Materials
How to read a cast-iron front
The column order tells you the decade, and the bolt pattern tells you which foundry cast it.
24 July 2026
Journal
Notes on how New York buildings are built, altered and read. We write these because a listing sheet never has room for them.
Renovation
The three weeks an apartment is most honest
Between demolition and new plaster, every alteration the building has survived is visible at once.
9 July 2026
City fabric
Why the water towers are still made of wood
The most photographed object on the New York skyline is also the least changed since 1890.
26 June 2026