Honestly, Radio row made more sense than either of the WTCs because it was an entire district for people to actually live, with their own communities, with a walking distance away from the rest of the financial district where they work
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True. I’d rather have Radio Row for a few reasons:
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The loss of an entire thriving neighborhood
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The displacement of hundreds of people
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The towers were empty for their early life, and only took excessive occupancy in the late years
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The towers were obviously bland. The Moire pattern was interesting but they were large boxes that relied on anchoring other ugly boxes
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The construction and the attention brought to the area led to the demolition of:
- Singer Building
- 165 Broadway
- 135 Broadway
- Washington Life Building
- 1894 Fidelity Casualty Building
- 1910 Fidelity Casualty Building
- Hudson Terminal Buildings
- 1893 Monroe Taylor Building
- 1889 Central Railroad Building
- Roebling Building
- and many more.
Also to note people suffered business-wise from them being stripped of their livelihood, some even died from the stress. This is all without bringing up the things the 21st century would bring…
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1940s tax photos digitized and available?!?!? There goes hours of my time. Can’t wait to hear what discoveries this yields for you!
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I didn’t find any photos of the Singer Buildiing or the surrounding buildings 
But I’m happy with that one of the Bourne Building, it’s probably the best one from that part!
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The Library of Congress also has a lot of random photos, some are about as High quality as you can find, as an example grab the 146mb .tiff from here:
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Another update.
Additions:
- Added the Stokes Building on Cedar Street
- Added Federal Hall
- Began 41 Broad Street
- Began the tenements at 23-34 Park Row
Other:
- Renovated the Mutual Life Building(1892/1893/1901/1905-1956). New facade on the Cedar Side, fixed angle, cleaned up sloppy cornices on party walls, and etc.
- Renovated 40 Wall Street’s upper stories. Thanks to marvelfannumber1 who told me about something I never would have noticed.
- I also reskinned and renovated the American Tract Society Building. It now has a tan and looks much more accurate.
Before
After
Not shown is a renovated facade to the 1895 St. Paul Building. I found a color photo of it the year it was demolished, and attempted to work off of that as well as I could.
I’d like to bring attention to how great 90 West looks. The gold roof is really fitting on it.
Seen here from 128 Broadway / the Guaranty Trust Building
More updates will be posted soon, likely from the City Hall area.
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Great job! I love how the Singer looks in the first pic 
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Thanks. I do too. I’d say that’s my favorite angle, but I have no favorite or least favorite with how beautiful it is 
I started a few new things I’ll post about soon, but for now I’ll pose a question.
Should I remake the Fidelity Casualty Building?
As you all may know by now there were two, the 1894 Cedar and Temple Building and the 21 story Liberty wing from 1910. The annex is beautiful, but I built the original building over a year ago and it looks a bit sloppy to me.
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I have a quickie screenshot I thought I’d share.
I’m still working on the City Hall area, but not quite done, so this is all the trailer you get:
Another thing I noticed while flying around, but never really talk about: How the hell did the Singer and City Investing Buildings fall, but the Transportation Building is safe and sound?
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Cant wait for Chatham Square and the 3rd ave El 
New update. Pretty big one.
Added City Hall Park and the Tweed Courthouse. The south end of the park is terrible still and will be remastered and finished with the actual City Hall, but the part north of Murray / Frankfort is complete.
Tweed Courthouse has some blank interior but no detail and no staircase due to it being abandoned and altered with the widening of adjacent streets.
Noticeable in the background is changes near the Brooklyn Bridge. Additions here:
- William Street underpass
- Structural supports between William and Rose Street
- buildings on the future demolition site bounded by Park Row, New Chambers,William, Unknown, and North Wiliam
- 3 Art deco garages between the Metropolitan Realty Building and Rhinelander Builidng
Here the art deco garages are seen in action
Other additions:
- Added 15 Maiden Lane
- Finished 21 Maiden Lane
- Added 63 Nassau Street
- Finished 176 Broadway and it’s addition
I’ve also started trying to finish 60 John Street. Hard as hell, since only 15 of the original 30 stories remain today, but I’m getting there. I’ll post more soon.
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I’m trying to finish 60 John Street. Hardest task I’ve had to undertake throughout this entire project.
It was a 30 story art deco building, but NOBODY thought taking a quick little photo was a good idea.
Does anyone have any pictures that show the wide north face of the building?
Edit: I’ve found my way. I’m slowly making it to the top.
