Words & Music by Mike Power

Tag: architecture

  • CitySketch – Post Office

      In 440 BC the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the Persian messenger system that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness of night” stood in their way. More than two millennia later, the main USPS building in NYC, the James A. Farley Post Office, ran an inspired inscription up Eighth Avenue.  “Neither snow…

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  • CitySketch – Bank of America Tower

    On October 17, 1904, Amadeo Pietro Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco to serve Italian immigrants whose fortunes were too small to be of interest to the American banks of the day. Unlike most of his fellow bankers, when the great earthquake struck San Francisco two years later Giannini was quick enough…

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  • CitySketch: Textile

    The Textile Building, on Fifth Avenue between 30th & 31st Streets, was built in 1920. Five and half million people lived in New York City at the time. On January 17 of that year the 18th Amendment of the US Constitution went into effect stating “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the…

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  • CitySketch: NYS Supreme Court, Appellate Division

      On the corner of Madison Avenue and 25th Street stands the New York State Supreme Court building, Appellate Division. Established in 1894 by the New York State Constitution, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department holds jurisdiction over Manhattan and the Bronx. 3,000 appeals are heard there every year, which is…

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  • CitySketch: Gilsey House

    The Gilsey House is something special. It looms over the corner of Broadway and 29th Street like some kind of phantom from another era. From their website:  The hotel was luxurious – the rooms featured rosewood and walnut finishing, marble fireplace mantles, bronze chandeliers and tapestries  – and offered services to its guests such as…

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