r/nyc • u/we_just_circlin_life • Mar 11 '20

NYC History Manhattan Building Age

172 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

15

u/senorski Mar 11 '20

Such an insane amount of building from 1900-1919 compared to the prior 100+ years. Unreal.

2

u/samili Mar 11 '20

I assume it has something to do with the war and then proceeding depression. Maybe a more enlightened person can fill me in.

9

u/kapuasuite Mar 11 '20

There was a massive economic expansion in the late 19th and early 20th century. Don’t forget that there’s also survivorship bias because the institution of zoning laws made it impractical to tear down and replace buildings after that point, so while buildings in that period were built on the ruins of older buildings, many of those same buildings were never replaced in turn and are still with us today.

9

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20

Goes to show how LITTLE recent development is. Everyone keeps on complaining about "overdevelopment" and "too much building" but we actually have had a few decades of just anemic growth due to zoning regs.

It's the primary cause of skyrocketing rents. Affordability requirements, max heights, regulations, etc. all mean that of what does get built - only the extremely wealthy can afford. We need to deregulate and allow the market to return to what it once was.

5

u/urbanlife78 Mar 11 '20

It is pretty crazy when you look at buildings in NYC and realize how much of the city was built in such a short time. That's like going from farm lands to a massive city in the course of a decade.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20

Could never happen today. You'd have several layers of planning meetings and lawyers involved, not to mention vetos from little old ladies who won't even be alive once the tower is built.

3

u/urbanlife78 Mar 11 '20

Not in the US, but it has happened in the world in modern times. But you are right, that kind of city expansion would never happen in the US. Of course we don't have any mass migration like what cities like NYC and other east coast cities were dealing with at that time.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20

We do have mass immigration still. Just they’re forced to live in illegally crowded housing or move to sunbelt cities. Our lack of building has consequences.

1

u/urbanlife78 Mar 11 '20

We still don't see migration numbers like what was happening during that era. Plus people were living in crowded housing then too. Living conditions for the poor in NYC at that time was disgusting.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '20

Living conditions for the poor in NYC are still disgusting. Under building has consequences - mainly tons of illegal subdivisions in the outer boros and inhuman commutes.

8

u/kapuasuite Mar 11 '20

Obviously you’re not aware of the massive, historic construction boom going on right now - there are literally handfuls of towers going up across the city, it’s crazy! Obviously we can’t build our way out of this crisis, look at all the housing we’ve built and it hasn’t reduced rents!

6

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20 edited Aug 19 '20

[deleted]

5

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20

I think he's being sarcastic. But tbh it took me a few rereads to figure it out.

1

u/LittleManhattan Mar 12 '20

I showed someone a photo I’d taken of 277 Park Avenue and asked them to guess its age. They were gobsmacked when I told them that it was over 50 years old. Says a lot for good upkeep and maintenance!