The Empire State Building's Airship Dock That Never Worked
The Empire State Building's spire was promoted as a mooring mast for transatlantic airships. The idea was glamorous, dangerous, and almost immediately obsolete.
V
The Trouble Inside 432 Park Avenue
432 Park Avenue was sold as a new icon of luxury height. Residents later alleged that life inside the supertall came with leaks, noise, elevator problems, and cracked concrete.
Why Subway Conductors Point Before Opening the Doors
The black-and-white zebra board on every subway platform is part of a human-factors trick borrowed from Japanese rail safety.
Inside the Pencil-Thin Tower Above Steinway Hall
111 West 57th Street rises from a landmarked piano showroom into one of the thinnest supertall residential towers ever built.
The Tiny Park Where New York Took Down a King
Bowling Green looks like a small patch of grass in Lower Manhattan. Its fence still carries the marks of the night New Yorkers toppled King George III.