Shaping Our City: Before the Commissioner’s Grid

Shaping Our City is a more or less chronological series devoted to the history and development of architecture in New York City led by historian Matt Postal.

With Matt Postal

In the East and West Village vestiges of a pre-grid Manhattan survive, in the named (not numbered) streets that run both haphazardly and true west toward the North (Hudson) River, as well as in the frame and brick structures that hark back to the earliest days of the republic. A step back in time, this tour addresses early planning efforts and 19th century structures that responded to the area’s distinctive street pattern, such as St. Marks Church in the Bowery, MacDougal Alley, and the Northern Dispensary.

Saturday, January 19
11:00 AM — 1:00 PM

Tickets:
Member: $20
Non-member: $30

map of proposed bridges in Manhattan, 1807
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, John Hardy.