{"id":2276,"date":"2007-09-06T10:03:13","date_gmt":"2007-09-06T14:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2276"},"modified":"2007-09-06T21:29:26","modified_gmt":"2007-09-07T01:29:26","slug":"the-mish-mash-of-new-yorks-sidewalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/06\/the-mish-mash-of-new-yorks-sidewalks\/","title":{"rendered":"The mish-mash of New York&#8217;s sidewalks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1121\/1334048476_c37c752b01.jpg\" height=\"245\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NEW YORK<\/strong> &#8212; The sidewalks of New York are probably the most varied and interesting of any city I lived in.  The sidewalks are a mish-mash of huge granite blocks, concrete, metal grates and glass block.  Because there are no back alleys, the buildings were built with a 5-to-10-foot setback with steel grates that opened up to basement stairs for deliveries.<\/p>\n<p>In some of the older industrial areas such as Soho and Chelsea it&#8217;s common to see sidewalks half paved with granite or concrete and the other half covered over with steel.  Because the basements of the buildings extend under this portion of the sidewalk, areas which were not required to have access were covered in concrete or steel panels with various shaped glass inserts to allow light to penetrate into the basements (middle photo, above).  This has a beautiful effect at night as the light also shines up through these glass inserts, giving the sidewalk an incredibly light and delicate appearance reminiscent of lace.<\/p>\n<p>As many of these neighbourhoods were developed almost 160 years agom, it is not uncommon for the sidewalks to be constructed of blocks of granite measuring 8 inches thick and 10 feet square.  If you look closely you will notice the detail and attention paid to the insertion of manhole and utility covers into this stone.  Each hatch or cover is carved with a half-inch groove to draw the water away from the opening and towards the gutter (photo below, right).<\/p>\n<p>Although there are no sidewalk stamps, the mark of dedicated craftsmen is still visible.  Almost two centuries later, these giant blocks have become polished by the thousands of people who pass over them each day.  It is estimated that the average stretch of sidewalk on 1st Avenue in the East Village sees 1,800 pedestrians move across any given block of sidewalk per hour.  These numbers would probably be tripled in tourist areas like Soho.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1172\/1333162627_918b0512df.jpg\" height=\"166\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This culture of creating interesting sidewalks hasn&#8217;t stopped with time.  Surprisingly, building owners and the City have a great interest in the materials and design of sidewalks.  A new stretch of sidewalk, also in Soho, is inlayed with stainless steel and references the older glass embedded sidewalks with small, one-inch lights which glow in the evening (photo, top right).<\/p>\n<p>The fate of New York&#8217;s pedestrian realm greatly benefited from the organic development of a city without alleys. The average sidewalk right-of-way is no larger than that of the typical Toronto street, but because of the setback for basement access, the city is graced with wide and expansive sidewalks, capable of carrying thousands of people each hour.  (Until you factor in the street vendors, but that&#8217;s a whole separate post on its own.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>A NOTE TO READERS:<\/strong><br \/>\n<em> Joe, a long-time Spacing magazine contributor, has just left his hometown of Toronto, and is now living in New York. He will be our Big Apple correspondent covering public space and related issues as frequently as possible.  If there are any particular ideas or topics you would like him to cover, leave a comment or email <a href=\"mailto:spacingtoronto@spacing.ca\">Spacing Toronto<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW YORK &#8212; The sidewalks of New York are probably the most varied and interesting of any city I lived in. The sidewalks are a mish-mash of huge granite blocks, concrete, metal grates and glass block. Because there are no back alleys, the buildings were built with a 5-to-10-foot setback with steel grates that opened<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/06\/the-mish-mash-of-new-yorks-sidewalks\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;The mish-mash of New York&#8217;s sidewalks&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4035,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3052,6548,469,21,2455,762,6689,6690,19],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walking","tag-correspondent","tag-metal-grates","tag-new-york","tag-other-cities","tag-stainless-steel","tag-steel","tag-steel-grates","tag-steel-panels","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The mish-mash of New York&#039;s sidewalks - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/06\/the-mish-mash-of-new-yorks-sidewalks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The mish-mash of New York&#039;s sidewalks - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NEW YORK &#8212; The sidewalks of New York are probably the most varied and interesting of any city I lived in. 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