The New York that never got built
If these architects and visionaries had had their way, the city would look very different
By Rebecca Dalzell
In 1811, New York’s street commissioners mapped out a future metropolis. Although most residents lived downtown below Houston Street – then tellingly called North Street – they envisioned the city stretching another eight miles into upper Manhattan. Where there were marshes, boulders and hilltop farms, the surveyors drew avenues 100 foot wide, bisected by narrower streets.
More from 1843 magazine
1843 magazine | It began as a rewilding experiment. Now a bear is on trial for murder
The death of a jogger in the Italian Alps has sparked a furious debate about the relationship between humans and nature
1843 magazine | “We have to make Biden lose”: Arab-Americans are switching to Trump
Anger over Gaza in the swing state of Michigan might cost the president the election
1843 magazine | Inside the Kenyan cult that starved itself to death
During covid-19 a preacher lured thousands of people into a remote forest. Then he told them to stop eating