Concrete sidewalks were not standard in 19th century neighborhoods and bluestone slabs are considered the accurate material for many brownstone blocks but Harlem seems to be missing this original material. We found an old article in the New York Times circa 1994 that had stated historic areas of Brooklyn and Harlem were getting their sidewalks updated with the gray-blue rock that is quarried from the Catskills:
LINK. The above photo shows a West Village walkway and we have noticed many Brooklyn nabes with the same sidewalk surface material that is more durable than concrete but four times more expensive to install. In the old article, neighborhood organizations in Brooklyn have helped homeowners with the cost of installing the more accurate bluestone but it seems Harlem hasn't had much luck in getting assistance for this type of side street restoration. Does anyone know of any Harlem historic districts with bluestone still in place? We don't really recall seeing any bluestone sidewalks uptown.
There are occasional pieces of bluestone sidewalk remaining throughout Harlem. The sidewalks are very often opened up for the many services entering a building, a contractor will then nearly always destroy the bluestone and replace it with concrete at any opportunity and will persuade the building owner it is the best course of action. The bluestone flagstones are also difficult to reset as they can weigh 500lbs or more and are awkward to lift, but when these bluestone flagstones where originally set there was no motorized construction equipment available and where set with man power and delivered by horse and cart. An affordable alternative is to add concrete coloring to match the blue stone color. Also NY Public library on 42nd street has some new huge bluestone flagstones which look great.
ReplyDeleteI think there might be some along Jumel Terrace on the same side of the street as the Morris-Jumel mansion.
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