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Update:
At long last. The hardest building to make so far is done: 60 John Street is 100% complete.
The 30 story building was built in 1929 and 1932, but was architecturally raped in 1965 with the construction of Home Insurance Plaza, with it’s self esteem being halved into a 15 story shell, annexed into the new modern tower.
Measuring via MC, the tower at the top was about equal height with Liberty Tower: The flagpole was nearly the height of the Equitable Building’s main mass.
Singer seen from the roof
Other additions, some shown below:
- Added the Home Insurance Building at 95 William Street
- Added the tenement north of it at 99(?) William Street
- Added the Jewelers’ Court Building at 51 Maiden Lane, 1900-1963
- Added 49 Maiden Lane, 19??-1963
- Added 45 Maiden Lane, a mansard roof tenement demolished in 1963
Singer and Liberty Towers from the roof garden / terrace at 95 William
German American and 60 Wall Tower Buildings
I started laying out buildings on the east side of this block, the two most prominent being the Woodbridge Building and Royal Insurance Building.
The Woodbridge Building is known best as being the place of interest for many turn of the century photographers to go for a view of the city when skyscrapers were first sprouting up.
One example:
The other, the Royal Insurance Building, is an extant gem. This will be the last time that the German American Building’s north facade will be mainly visible, so cherish the memory.
I’ll post more soon.
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Damn. It’s been a month since I updated this. Might as well before the year closes.
I haven’t done much recently but I got some work done over time as well as joining the beta for new blocks and features.
Additions:
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Royal Insurance Building (not photographed)
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80 Broad Street
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90 Broad Street
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Produce Exchange Annex Buildings (x2)
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Finished the Produce Exchange block
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Finished the Kemble Building / Stone Webster block
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Importers and Traders Building (not photographed) as well as another romanesque 8 story building, and a 2 story corner building, I believe the smallest building in the map.
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Added roadway to the BB Tunnel, but have not actually done any major markings.
This photo shows the 2 complete blocks, but was taken before the Importers Building + 2 others were finished
Changes
Part 1: The beta:
With the beta available, I’ve been changing sand to the new extra smooth sandstone, as well as using the smooth stone blocks for numerous buildings. The streets are now stone instead of cobblestone, making for more of a quiet-fifties-brisk-morning feel.
One example, the only one I photographed, the Roebling Building:
Part 2: Relevant changes:
As noted before, the Fidelity Casualty Building was my 6th building. The annex was my 9th, as the two estates buildings next door were built between it and the original building. I announced about 1½ ago that I would renovate the original, and though I did it a month ago, I never showed the new product.
This was following a complete demolition and reconstruction. It took an hour.
The new one is a glorious sight to behold.
Upon looking deeper I realized the annex was pretty bad in itself: extra stories, shitty detailing, as well as an oddly positioned roof and party wall. So, rather than demolish it completely, I wrapped it up in netting and made some secretive changes, as well as demolishing and rebuilding the top 3 floors. The replacement, unsurprisingly, is a massive improvement.
Both, in their fresh and renovated forms:
And the final change to be noted of the year is the most notable, at least to me. The landmark Singer Building, holy monument to my map and the universe, had a renovation. The cap was slightly modified, and the skin was changed to brick: it has shed it’s lush red skin for a more accurate shade, to combat the duller as well as dirtier reality of the facade.
The base has been left lush red however. Compared to the tower, the base seems less dirty, even by 1967 standards when this legendary photo was taken:
View from the north over the St. Paul Building
That’s all for me this year, I might be more active soon, but I’m not sure. I’m surely not done with this, but not too motivated at the moment. I’ll update you all in 2019, but as for now, so long to a year of climactic mediocrity. I leave you with this.
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Today marks 50 years without the Singer Building.
RIP and may it not be forgotten.
5/1/1908-9/15/1967-3/2/1969
With regards to the map, I’ll make an update within 1 day to 2 weeks.
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It’s insane the 50 years ago the singer building was under demolition.
R.I.P 149 Broadway. 1 Liberty Plaza is a disaster.
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Few more edits. I’ll make a post in a few days.
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Well thank the LORD and savior Jesus Christ that they eventually signed an enact for preserving old buildings
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The problem with Landmarks is that it is so inconsistent and arbitrary. On one hand you’ve got warehouses and parking garages that are protected because they happen to lie within historic districts. While on the other, you have gorgeous buildings that are torn down or defaced because they are not protected.
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