 4 of 4)

Aleksandar Dekic

Comparing Urban New York/Brooklyn architecture and streetscape

Development and architecture of the Brooklyn and Manhattan during its early period have a major impact from the Dutch and British style of building. With the Independence of the United States, architects try to step away from British and Dutch style and turn toward the Greek style of building.

Manhattan, with its natural position and terrain perfect for creating ports and docks, starts developing much faster and bigger. The major occupation was trade and commerce. Along with that, they support the business center with building development and landfill in order to extend the shoreline.

On the other side of East River, parts of Brooklyn were given to wealthy and privileged families like Livingston and Smith. This Brooklyn leading landowners recognized the position and growth potential of their town and start developing the land along the waterfront with the commercial port in today’s Dumbo and Vinegar Hill, and housing development in today’s Brooklyn Heights. Parts of Brooklyn were transformed from farmland to urban land and then divided into the blocks. The blocks were then divided into the lots and given on the auctions to be sold for development of houses or if it is a bigger lot for a building.

We can find houses in Brooklyn Heights from 1830, like a brick building in Willow street and we can recognize the Flemish pattern in the way how the house was built.  Each course is made up of alternate headers and stretchers. Each header, on a stretcher above and below and every alternate course begins with a header in the corner. The door and window are also specific. The door has 4 columns with flutes, two whole columns and two half-way inside the walls, with the lintel above the door. Windows have a soldier course and they are rectangular. With the development of Brooklyn over time, we get to have mix of houses. Next to each other, we can see brick houses and wood houses all over the landmark places.

In Manhattan, one of the earliest places developed was South Port. There, we can see the use of Iron cast beams instead stone columns, and use of material that is more expensive, like granite or marble which is a sign of not just wealth, but also use of a material which is more resistant to a high concentration of the salt in the air. Also, at the places where we have canals which were used to transport goods to inland, now we have streets. The first floor of the building is taller than the rest of the floors which indicates that in Manhattan was used industrial and commercial way of building. Most of the buildings next to the shoreline were trading posts and warehouses. Solid stone was used to construct bigger buildings for storing the goods. Outside, buildings are riched in appearance, with a lot of decorative piers and windows. Windows are bigger on the lower levels and getting smaller toward the last floor.

The post-revolutionary Brooklyn and Manhattan show us the different styles of construction and building. Thanks to Stuart and Revett and their book on Greek architecture we can see the transfer from Flemish and English way of constructing toward Greek revival style.

Aleksandar Dekic

Compare New York and Brooklyn Urban Growth and Planning.

New York, or more specifically Manhattan, and Brooklyn goes a great way from being the unsettled area covered with forest and grass, full of many hills and valleys to become one of the biggest cities in the world.

Urban development of Manhattan and Brooklyn could not be possible without Dutch. Their purchase of Manhattan island and Brooklyn from the Native Americans set the cornerstone of today city. At first, it was set as a trading post. Manhattan developed faster than Brooklyn because the docks and the port were established in Manhattan for several reasons, the terrain is better and easier to develop, and it was easier to defend it. Dutch set the city in order to have easier access to the water, everything is turned toward that. At that time the best way of transportation and the easiest was by the boat.

With the British taking over the city, it came the new name that we use today, New York. They live peacefully with Dutch settlers and continue to develop the city outside the borders of first Dutch settlement. At first, their houses and properties were turned toward water and they try to organize the city to have public spaces, like parks, and to have access to the freshwater. In the same time, Brooklyn started to develop as a separate city with the smaller port but still remain without any planning.

It was John Randal Jr. that set the rectilinear grid of streets at Manhattan that we can see until today. There were few houses that were already built in the middle of the streets, but the city was determined to follow this plan. On the other side, Brooklyn starts late with urban planning, the settlement was already established, and the roads were dictated with the terrain. All this made Brooklyn struggle with several urban planning issues until this day.

With the construction of the bridges, first Brooklyn bridge and then the other bridges, these two separate cities merge to become one. Now when we talk about future urban growth and planning, we need to consider both sides of the East River in order to make a plan for further sustainable development, otherwise, everything else will bring us to the edge of collapse.