"Prewar" apartment neighborhoods in U.S. outside NYC...

[JManc]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Though most are more like this:
https://goo.gl/maps/cjWuhq1moTA2
https://goo.gl/maps/HzT7XDmfWg12


Portland, ME also has a few blocks solidly built up like this: https://goo.gl/maps/yYNvHdZnkWB2


Springfield, MA seems to have lost much of its old urban fabric, but it still has a couple blocks of this stuff:
https://goo.gl/maps/VUf2GpeQEa62
https://goo.gl/maps/YzM5BGoonZ42
https://goo.gl/maps/uV5KvC9HiwH2

This is very common in New England, New York and much of the northern midwest.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by JManc

This is very common in New England, New York and much of the northern midwest.

I haven't seen many of those big brick Springfield apartments in other cities - certainly not cohesive blocks of them, anyway (except in neighbouring Holyoke which I mentioned previously).

Most New England towns & cities seem to have "apartment districts", but they're usually interspersed with SFH and are dominated by the typical 3-flats. Lewiston seems somewhat unique in both the concentration of apartments and that many of them are larger, 4 storey structures.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

I haven't seen many of those big brick Springfield apartments in other cities - certainly not cohesive blocks of them, anyway (except in neighbouring Holyoke which I mentioned previously).

Most New England towns & cities seem to have "apartment districts", but they're usually interspersed with SFH and are dominated by the typical 3-flats. Lewiston seems somewhat unique in both the concentration of apartments and that many of them are larger, 4 storey structures.

New England made an early "turn" away from brick construction for multifamily to frame triple deckers (or double triple deckers like in the Lewiston streetviews). Basically by the 1870s New England was mostly done with rowhomes and brick tenements.

Those Springfield apartments look newer than that though. I'd guess 1920s based upon the style.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

I haven't seen many of those big brick Springfield apartments in other cities - certainly not cohesive blocks of them, anyway (except in neighbouring Holyoke which I mentioned previously).

Most New England towns & cities seem to have "apartment districts", but they're usually interspersed with SFH and are dominated by the typical 3-flats. Lewiston seems somewhat unique in both the concentration of apartments and that many of them are larger, 4 storey structures.

I didn't click on Springfield links but yeah, most older northern cities have the multi-family houses; triple deckers in Mass, RI, etc..double deckers in NY and elsewhere. Not so much apartment buildings.

[mthd]

in san francisco, parts of pacific heights, nob hill, and the tenderloin have a majority of buildings > 4 stories, typically 4-12. nowhere is it completely consistent for more than 4-5 blocks in one or two directions, but these are definitely neighborhoods of "elevator buildings" which are mostly prewar.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Boston also has the North End: https://goo.gl/maps/SdpYTcW1t5t

And then of course there's the Tenderloin in San Francisco: https://goo.gl/maps/ttF7BVU19Ar

Otherwise, it was just never really a common building typology in North America. Here's a surprising exception though - Holyoke, MA:
https://goo.gl/maps/SKBDCNBkqKM2
https://goo.gl/maps/xau1CQAgoR22
https://goo.gl/maps/SQixn1trrM82

I can second Holyoke, though many seem to have been torn done or abandoned, I visited over a decade ago:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/220011...57637265542495

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

I can second Holyoke, though many seem to have been torn done or abandoned, I visited over a decade ago:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/220011...57637265542495

I remember that thread! That was probably my first (and still really only) introduction to Holyoke.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I realize that "elevator buildings" aren't common anywhere outside of NYC. I figured I'd include anything which looked like a medium-to-large purpose-built apartment building (e.g., three stories or more, common entrance, more units than a Chicago six-flat).

pre-war elevator buildings are not entirely uncommon outside of NYC...even small midwestern cities like st. louis have corridors and non-downtown blocks of "doorman" style elevator buildings...


leerealtyproperties.com

riverfronttimes.com


thumbs.frmonline.com


apartmentsearch.com


and heres the back of a pre-war apartment neighborhood from a parkway just to give you an idea of scale, even though its quite an old photo, theres since been significant large infill projects along this view.

stl-style.com

heres my old street (which is a little known neighborhood to the west of the central west end), while this is a very old photo the view is generally unchanged except for some giant 2010s projects going up:

nextstl.com

[Centropolis]

heres midtown a few miles east:


curioususa.com

[ardecila]

^ I've never seen anything like these non-downtown highrises between the coasts, save Chicago and St. Louis, maybe a little bit in Milwaukee. If Detroit had any, they're gone now... I'm not familiar enough with Cleveland or Pittsburgh to say.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ardecila

^ I've never seen anything like these non-downtown highrises between the coasts, save Chicago and St. Louis, maybe a little bit in Milwaukee. If Detroit had any, they're gone now... I'm not familiar enough with Cleveland or Pittsburgh to say.

