All articles by Dana Schulz

Dana is a writer and preservationist with a passion for all things New York.  After graduating from New York University with a BA in Urban Design & Architecture Studies, she worked at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, where she planned the organization's public programs and wrote for their blog Off the Grid. In her free time, she leads walking tours about the social and cultural history of city neighborhoods. Follow her on Twitter @danaschulzNYC.
Get a Sexy Cab Driver Calendar; ‘Hoverboards’ Are Illegal in NYC
November 18, 2015

Get a Sexy Cab Driver Calendar; ‘Hoverboards’ Are Illegal in NYC

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Read these one-star Amazon reviews of famous architecture texts. [Archinect] Forget those beefy firemen, cab drivers are the new monthly pinups. Proceeds from the 2016 NYC Taxi Drivers Calendar go to University Settlement. [CityLab] In other cabbie news, here’s some insight into who taxi drivers are talking to on the phone. [Vice] Those self-balancing scooters you keep […]

Interactive Map Shows the NYC Skyline in 2020
November 17, 2015

Interactive Map Shows the NYC Skyline in 2020

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"Before 2004, Manhattan was home to 28 skyscrapers 700 feet and taller. Since then, an additional 13 have been built, 15 are under construction, and 19 are proposed—47 more in all." Because of this supertall building boom, National Geographic has created an interactive map that lets users explore the NYC skyline in 2020 (h/t Untapped). The light blue buildings are those completed between 2004 and 2015; the orange are under construction; and the yellow proposed.
Get a look at the map here
Craig Ward Creates Prints of Bacteria Found in NYC Subways

E. Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and mold (the big fuzzy blobs) on the D train

November 17, 2015

Craig Ward Creates Prints of Bacteria Found in NYC Subways

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Last February, 6sqft reported on a research project from Weill Cornell Medical College that mapped the DNA found on the New York City subway, which was said to include bubonic plague and anthrax. The scientists eventually reneged on their alarming findings, but little did they know that a Brooklyn-based artist was picking up where they left off. While riding the train this past summer, Craig Ward "saw a fellow photo­grapher’s image of bacteria cultured from her son’s handprint," according to New York magazine. Fascinated by how it related to the urban myth that "when you hold on to the subway railings, you shake hands with 100 people all at once," he embarked on a project to ride all 22 subway lines, collecting bacteria samples from poles and seats. What resulted is this strangely beautiful "Subvisual Subway" print series of everything from salmonella to Staphylococcus aureus.
See more this way
This 80-Story I.M. Pei-Designed Tower Almost Replaced Grand Central
November 16, 2015

This 80-Story I.M. Pei-Designed Tower Almost Replaced Grand Central

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The year was 1956. Plans to demolish Penn Station hadn't yet been set into motion. But plans to demolish NYC's other famous train station were well underway. When Grand Central was constructed in 1913, its architects envisioned that it would one day be the base of a skyscraper, but in the early 1950s, developers hoped to demolish the terminal altogether to make way for what would have been the tallest building in the world. Famed architect I.M Pei was tasked with the job, and he designed an 80-story, hourglass-shaped, futuristic tower known as the Hyperboloid.
More details and a video on the never-built project
Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff
November 14, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

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Rendering Revealed for Brooklyn’s First 1,000-Foot Tower VIDEO: What It’s Like to Pull Into a $1 Million Parking Spot at Annabelle Selldorf’s 42 Crosby Amy Schumer’s Lovely Upper West Side Co-op Lists for $2M Tiny House ‘MUJI Huts’ Will Start at Just $25,000 VIDEO: Travel to India and See How NYC’s Manhole Covers Are Made […]

Target Coming to Tribeca; NYPD Sketch Artist Gets Gallery Show
November 13, 2015

Target Coming to Tribeca; NYPD Sketch Artist Gets Gallery Show

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A Target will open in Tribeca in October 2016. It’ll be located on Greenwich and Murray Streets and be a bit smaller than traditional stores. [NYP] Ever wonder why certain subway stations don’t have countdown clocks? Thank that antiquated switchboard technology. [The Atlantic] The city’s considering landmarking President Chester A. Arthur’s former home in Murray […]

