A Quick History Lesson...

[flashback]

I took this shot back in the spring, struck by the incongruity of the structure. This is in the West Village in NYC, and it's mostly referred to as the 17 Grove Street house. I took the shot, but thought little of it until the other day when I stumbled across an image of it online. A few more clicks and I discovered the history of the house.

The house was built in 1822 by a sash maker, William Hyde. A subsequent third floor was added sometime in 1870. It's claimed the house functioned as a brothel during the Civil War. By the mid 1930's it was an apartment building and in 1987 it was bought (for $1.1 million) and restored back to a single family house and exists as such today. (Nearest value I can find for the house today is about $5.5 million.)

What makes this house unique is that it is one of the oldest building in NYC as well as one of the oldest wood framed building in the City. In 1835 there was a huge fire in lower Manhattan and around 1866, new building codes outlawed wood framed structures anywhere in the City. This building escaped both the fire and demolition over the years. [Interesting side note - as a result of the 1835 fire, shortcomings became glaringly apparent in the patchwork of volunteer and Insurance fire companies that provided fire protection to the city. In 1865 all of the various fire companies were replaced by a 700 man paid fire department, then named the Metropolitan Fire Dept. It was later renamed in 1870 as the Fire Dept. of New York (FDNY)].

[Manfred M]

An interesting history lesson there Jack. Thanks for the information as even a fairly unassuming building can have an interesting history and of course result in an interesting place to photograph.

I find it interesting how the various codes that are in widespread use today; building code, pressure vessel code, fire code can usually be traced back to disastrous events like the fire of 1835 that you mention.

Canada's current fire code has an even stranger history and is related to the construction of the St Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s. The planned flooding of land that came about from that construction work meant that a number of villages were abandoned (these are now known as the "Lost Villages") and some of the houses that were expropriated were turned over to the National Research Council of Canada scientists who used them as a test platform and the data collected as they were burned down became the basis of codes that are now in use.

[Dave Humphries]

Interesting image and story Jack,

If I may be so annoying as to mention the little white triangle in the lower right corner that needs a smidge of cloning to fill it.

The tree on the left provides a nice splash of colour.

Cheers, Dave

[flashback]

Manfred, not as strange as it sounds. Actually they were ahead of the game, utilizing commonly built structures to see how they burned and developing Code based on the results. It's only recently that Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) (and, I believe the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST)) have moved to building actual structures (legacy building materials) and then burning them, along with structures built using Lightweight Construction materials and methods, to show how new structures, while structurally sound and cost effective, are more dangerous to deal with once they begin to burn (and they burn so much faster and hotter).

[flashback]

Dave, thanks, and thanks for pointing out that little erro, totally escaped my notice. It's always the little things. I have corrected it and re-posted the corrected image.

[Manfred M]

to show how new structures, while structurally sound and cost effective, are more dangerous to deal with once they begin to burn (and they burn so much faster and hotter).

I was involved in designing new production facilities a few years back and part of the certification process included assessing the "fire load" of a fully equipped building (i.e. building and contents). The previous study was decades old.

The new facility used a lot of the modern materials (plastics) which burn hot, drip burning blobs of plastic as they burn, burn very fast and give off some really toxic fumes when compared to the old wood, metal and "natural products" that went into buildings and equipment a few decades ago.

It's a good thing that NIST, UL, etc. are quantifying this and updating the relevant codes accordingly.

[george013]

I was involved in designing new production facilities a few years back and part of the certification process included assessing the "fire load" of a fully equipped building (i.e. building and contents). The previous study was decades old.

The new facility used a lot of the modern materials (plastics) which burn hot, drip burning blobs of plastic as they burn, burn very fast and give off some really toxic fumes when compared to the old wood, metal and "natural products" that went into buildings and equipment a few decades ago.

It's a good thing that NIST, UL, etc. are quantifying this and updating the relevant codes accordingly.

That artificial materials can become a disaster.
Dusseldorf airport 1996. A relative small fire during constructions works caused 16 death, mostly due to poisonous gasses from burning PVC.
Netherlands, Monnikendam, 14 dead kids during a New Years party in a pub. The christmastrees set fire and the artificial ceiling dripped melted material on the kids wearing artificial clothes.

Back to the photo. It looks good. The building doesn't need painting. But what I miss is the surroundings, a little bit more as the walls from the buildings behind it. By isolating that building so much you reduced it to a big wooden box with windows. By showing more street you might have accented the specific historical value of it more.

George

[Donald]

One of these threads that takes on a life of its own and becomes something that teaches and informs about things other than photography. Thanks to you all.

I love the simple lines of the house. It's just calling out for B & W photography treatment. But what's equally interesting is the high quality carving at the top (go to full size in the Lightbox).

[IzzieK]

Interesting building with its history, Jack...To me it looks nice as it is and the tree at the corner breaks the monotony of lines and shapes. And in line with the modern time, it has cable. Since it is an old building, if you one day want to turn this shot into a mono sepia or coffee colour overall, you'll have to remove that cable part at the top. Just a thought...

[Shadowman]

Interesting story and capture.