36 votes

1940s New York City streetview

10 comments

  1. [6]
    PelagiusSeptim
    Link
    I've been gradually reading through Robert Caro's The Power Broker, which is concerned with New York in the first half of the 20th century, so this is really cool! I get to see a lot of the...

    I've been gradually reading through Robert Caro's The Power Broker, which is concerned with New York in the first half of the 20th century, so this is really cool! I get to see a lot of the locations described during the time it takes place!

    7 votes
    1. [5]
      GOTO10
      Link Parent
      99% inv?

      99% inv?

      1 vote
      1. [4]
        PelagiusSeptim
        Link Parent
        Huh?

        Huh?

        1 vote
        1. [3]
          GOTO10
          Link Parent
          Last year the podcast "99% invisible" read the Power Broker, doing one episode per month. https://99percentinvisible.org/power-broker/ I didn't read the book, but listing to the podcasts was super...

          Last year the podcast "99% invisible" read the Power Broker, doing one episode per month. https://99percentinvisible.org/power-broker/

          I didn't read the book, but listing to the podcasts was super interesting.

          2 votes
          1. [2]
            PelagiusSeptim
            Link Parent
            Thanks for the rec, maybe I'll check it out when I'm finished!

            Thanks for the rec, maybe I'll check it out when I'm finished!

            1. GOTO10
              Link Parent
              Part of the episodes are interviews, among others they talk with Robert Caro himself twice.

              Part of the episodes are interviews, among others they talk with Robert Caro himself twice.

              1 vote
  2. aditya
    Link
    This is so cool! I learned the lot next to my building wasn't always empty but seemingly an identical 5 floor walk up apartment building. Crazy, because now it's a private parking lot.

    This is so cool! I learned the lot next to my building wasn't always empty but seemingly an identical 5 floor walk up apartment building. Crazy, because now it's a private parking lot.

    5 votes
  3. WhyCause
    Link
    I built something similar for the New Orleans French Quarter. Click on a building, and you get a list view of scanned photos and slides the City has for each of the properties (grouped by year)....

    I built something similar for the New Orleans French Quarter.

    Click on a building, and you get a list view of scanned photos and slides the City has for each of the properties (grouped by year). The color code indicates how historic the building is (click the ? icon to see the legend). The dictionary (book icon) has definitions of the specific architectural terms used when describing the building. The "More Details" link takes you to the Historic New Orleans Collection's page about the property, and includes chain of title information, often going back to the original land grants.

    One of my favorite ones is Jackson Square; the earliest images are pictures of the models that were built to show what it was going to look like when the (proposed) interstate was going to be built between the French Quarter and the river.

    5 votes
  4. [2]
    asteroid
    Link
    I have been using that site for years. It is absolutely wonderful. I use it in conjunction with Ancestry to look at the homes of my NY-based family. The house I grew up in is included, too -- it...

    I have been using that site for years. It is absolutely wonderful. I use it in conjunction with Ancestry to look at the homes of my NY-based family. The house I grew up in is included, too -- it was new in 1940. So I could upload a "what it looked like on [date]" and add to the site. There's an image of the business in Brooklyn that my great-grandmother started in 1916, too; the store closed in 2012.

    1 vote
    1. Wafik
      Link Parent
      As a history nerd, the site is cool. I can't imagine being able to also look up my family. My house was built in the 40s so I could only imagine.

      As a history nerd, the site is cool. I can't imagine being able to also look up my family. My house was built in the 40s so I could only imagine.

      2 votes