Mapping the Individual Economies of NYC Neighborhoods
November 13, 2015

Mapping the Individual Economies of NYC Neighborhoods

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What does your neighborhood economy look like? That's the title of this smart new interactive map that shows economic development opportunities at the local level. Created by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, the map has five layers–total risk (shown above), community and infrastructure, employment and education, banking and access, and income and benefits. They're all color-coded and range from least at risk to most at risk. As we can see, the most at risk neighborhoods are in northern Manhattan, the Lower East Side, the Bronx, Sunset Park, Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Elmhurst in Queens. The least at risk is the majority of Manhattan and Rego Park/Forest Hills.
Explore the interactive map this way
Unclog Your Smartphone Brain With These Urban ‘Maps From the Mind’
November 12, 2015

Unclog Your Smartphone Brain With These Urban ‘Maps From the Mind’

By
Without GPS and Google Maps, most of us probably wouldn't be able to get from point A to point B within our own cities. That's where these clever Maps from the Mind come in (h/t Fast Co. Design). Designed by Archie Archambault, the maps are intended to jog our memories of the basic layouts of cities, bringing our brains back to the pre-digital age of road maps and actual sense of direction. Archambault swaps traditional street grids in favor of basic circles. Not only does it create a graphic look, but it's easy to have the circles represent size and connection.
Find out more
$22K/Month West Village Townhouse Was an Underground Railroad Stop
November 12, 2015

$22K/Month West Village Townhouse Was an Underground Railroad Stop

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Over the weekend, 6sqft brought you a listing for a charmingly historic upstate house that was once an Underground Railroad safe house. With its location on sprawling land in a small town, this makes sense, but even houses in bustling New York City played a role in the historic story. There was the 1830s historic mansion at 45 Grove Street, and there's this 1847 West Village townhouse at 95 Barrow Street. The Post reports that the home, now on the rental market for $21,900 a month, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The three-bedroom residence retains its historic details in the form of exposed brick walls galore, wooden beamed ceilings, and original wide-plank pine floors. But it's also recently undergone a gut renovation that added modern amenities such as radiant heat flooring (and sidewalk!), a chic kitchen, and lots of custom built-ins.
Check it out
NYC Trees Getting Their Own Email Addresses; Go Inside the S.S. Columbia
November 12, 2015

NYC Trees Getting Their Own Email Addresses; Go Inside the S.S. Columbia

By

A slew of signs tagged #Slopelandia are popping up in Park Slope storefronts. Some make fun of local cliches (i.e. Kale Kidz) while others go for the shock factor (an ad for a Donald Trump office). [DNAinfo] 200 trees might get personal email addresses “as a mechanism for deepening public engagement with the trees.” [Gothamist] Richard Haas’ famous […]

November 12, 2015

POLL: Will Brooklyn Soon Have a Tower as Tall as Manhattan?

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Earlier this week, 6sqft published the official renderings for Brooklyn’s first 1,000-foot tower, making it the tallest building in the outer boroughs. Prior to this, rumors were circulating that the SHoP-designed structure could actually rise higher than the 1,250-foot Empire State Building. To some, this may seem a little far-fetched, but others think it’s just a matter […]

VIDEO: Travel to India and See How NYC’s Manhole Covers Are Made
November 10, 2015

VIDEO: Travel to India and See How NYC’s Manhole Covers Are Made

By
Manhole covers fall into that category of things New Yorkers walk by (and in this case, walk on) every day, but rarely notice. If you look closely, though, you'll see that right under "N.Y.C. Sewer" they say "Made in India." Fascinated by this interesting pairing on one of the city's most iconic urban elements, filmmaker and anthropologist Natasha Raheja traveled to Howrah, India (a city of one million full of foundries from the British Colonial era) to document how these manhole covers are made and to "learn more about the labor infrastructure concealed in the built infrastructure of our cities." Raheja's resulting 26-minute documentary called "Cast In India" provides a glimpse into the physical labor of manhole covers, as well as the lives of the men creating them. In the trailer, (h/t Gothamist) we see barefoot workers in a dirt-floor factory using their feet to press the shape into the 300-pound metal covers, carrying buckets of pig iron on their heads, pouring molten metal from the buckets, and more.
Watch the video here
Rendering Revealed for Brooklyn’s First 1,000-Foot Tower
November 9, 2015

Rendering Revealed for Brooklyn’s First 1,000-Foot Tower

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News broke back in August that Brooklyn's first tower over 1,000 feet might rise in Downtown Brooklyn as the result of the $90 million acquisition of Brooklyn’s landmarked Dime Savings Bank building by JDS Development. Previously, they bought the site next door for $43 million, and combined with the bank's 300,000 square feet of development rights, they acquired the means to build a tower of nearly 600,000 square feet at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. 6sqft got a taste of what's to come when we revealed a video that showed the insane views from the top of the could-be tower, but now Yimby has unveiled the official renderings and specs for the project, which come courtesy of starchitects SHoP. As previously speculated, it will reach 1,000 feet, making it the tallest building in the outer boroughs. The 90-story, vaguely Art Deco tower will have 466,000 square feet of residential space, amounting to 550 condo units, as well as 140,000 square feet of commercial space.
More on the development ahead
Tiny House ‘MUJI Huts’ Will Start at Just $25,000
November 9, 2015

