A Post Rosh HaShanah Walk

One of the many pleasures of living in my neighborhood is the richness of architectural textures. The current buildings in my neighborhood were built mostly between 1880 and the late 1920’s. It was a great era for home building.

Once the Depression began there was very little new construction until tax laws changed in the 1980’s and there was something of a building boomlet than continues until today.

Yesterday my husband and I went for a walk with a friend. It was a spectacularly beautiful day. After being indoors for services for three days running, it was a pleasure to be out and about.

There is something so delightfully over the top about two cherubs holding a banner with the balding number. I love the grille texture behind the banner.

You can see the cherub a bit better here. You can also see the unfortunate choice of lighting fixture. It’s too small and not nearly grand enough for the entry way.

Griffins hold up balustrades on fences from the 1880’s and 90’s.

Even the undersides of bay windows are embellished.

Brownstones tend to be on the side streets.

Often a series of brownstones will appear in a conversational but not identical set.bThe short run of buildings below were probably all built by one builder/developer. This particular run of buildings is vaguely Dutch in feel. There are other building groupings that are vaguely French or vaguely English.

I am a sucker for fancy brickwork

or fancy stone work in general.

All of the textures and variations in color invite one to walk to see what the next house has to offer visually.

A few buildings in our neighborhood have similar terracotta decoration. It’s easy to overlook the beautiful polychrome tiles. They are high up on the buildings. But they add to the general pleasure of the street.