Nyc grid plan history books

Whitman and new york city american experience official. Costs for streets depend largely on four variables. To me, the grid plan is puritan, its homogenizing, in a. How manhattan got its street grid excerpt scientific. New york city is perhaps one of human history s greatest worksinprogress. The commissioners plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of manhattan above houston street and below 155th street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined manhattan to this day. A comprehensive history of new york citys grid system, this historical volume starts off strong but gradually falls into a recitation of minor historical personages and events. He is the author of several books including city on a grid. There was a moment in the history of new york where the city. The unhinged surveyor who invented the manhattan street grid.

How manhattan got its street grid excerpt to accommodate a fastgrowing new york city, john randel, jr. He has contributed to many magazines, tv programs and encyclopedias. The plan mandated a grid of streets and avenues in. The text, written by leading historians of new york city, follows the grid s initial design, implementation, and evolution, and then speaks to its. It is a wonderful book about how new york became new york. The infrastructure cost for regular grid patterns is generally higher than for patterns with discontinuous streets. The master plan of manhattan, 18112011 at the museum of the city of new york demonstrates, an 1811 map turned an island into a. The grid plan emanates from our weaknessesthis layout of avenues and streets in new york city, this system of 90degree angles. Gerard koeppel gives us a vivid description of how it probably happened. The grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Why manhattans grid system is so damn awesome video. Search the worlds most comprehensive index of fulltext books.

Deemed by historians as the single most important document in new york citys development, the commissioners plan of 1811, which. Well researched recap of the process under which the nyc street grid plan. Edison pulled off one of the most remarkable infrastructure projects in nyc historyand. It has been called the single most important document in new york citys development, and the plan has been. A new exhibition examines the master plan that made new york what it is today. More than that he makes a powerful argument for an alternate city plan than the grid. Building the erie canal and the american empire, water for gotham. Why manhattans grid system is so damn awesome video a comic, a professor of urban studies and architecture, a legendary street photographer and an. This book is fascinating for anybody interested in the history of new york, or in city planning in general.