STORY Many thought New York would never be the same OF THE when its audacious grid was planned 200 years ago. They were right. STREETS by Kevin Fallon / CAS ’09 This 1840 lithograph was one of a inexpensive maps also contained series published by the Society for details not in the original 1811 plan, the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge including two additional avenues— to educate the public on the grid eventually named Lexington and plan, which was rapidly changing Madison—and the Harlem Railroad, the city streets around them. These traced in red.

42 / FALL 2012 / NYU NYU / FALL 2012 / 43

.

Harper’s reported In 1776, when NYU 2012 //45 FALL Harper’s A broadside from 1853 The Real Estate Exchange An early 1880s panorama of Above: formed the heart of the propertycity’s market when William A. Rogers illustrated it in 1888 for It also legitimized a notoriously shady industry, which had once held its auctions underground in a cramped basement. Opposite page: Thomas Davies painted this watercolor of the British rout of American rebels from Fort Washington, he noted the battle took place “near New With York.” the introduction of the grid, the site would eventually become part of the city. Above left: advertises lots of varying size, location, and cost. The sale was sponsored by the leadingcity’s brokerage firm, run by the Bleecker family, which pulled in $6 million in sales in a single month in 1842. Left: Park Avenue—or Fourth Avenue as it was still known then—and 94th Street shows the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the eve of transformation, as squatters homes, farmhouses, and old factories gave way to mansions and elegant row houses.

photos clockwise from top left © museum of the city of new york, the j. clarence davies collection, 29.100.3060; © Picture Collection, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; © museum of the city of new york, gift of mrs. carl eggers, 03.26.2-.10, 01.72.1

photos: pages 42/43 © museum of the city of new york, gift of joseph verner reed, 50.358.68; this page © I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations and

the The years

is grid

the have

island’s

Street.

from Simeon 100,000 imagine

“It Michael was

would

like radical the

the imposing to

Park.

skyward,

Morris,

roads

to undertaking,

city

from Canal ’s by

what hundred of

underground,

Mayor announced

decades of

the flourishes,

mused, plazas transform

to

reaches,

Street.

without comprehend

As area Two through Central of

brazen Square pushes:

has to helped water,

balloon a

up system impossible south City

like

is rocky

would Street added

155th commissioners

crux

Gouverneur

ensuing

it the

as

was million. history.

Rutherfurd

further York residential

the and

as

they with the

Witt, orderly

1.6

1811,

plan New almost Bloomberg to population framework Washington additions from and toward seen Houston become It and stretching rural overcrowded that an John De In crammed ago, City’s but

the east The no

Allan what the West

in York

just

would

hills. island’s

are

and

parallel make

Poe on

now be

and

grid— overhaul of sat to is

the

New ingenious ‘mapped’ has

Edgar

managed Upper they

may in he of unfolding rolling Raven”

north The residences,

continued.

closer, Broadway,

and arrived beauty,

what the

was its tune

and series

grid happening he loss

at

1844,

“The

already ”

and full-scale

grid. door. where the

in streets crept

the

the

decision

writer running it demolished

are

them,

rugged

his the

the

dotting

suburban become

and

As

important be

who,

Street

for

sprawling west—had

compose Manhattan

farmhouse

planning most changed; Today way soon farmhouse ‘town-lots,’ longer “Streets through natural, homes mourned Side. would and avenues south that outside of 84th despite a to Poe, The

201244 // FALL NYU gravel, and he feared that feared he and gravel, street kicked up dust and dust up kicked street his work. The newly graded newly The work. his lost be soon would City York as a constant distraction from from distraction constant a as New about best loved he what development. new this to the din of construction rang construction of din the Outside the writer’s window, window, writer’s the Outside Improvement of spirit “The are doomed,” he lamented. he doomed,” are breath.” acrid “[T]hese magnificent places magnificent “[T]hese its with them withered has

a of

at city,”

the at

so plan. best

she

closing these

three-

subject the stories

could praising a lifted

geometry looked

history

its it a on

only your

looking wrote,

eyes,” own “imposed overall she revelation the Roberts on of

subject

be

many

attracted

book, familiar.”

and like a in because

think

to

earning so her

the

grid of “I

That

the what Sam

academic it’s

does

of

why tell

NYU 2012 //47 FALL has the utterly

have

people’s pictures

orderliness

kind

and on

July.

part love” as

child.

exhibition

book

audience extension seeing

a

to museum, popular. “It’s

from

don’t

just the past

as

so “this

the

veil

something friend, childhood like be a says. historical matter.” thoughts Ballon Cartesian so that major “You York NewThe month this of that largest coordinates Perhaps become is

the get

we

that site

travel says. at

to places on

57th office She Her to

was

Yet

the

60th Second; lives.

second-

signals

(she

North—

‘I’m

on

eventually shorthand where within area

west

on

Ballon

our a was and

The

Yorkers,

”

and

character or needs an

current (it

says,

plot avenue? know Avenue

Square

would

the

not

worked street-and-avenue New Broadway.

apartment her

grid east,

Third,’ we the of

husband

one

Fifth Westchester).

know.” is borough. and and

becoming

Sixth”—instantly

York directionally

someone in many and father her

details

how

1811

though lingo

and We south,

the “Someone does

up and

Fifth, even cemetery), New neighborhood,

city,

Which also

Washington Eighth

a a

person

of which, original on and married on first grew Street it’s Ballon’s know. north, is? For whether “How of there. Second the nature a coordinates—“91st 34th within grid the

