Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_denizen
it's just interesting that people don't differentiate European historical architecture by age. That Bok tower in Orlando is not much newer than the UK Parliament, Tower Bridge, Sacre Coeur, Hausmann's Parisian blocks, Barcelona's modernist blocks, Berlin's apartments, etc etc.
It's the architecture, not the age that makes those areas interesting.
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Yes and no. Yes, the amazing architecture in Europe makes things interesting, but the streetscapes are usually much older, unless we're talking WW2 damaged cities (so like all of Germany, and parts of a few other W. European countries).
Using your examples, there is no major U.S. city where the streetscape is as old as that of central Paris. New York, which probably has the most consistent 19th century core streetscape (areas like Flatiron, Soho, Tribeca and Union Square), still is generally late-19th century, while Hausmann's Paris is more mid-19th century. Probably Soho is the only neighborhood in NYC where there are large-scale commercial streetscapes from more mid-1800's.
In contrast, Hausmann's Paris is the dominant vernacular in central Paris. It would be as if all of Manhattan were Soho.
I get that there are large 19th century residential landcapes in pretty large areas of NYC, Philly, and Boston (and maybe Baltimore, or even Cincy and St. Louis, and some smaller cities like Albany), but the core commercial landscapes are pretty limited compared to Europe. And Paris is not particularly old in terms of building stock.
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