Nags Head, North Carolina Just east of Jockey’s Ridge State Park on a mile-long stretch of oceanfront beach in Nags Head, North Carolina, you get a sense of what life on the Outer Banks was like before Brew Thru and Wings stores were common sights along Highway 158. The rambling frame houses comprising the Nags […]
Archive | Architectural Ambler
Architectural Ambler: Eagleville Historic District
Holden, Massachusetts This month, the Architectural Ambler visits a recent addition to the National Register of Historic Places: the Eagleville Historic District, a former textile mill village in the town of Holden, Massachusetts. One of Holden’s eight original mill villages, Eagleville is the sole remaining example: a relatively undisturbed collection of 19th and early 20th […]
Architectural Ambler: Douglaston Historic District (LPC)
Queens, New York The Douglaston Historic District in Queens, N.Y., is one of New York City’s most suburban neighborhoods. Situated on a mile-long peninsula jutting out into Little Neck Bay from the northern shore of Long Island, this certified local historic district has more than 500 historic homes – many with bay views – lining […]
Architectural Ambler: Gaslamp Quarter Historic District
San Diego, California It may be “America’s Finest City” today, but San Diego wasn’t always that way. In the 1880s and ‘90s, the city’s wharf-side commercial strip was known as the “Stingaree” – a redlight district where one could get “stung” (robbed, abducted, etc.) just as badly as in the stingray-swarming San Diego Bay, or […]
Architectural Ambler: Allenhurst Residential Historic District
Allenhurst, New Jersey For most of the second half of the 19th century, the strip of New Jersey shore now known as Allenhurst was farmland. Sometimes, farmer Abner Allen would rent out his house to seaside vacationers, but otherwise, it was pretty quiet… …until August 1895, when the Coast Land Improvement Company bought Allen’s 120-acre […]
Architectural Ambler: Old Towne Historic District
Orange, California This month, we travel to Orange, California, to explore the Old Towne Historic District, the largest National Register Historic District in its state. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, the Old Towne Historic District is approximately one square mile in area. Its boundaries encompass over 1,300 buildings representative of […]
Architectural Ambler: Brattle Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts This month, the Architectural Ambler visits historic Brattle Street, a prominent thoroughfare in the Old Cambridge National Register Historic District in Cambridge, Mass. Allegedly named for 18th-century Brattle Street resident – and British Loyalist – Col. William Brattle Jr., Brattle Street extends westward from Cambridge’s original historic core near Harvard Square, where the […]
Architectural Ambler: The Belnord – 225 West 86th Street
This month, the Architectural Ambler ventures into the little-seen courtyard of The Belnord, a palatial apartment building in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It’s privately owned, but if you’re in New York City this month, you can visit the courtyard in-person – now through December 16 (2 p.m. – 5 p.m., weekdays only). […]
Architectural Ambler: Historic Charleston, South Carolina
This month, the Architectural Ambler travels south to explore historic Charleston, S.C. Tranquil and quaint, and oozing with colorful charm, Southern civility, and a heady floral aroma, the Charleston Old and Historic District is the oldest locally-designated historic district in the country. The nation’s first zoning ordinances protecting historic resources were passed here in 1931; […]
Architectural Ambler: Gramercy Park Historic District
In the midst of the commotion that has come to define Manhattan, one sometimes wishes for an escape to a serene place – reminiscent of the days before honking yellow taxis dominated the streets, before flashy advertisements battled Blackberries for your attention, before Starbucks had conquered almost every city block. But, you do not need […]