Canopies on Cambridge
Tuesday’s post about brownstone window awnings in Bed Stuy prompted one reader to send us this photo of Cambridge Place in Clinton Hill from 1928. It looks like these ones cover even more of the window. You’d really have to duck down to reach the front door. 1920s: Houdini, Flappers and Window Awnings? [Brownstoner]
Tuesday’s post about brownstone window awnings in Bed Stuy prompted one reader to send us this photo of Cambridge Place in Clinton Hill from 1928. It looks like these ones cover even more of the window. You’d really have to duck down to reach the front door.
1920s: Houdini, Flappers and Window Awnings? [Brownstoner]
Blatant selfishness? now you done it you Punkos!
I’m gonna put on my snow leopard coat and I’m gonna buy a case of Lysol aerosol cans and attack all the zip cars from my SUV window on my way home today all while I snack on a bald eagle and cheese sandwich.
Lots of of our decorating trends these days make us consume too much energy. Let’s talk about Winter. When these brownstones were built, they had heavy, lined, velvet curtains hanging on the windows. Heavy curtains block a LOT of cold coming through the glass and edges of windows. We had a drafty window in our bedroom, and after hanging a heavy curtain over it that we left closed most of the time in Winter, the temperature in the room seriously stayed 10 degrees warmer, no joke. And the whole no-rugs obsession, same thing, you get more cold coming from the floors. The love of modernism becomes absurd if you have to spend twice as much money and use twice as much energy. Plus there are plenty plenty of really nice options in rugs and curtains with a modern look to them.
Yeah you have to love the blatant selfishness of those who answer summer’s heat by just cranking up the a/c rather than suffer a little mid-afternoon darkness. Do you drive an SUV too?
No, I’m posting on an internet website in a conversational tone, not writing a thesis. But maybe you are too uptight to ever speak or write in a way that conveys a warm, conversational tone. So you don’t recognize it when you see it.
“so not right”?! what are you, twelve?
Anyone who claims to be “green” should be using heavy curtains or awnings or shutters, anything to block sunlight on the hot days of Summer. It makes a huge difference, in cooling an interior. It cools a place by several degrees. It’s so not right to just crank up the air conditioners. Anybody remember the blackout that one Summer? What does it take to convince people to reduce energy consumption?
Jim;
I’ll throw out a couple of ideas for your consideration. I live in a 46 unit condo complex. It actually consists of 5 buildings, with 9-10 units per building. We keep our garbage cans in the basment, to maintain the aesthetics of the building (which are pretty nice). In order to pull this off, certain things have to be done:
a) we have a porter who keeps on top of the garbage, to make sure it doesn’t overflow. He comes by once or twice a week to bag the excess garbage. He puts the excess bag in a rubbermaid “garbage shed” which you see around. They are rat-proof.
b) He carts out the garbage twice a week.
c) We have an exterminator who comes around once a month to take care of the place, including putting rat bait stations near the cans. With these steps, we never have a problem with bugs, rats, etc.
The porter costs us $1250/month, but half of that is for cleaning the 5 lobby and basement floors (10 floors total). So let’s say that $600/month is for the garbage carting. That works out to about $13 per family, per month, to keep our garbage tidy, and pprevents it from marring our building’s appearance.
If this is not practical, then I suggest building an attractive wooden container to house the garbage cans in the front. I see that some folks make them out of the pressurized wood which is used for decks, and it looks fairly decent. Hope this helps.
Benson
On-street parking, at least overnight,is actually a relatively new phenomenon. Another blog posted this interesting thesis: http://www.arch.columbia.edu/up/people/alumni/2004thesis_pdf/GRothThesis.pdf
at pages 26-27. A neighbor with old Brooklyn ancestors says that when cars belonged mostly to the comparatively well off, they had to be garaged at night, much as horses and carriages were.
I have the tax photo of my house as well, and it’s fairly good quality. Though I haven’t done it yet, my plan is to take a similar picture of the house today (in color, of course), frame them both and hang them side by side inside my home.