The Viele Map

"No other city is so spitefully incoherent"

--James Baldwin

Welcome to Manhattan Unlocked Walking Tours

Discover hidden-in-plain-sight history and have fun decoding the streetwalls of the city on our multi-faceted walking tours. Manhattan Unlocked answers the question every New Yorker and visitor has asked at some point: "why is this building next to that building?" We take that question to the nth degree and ultimately let the built environment--the city itself--tell its own story, and it's an incredible story to tell! In addition to the million-and-one things on the surface of the island (architecture, history, culture, commerce, immigration, etc.), we look at how ancient geographic features, and long gone and forgotten transit systems, had everything to do with how the city would grow and develop.

About Us

Manhattan Unlocked began as a blog over a decade ago as an effort to decode and make sense of the streetwalls of the city. What most people consider New York City is an architectural complex, and constellation of neighborhoods, stretching almost 5 miles from the Battery to Central Park. Yet, what looks like a jumble of buildings on almost any given blockfront, I realized long ago, couldn't be random. There had to be reasons, there had to be patterns. Neighborhoods too, whether made up of cast iron buildings or skyscrapers, had to be part of some greater, overarching narrative that described the city's development. There had to be some way that Tribeca and Museum Mile were part of the same story.

I soon realized taking on the search for the single-story--the "unified theory"--behind New York's instantly recognizable yet wholly enigmatic built environment, I needed to hit the pavement so to speak. Manhattan Unlocked walking tours began. I had to discontinue the blog long ago, but hope to start posting again soon. Join us on a walking tour, or wait for the book, Build: The History of of New York City on the Island of Manhattan.

Our Walking Tours

Join Us on a Walking Tour...Click the big blue button below for details, or to book any of the following tours (don't forget to read our TripAdvisor reviews!):

  • Midtown Manhattan Art and Architecture Walking Tour

    • Midtown west, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Park Avenue

  • Holdouts! Based on the Book by Alpern & Durst

    • Midtown east, Grand Central, Rockefeller Center

  • Recreate the Most Requested Walking Tour of 1840s New York

    • Astor Place, NoHo, SoHo, Chinatown, Foley Square

  • A Disastrous History of Housing the Poor
    • (starts May 15, 2024)

    Foley Square, Chinatown and The Lower East Side

  • Explore the Ruins of a Forgotten City in the Middle of Manhattan
    • (starts May 29, 2024)

    Madison Square, Nomad, the Flatiron District, Chelsea

In the meantime, the old blog for "testing the waters" remains below.

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Thursday, February 3, 2011

298 Grand Street, Then and Now

Just a quick fun post. Going through the Museum of the City of New York’s archives I found this 1932 picture of 298 Grand Street.  The Federal-style home below was already 100 years old at the time (they'd stopped building dormer windows around 1840).  By 1932, this was in the heart of the Jewish Lower East side, and textiles were the major industry—it looks like Haddad’s is selling Linens, Curtains, Bed Sets, Silk Underwear. 

Most single family homes lasted just a few decades before becoming multiple family dwellings and/or businesses, such was the vortex-like growth of Manhattan’s population.

You can see the tracks of the Second Avenue railroad in the street.  Horse-drawn cars ran south on Allen Street, west along Grand Street (below), and turned north up Second Avenue.

MNY80077 1932 298 Grand StiMuseum of the City of New York

And here it is today in the middle of Chinatown.  All three buildings are still there, slightly modified.

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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 9:09 PM

    That's awesome! Crazy how much a neighborhood can change. Maybe a post on the origin and growth of Chinatown is in order?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robert AmellFebruary 3, 2011 at 9:18 PM

    Absolutely! I'm trying to figure out how to approach the whole area. Thanks for your comment!

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  3. Laura Goggin PhotographyFebruary 22, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Cool find!

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  4. JillFebruary 22, 2011 at 11:01 PM

    Phenomenal. I just can never get enough of then and now photos, it's like an addiction.

    ReplyDelete
  5. gabrielFebruary 23, 2011 at 7:25 AM

    Beautiful! Missing NYC.

    ReplyDelete
  6. RandyFebruary 23, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    Great photos! According to the link below, the tracks may have extended on Grand St. all the way to the East River where they met the Grand St. Ferry:

    "The tracks had been part of The Forty-Second Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad, a 19th century horse-drawn streetcar line which began operations in 1862, extending from the 42nd Street Ferry on the Hudson River to the Grand Street Ferry on the East River."
    http://home2.nyc.gov/html/nycha////html/resources/work_begins.shtml

    ReplyDelete
  7. RandyFebruary 23, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    More research turns up additional streetcars that ran on Grand St, including one that went from City Hall to Brooklyn (over the Williamsburg Bridge). It ran on Bowery, Grand St, Essex St, and Delancey St. It was called the "Post Office Line." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streetcar_lines_in_Manhattan

    ReplyDelete
  8. Robert AmellFebruary 23, 2011 at 7:50 PM

    Thanks for the complete picture, Randy! I had looked up that part of Grand Street in The Historical Atlas of New York City, Eric Homberger (1st ed. p. 99), to see what he had to say about the area. If you look at the map on that page, from 1865, he has the Second Avenue railroad running down 1st, across Grand, and up 2nd. It was obviously part of a much more extensive system. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Air Cargo ServicesNovember 12, 2011 at 12:42 AM

    After a passage of time, everything gets change. As you have shown both the pictures of Grand Street, there is a lot of difference between both. Really very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousAugust 4, 2018 at 6:52 PM

    Anyone know where I can find a photo of a milliner (hat maker /seller) working on The Grand around the 1840s?

    ReplyDelete
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