We Have A Roof & A View! (Sorta)

Posted on May 7, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

The roof, while far from done, got put up Friday – well enough to stand on at least…

The next thing we have to figure out is whether the slope of the roof will be uncomfortable as a deck. It changes by about 7 inches every 10 feet. We could do three level areas with one step between each, or we could live with the slope. We went to Home Depot this afternoon and got some plastic lawn chairs and plan on sitting up there this weekend to see whether it bothers us. (Anyone want to join us for a beer on the roof?) If we want to do three level areas we’ll need to raise the railings a bit to compensate for the additional height.

The roof lets us get a peek at our view. While we’ve stood on the roof of the apartment building next door, we’ve never actually seen the view from our own roof until today. It’s a story lower than the apartment building, and the view isn’t quite as good – it’s a bit obstructed…

(Click picture to see bigger version).

We can see midtown a bit. Citicorp is visible, and from the right angle the top of Empire State is visible, but much of the Midtown view is obstructed by the apartment buildings on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. And being Harlem it’s off in the distance anyway. Here’s a blow up of the best part of the view…

(Click for bigger version).

I gotta say though… The fact that our view is so precarious makes me want the boundaries of the Mount Morris Park Landmark District expanded so our neighbors to the south can’t build up and block our view. Thing is, even if they’re landmarked they could still build up a little and block things for us – by adding a bulkhead like we’re doing…

Honestly though, the most interesting thing on the horizon we see when we turn around and look across and down the block a bit at The Greater Metropolitan Baptist Church (originally a German Lutheran church)…

The nicest part of the roof deck is that it’s less of a fish bowl than the back yard. There’s a bit more privacy than the back yard ’cause it can be seen by fewer windows…

Construction Doorways

Posted on May 4, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

Bricked up doorway for workmen in Harlem townhouse One interesting detail we’ve seen in a number of Harlem townhouses that have exposed brick walls are old, original, bricked up doorways between the townhouses (see photo on right).

The old buildings you see in Harlem were built by speculative developers during a real estate boom (yes, that concept is nothing new). Developers would buy a parcel of land and sub-divide it by putting a number of townhouses up at once. Generally all of them would be identical, or just differ in minor ways.

Because they were building several buildings at once they’d put in passageways so the workers could go from one house to the next quickly. Then towards the end of the project all the doorsways would be all bricked up before the walls were plastered.

We have one of these on every floor. The lintels are in a variety of conditions. Originally they were wood. Some are in good condition, others are rotten and need to be replaced. One of them had the wood pulled out and brick put in (because it was in a kitchenette – which was a good thing since that’s where a major fire started).

Our doorways will still be visible when we’re done since we’re leaving the party wall as exposed brick. The old doorways will give the brick walls a little more character and may even prompt a question or two from observant guests.

Look Ma… No Roof!

Posted on May 4, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

No Roof…

Last Friday the contractor took off the roof. It had been pretty badly damaged in a fire nearly 15 years ago. It’s sorta amazing it was still more or less in one piece.

Having the roof off was a curious thing… it was a bit like having a private deck on the top floor of the building…

Once again, nice big windows – 🙂

They’ve started putting in the rafters for the roof. It’s going a little slowly because the bricks in the parapet aren’t in as good condition as the ones lower down in the wall.

Hopefully by the end of the week I can get up and walk on our “roof deck”. I put the ladder up on the top floor at one point and tried to see if I could see the Midtown skyline – not quite, but the roof deck will be 10′ higher. I’m sort of obsessing – wondering if the townhouse behind us will block our view. I’ll know soon enough.

More DOB Issues…

In other news, we passed our first plumbing inspection by default – the inspector didn’t show up. Apparently that’s pretty common – the inspectors focus on inspecting the work of problem plumbers or unknown plumbers and don’t worry so much about well-known plumbers who always pass inspections. That means we can now pour the concrete for our cellar floor.

Also DOB related is that our Post Amendment Approval (PAA) meeting was canceled at the last minute today. I’m guessing the plan examiner was out sick. That wouldn’t be a big deal except that we’ve been trying since mid-February to get the appointment and now it’s delayed another two weeks – to 3 months after we first requested it.

And here’s one gratuitous picture I thought was sorta cool…

The mason stands on those rolling scaffolds to do brick work between the joists.

The Placement Of ConEd Meters

Posted on May 4, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

Apparently ConEd had told our contractor that they wanted to put the meters on the outside of the building so they could be easily read. Our contractor didn’t bring the issue up with us and ConEd only made a passing comment to me at one point.

When it really sunk in that they were putting the electrical meters on the front of the building we got a bit upset. I mean gas and electric meters on the front of a townhouse can be incredibly ugly (see pic below). I talked it over with Dan and with our architect and we decided to be firm that the meters must go in the cellar, as per plans.

Luckily we now have documentation that the National Park Service considers our building historically significant, so we were able to simply refuse on the basis that visible meters would alter the historic character of the building. At least ConEd understands that historic preservation trumps their needs/desires.

The really ridiculous part is that the technology exists to remotely read meters, but apparently it’s not being used because of the strength of the meter readers’ union.

Why Are There So Many River Rocks In Our Yard?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

We have a bit of a geological mystery on our hands… Everywhere we dig we find rather large round rocks – about the size of a basketball (+/-) and quite smooth…

Large smooth rocks

They’re in the back yard. They’re in the cellar (when we dug the trench for the new drain pipes). They seem to be everywhere. They look like river rocks – from a fairly large stream or a small river. But there’s no apparent sign of wetness.

We’ve seen townhouses in Harlem that have streams running under them (one in particular on 141st – on the edge of Hamilton Heights – across the street from the new location of Alexander Hamilton’s Grange) – but there’s no sign of a stream at our place.

So how did so many river rocks get on our property? Could these have been left by glaciers? Are they common in Harlem or in Manhattan in general?