Tiny House ‘MUJI Huts’ Will Start at Just $25,000

By
For lovers of the tiny house movement and eco-design, it was pretty big news when environmentally conscious, "no-brand" Japanese household company MUJI announced that they'd be launching three tiny prefab cabins called MUJI Hut. The three models are of varying materials (wood, cork, and aluminum) and size, created by three well-known designers (Naoto Fukasawa, Jasper Morrison, and Konstantin Grcic). One is envisioned as a true tiny home for living off the grid, another as a vacation retreat, and the third as a place to temporarily escape. The models first launched last week at Tokyo Design Week, but now Spoon & Tomago has uncovered the pricing, which ranges from $25,000 to $40,000.
Get inside all three designs
$350K Catskills Colonial Was an Underground Railroad Safe House
November 8, 2015

$350K Catskills Colonial Was an Underground Railroad Safe House

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Built in 1795 in a "central chimney, post and Beam Colonial style," this home in the Catskills village of Andes was originally used as a tavern. It then had lives as a farmhouse, meeting house during the Anti-Rent War (a tenants' revolt in the early 19th century), and, most impressively, a safe house for the Underground Railroad (h/t CIRCA). In its most recent incarnation, it's served as a private home, with the current owners preserving its historic integrity, including five fireplaces, beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, and .62 acres of conservation land. They've now listed the property for $350,000.
Check it all out
Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff
November 7, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

By

Rent a Literal Dumpster Apartment in Williamsburg for $1,200 a Month–or $200 a Night The World’s Most Expensive Dollhouse Will Be On Show at Columbus Circle This Month 220 Central Park South Costs $5,000 Per Foot to Build, Now 50 Percent Sold Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Reportedly Showing Cracks in Its 1,400-Foot Facade Renderings Revealed […]

More Manhattan Rentals Are Listed Above $15,000 Than Under $2,000

Graph courtesy of The Real Deal

November 6, 2015

More Manhattan Rentals Are Listed Above $15,000 Than Under $2,000

By
Looking for a rental under $2,000 a month? Keep your fingers crossed and head to the Upper East Side. In a new analysis of on-line residential exclusive listings data as of October 8th, The Real Deal concludes that there are more Manhattan rentals priced above $15,000 than there are under $2,000, further proving that the uber-luxury market is not letting up. But for the latter category, the neighborhoods of Yorkville, Carnegie Hill, and Lenox Hill are the best bet. In fact, the UES has more listings below $2,000 than all of Manhattan south of Central Park.
More on the trends this way
Did You Know Brooklyn Has Its Own Saint?
November 6, 2015

Did You Know Brooklyn Has Its Own Saint?

By
Neither did we. But the New York Times sheds some light on Raphael Hawaweeny, a Syrian (not Catholic or European) who helped bring the Eastern Orthodox Church to America, and who is being celebrated tonight and tomorrow to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. In 1904, Saint Raphael of Brooklyn became the first Orthodox Christian bishop consecrated in North America, leading him to found the present-day Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. The first of its 29 parishes was and is located in Boerum Hill–the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Brooklyn–not far from what was then Little Syria. The Archdiocese describes him as "neither a wonder-worker nor a clairvoyant elder, St. Raphael embraced a life of total abandonment of self for the service of God and his fellow man: a life of true spiritual asceticism."
Find out more
WSP Burial Vaults Belonged to a Church; Natural History Museum Expansion ‘Part Dr. Seuss, Part Jurassic Park’
November 6, 2015

WSP Burial Vaults Belonged to a Church; Natural History Museum Expansion ‘Part Dr. Seuss, Part Jurassic Park’

By

The recently uncovered Washington Square Park burial vaults belonged to the Pearl Street Church or the Cedar Street Church, say archaeologists. [DNAinfo] Watch the 78-foot Rockefeller Center Christmas tree make its way into 30 Rock. [Reddit] Michael Kimmelman calls the Jeanne Gang-designed American Museum of Natural History expansion “part Dr. Seuss, part Jurassic Park, part parametric extravaganza,” […]

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