Midtown Detroit has some prewar highrise blocks, same with Buffalo along Delaware Ave. corridor, and KC around Country Club Plaza. The problem in Detroit is that most of the highrises have been demolished, though a few remain.

Here's Midtown Detroit:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3744...7i13312!8i6656

Here's Buffalo:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9022...7i13312!8i6656

[Chef]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

I haven't seen many of those big brick Springfield apartments in other cities - certainly not cohesive blocks of them, anyway (except in neighbouring Holyoke which I mentioned previously).

Most New England towns & cities seem to have "apartment districts", but they're usually interspersed with SFH and are dominated by the typical 3-flats. Lewiston seems somewhat unique in both the concentration of apartments and that many of them are larger, 4 storey structures.

Stevens Square in Minneapolis is like this. It isn't the biggest neighborhood but it is almost entirely brick walkups. Much of Minneapolis immediately south of downtown was the same but was torn down for the construction of I 94.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.96522...7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.96395...7i13312!8i6656

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by ardecila

^ I've never seen anything like these non-downtown highrises between the coasts, save Chicago and St. Louis, maybe a little bit in Milwaukee. If Detroit had any, they're gone now... I'm not familiar enough with Cleveland or Pittsburgh to say.

They aren't all gone, but 90% of the ones left are probably in disrepair. The good news is that there has been a cultural shift towards preservation in Detorit that may save the remaining ones. Lee Plaza is an example:





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Plaza_(Detroit)

[Centropolis]

kansas city has rows of pre-war elevator buildings in tip-top shape in the most desirable neighborhood:


pinterest.com

[benp]

Originally Posted by ardecila

^ I've never seen anything like these non-downtown highrises between the coasts, save Chicago and St. Louis, maybe a little bit in Milwaukee. If Detroit had any, they're gone now... I'm not familiar enough with Cleveland or Pittsburgh to say.

The Delaware District in Buffalo has many pre-war apartment towers, particularly along Delaware Avenue:
IMG_1363 by bpawlik, on Flickr

IMG_1344 by bpawlik, on Flickr

IMG_1366 by bpawlik, on Flickr

IMG_1373 by bpawlik, on Flickr

IMG_1324 by bpawlik, on Flickr

IMG_1269 by bpawlik, on Flickr

IMG_1331 by bpawlik, on Flickr

[LMich]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

They aren't all gone, but 90% of the ones left are probably in disrepair. The good news is that there has been a cultural shift towards preservation in Detorit that may save the remaining ones. Lee Plaza is an example:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Plaza_(Detroit)

I guess Lee Plaza is a good example of an abandoned one, but Jefferson Avenue is sprinkled occupied ones.


Detroit Jefferson Kean Apts. August 27, 2010 (14) by Kevin Mueller, on Flickr


Detroit Jefferson & Dubois The Pasadena August 25, 2010 (2) by Kevin Mueller, on Flickr


Gold Coast. by Kaylee Kochanski, on Flickr


Rivertown Detroit by vizual2, on Flickr


IMG_0381 by denis baldwin, on Flickr

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by LMich

Rivertown Detroit by vizual2, on Flickr

Yeah, Lee Plaza was the first to pop in my mind. How could I forget about Martin's building, though?

[STLgasm]

I actually dug up an old thread of mine from 2012 highlighting the highrises and midrises of St. Louis' Central West End (many of which are prewar buildings)...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=189109

[jmecklenborg]

Kansas City has a huge number of these 1910-1930 elevator apartment buildings, probably at least 50.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by STLgasm

I actually dug up an old thread of mine from 2012 highlighting the highrises and midrises of St. Louis' Central West End (many of which are prewar buildings)...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=189109

nice

here's a nice, if dated (quite a lot of infill in here now) slab of st. louis elevator bldgs:


kc-photos.com