Museum Monday – WNYC Municipal Archives Online

Back in May, I gave a lecture on collections emergency preparedness at the New York Archives Conference. It was supposed to be a roundtable during which institutions shared their preparedness experiences and ideas, but seeing as Heritage Preservation’s Heritage Health Index … Continue reading

Trans. Tuesday: We Survived The Parade of Trains

Just barely. Dr. V. indulged my whim to visit the assemblage of historic trains at New York’s Grand Central Terminal last weekend, May 11, 2013: National Train Day. For a moment there, I felt like we were part of a … Continue reading

Preserving the Rhythm of City Streets: Upper West Side Special Enhanced Commercial District

What’s great about New York City? People on the streets. In June 2012, the NYC Department of City Planning enacted zoning that requires new commercial development to fit within maximum frontage limits in the Upper West Side shopping districts along … Continue reading

Snapshot: Fabric Shopping in NYC

Tuesday, 2/12/2013, was, amazingly, a holiday at my place of employ. I took advantage of everyone else having a normal work day and went off to NYC’s Garment District. I have two motives when I visit that west side community, … Continue reading

Transportation Tuesday: Move Madison Square Garden NOW

If you enter Penn Station through the Long Island Rail Road entrance, you’ll see reliefs along the corridor that depict the tumbling Corinthian columns of McKim, Mead, and White’s Pennsylvania Station (1910). If you’d like to grumble along with me, … Continue reading

Transit Tuesday: Subway Station Renovation – A Few Thoughts About Getting It Right

New York City’s subway opened in 1904. During an era of competing private lines that radiated from the heart of Manhattan into the boroughs, 468 stations were built through the completion of the Independent Subway in 1932. Time is hard … Continue reading

Transit Tuesday: Grand By Design Exhibition at Grand Central

After a boozy brunch with Dr. V’s cousins, we wandered up the sunny side of the street to Grand Central Terminal, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The former waiting room space is used for exhibitions and events, and currently … Continue reading

Book: The Look of Architecture by Witold Rybczynski

It’s a little bit untrue to title this small volume solely a book. It caught my eye while I was perusing the stacks last week at the New York Society Library. I love small books – they are a small … Continue reading

On the Subject of Duck…

Duck is tasty. It was popular fare in New York’s turn-of-the-century restaurants. Havre de Grace, located just a few hours from New York on the Pennsylvania Railroad, was a ready source of the fowl for New York City. Boats known … Continue reading