Before
The Grid
The
1811 Plan
BUILDING
THE GRID
19TH-CENTURY
DEVELOPMENT
20th century–
Now
living on
the grid
other
Grids
Modern Reforms, 20th Century—Now
Mid-Block Arcades
In addition to street plazas, the 1961 Zoning Resolution provided incentives to create public spaces that cut through blocks. Although the long west side blocks would have benefited most from these mid-block shortcuts, most of the arcades were built in midtown Manhattan, where the economic incentive was strongest for developers to include publicly accessible space in their lots in exchange for height bonuses.
The cumulative effects of the 1961 Zoning Resolution are seen in this map of the two-block zone between Fifth and Seventh Avenues from Central Park South to 40th Street… Read More
Although the skyscraper at 550 Madison Avenue is known best for the distinctive broken pediment at its peak—a postmodern flourish by Philip Johnson… Read More
After the Sony Corporation bought 550 Madison in 1994, a renovation by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates filled in the arcade along the avenue with retail space… Read More
The glassed-in arcade at the rear of the building provided a convenient mid-block shortcut for pedestrians and a comfortable indoor space popular with tourists… Read More
At the rear of the Equitable Center at 787 Seventh Avenue, a passageway cuts through the block between 51st and 52nd Streets… Read More