New the grid,”

in the

they

and to special no with

“Pretty

in

Paris,

says, that

as another,

the

“a

Manhattan casual avenue—

had to

which

ornate

perfect and genius architects

Washington, she a

boulevards,

of

become cheek

in

a

framework,”

in argue

bemoaned metropolis.

tower,

grid

sit of But

back

way

unrivaled

spawned,

city axial character.

which Aires, this

it monuments a outshining

finds The no

aspect

its in streets no

would

on could critics system,”

also

Manhattan

day—reveals to linked

is a version one

none architectural European says.

says.

buildings

squares.

were every

be

Buenos

a as up

City

of

urban “there’s creating

survive

plan

in

showcase

convenience the Ballon Some could essential much continuous where and cheek, York kind that public Ballon’s to stroll D.C., such cathedrals do There centreville Ballon can that Other lot the

for were

60

Astor, lot

New As

Astor,’

he

to

dollars, your which Street

paved

the was

they above

this

Mr.

took

The

that

ploy worth

many Jacob time

Wall

and

redrawing killing.

thousand replied

a and

Poe

lots

a grid biographer be

thousand

years ‘Why fact.” the as dollars;’

and

the

sweeping

“ to though handsomely near thousand

John

and

will true,’ The

By

the

few twelve

this graded eighty

lot eight

make naysayer.

lines a $8,000,

celebrated a paid while land, lots

be

are ‘Very finish, twelve

‘in buy saw

for

them. to

only required

I Parton,

worth

soon thousand Street.

to sold

recounts:

their

parcels.

he,

the be eighty

property 1810 worth

proved eighty my is Canal ‘but…[w]ith dollars.’ dollars will said book would purchaser in Astor their According James eventually steal Yorkers project of not around years avenues buildings,

photos: page 46 right © municipal archives; page 47 © museum of the city of new york, jacob a. riis collection, 90.13.4.303

photos: upper left © Ezra Ames (American, 1768-1836), Simeon de Witt, cA. 1804, Oil on canvas, 153.7 x 123.2 cm (60 1/2 x 48 1/2 in.), Collection Zimmerli Art Museum at , Gift of the grandchildren of Simeon de Witt, 0016, Photo by Jack Abraham; lower left © thomas sully, (1752-1816), 1808, oil on canvas, philadelphia history museum at the atwater kent/courtesy of historical society of pennsylvania collection/the bridgeman art library international on

it of

go

time

says. from to “Now

late

the

block the

an

series,

the angular

of

how

can in to first

those

scale

those the streets—

the

remain next

president’s together maps

of

Ballon jumbles see

or

entire detailed

apartment inside sleek, will and

90 from

scores

transition when museum. Ten

illuminate

to

sidled

and maps

pile massive and available

show

block they

the

made,” stitched Manhattan Borough

discovered

the

rural the at

1817, in

Randel’s

avenues Roughly

Pictures own photos been

school in

exhibition—the

file was

were were up

chamber.

deliberate

houses

century buildings

painstakingly

the their

a construction, their

town farm 19th old-world streets. slow, of historic underline While maps looked of on students digital public—and they’ve for maps Manhattan office uncelebrated which make degree. to planned of of

New

and of

duties inch,

five of

the nearly its

1

time outline show,

who

professor Maps.

drafted

most numerous to Randel for

Ballon, Robert release, worth

and

surveyor,

and

chancellor photos, commissioner (the

the

for maps

feet She

opening resurfaced Farm key John

academic

enterprising book

measurements Grid” vice years’

intervening

clocked prepare by 100

builder”

the team

2011 contributors assistant to which,

of

the

Dhabi).

topographical 200 planning

Randel

exact of exhibition—this

In

treasures,

continents project’s

The

deputy Ballon

documents,

balancing

the Abu Greatest

City

scale the

“master dozen

grid’s hand-colored the

a

two

also research

the with the Jr., on Created were several exciting maps. dusty reviewed two a NYU is on corresponding while “The December weekends years, Moses. and York celebrating another at

grid so

a

of the

York city,” two

to

goals

2007 the the “To

like make

curated historic

the in the

on Yorkers

the

Museum

to New

collections

ambition.”

Graduate

Press), of

[it].” and of since

are and grid the

architecture

professor York

New seems

maps, Service, a

using

reconstruct

City the

corresponding wanted original with

and

just

and

Wagner edited

New those

documents.

“I

growth

the

its

condition F.

University

of

and

show Public

of

grid yet

of Ballon, of

and Both

Manhattan of denaturalize

surveying says.

studies

City visitors

the

working and

book conceived,

natural Robert

Hilary the rare

The GreatestThe Grid:MasterThe

of while commemorate Ballon firstidea the had people Ballon the alike, many photos, centuries of was original book School the urban by exhibit. Museum new Plan of ManhattanPlanof 1811-2011 (Columbia of And audacity

Jacob A. Riis, John 1811 Randel map Jr.’s Simeon De Witt, portrayed here 201246 // FALL NYU Above: Gouverneur Morris was a founding father of both the U.S. government (he served New York in the and Constitutional Convention, and even penned the Constitution’s preamble) and Manhattan’s grid. Rising in the background are the row houses future. of New York’s Opposite page: “muckraker” photographer and social capturedreformer, in 1896 some of the last remnants of the shantytowns that once dotted Manhattan’s hills. its environs. Right: shows that the commissioners aimed to consolidate wholesale food markets in a salt marsh in what is now the East Village. But the city balked, and the marsh was drained to make way for Square Tompkins Park and Top: by Ezra Ames ca. 1804, distinguished himself as a mapmaker to during the , before going on to serve as StateNew York surveyor general for 50 years. He was a major force behind the grid proposal.