Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Brooklyn Heights: a residential neighborhood above a working waterfront
The streets of Brooklyn Heights and the riverfront below them tell related stories at different elevations.
37 articles
Neighborhoods
Read the streets, buildings and overlapping histories of city neighborhoods.
Harlem Astor Row: what a short row of houses can tell you about a neighborhood
Astor Row’s porches and setbacks distinguish one Harlem block without standing in for the whole neighborhood.
Pullman Chicago: reading a planned industrial neighborhood
Pullman’s houses and factory buildings connect urban design to labor conflict, racial exclusion and the question of who controlled a company town.
Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
.jpg){kind=link}
Pilsen Chicago: murals, streets and the limits of a quick neighborhood visit
Pilsen’s murals belong to a neighborhood of institutions, homes and businesses, and their meanings extend beyond a photograph.
Swativ28 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Beacon Hill Boston: reading brick streets without treating a neighborhood as a museum
Beacon Hill’s south-facing houses and its north-slope Black heritage reveal different histories within the same compact district.
Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
_-_%22North_End_Nights%22.jpg){kind=link}
North End Boston: a neighborhood understood through more than one migration story
The North End’s buildings carry maritime, Black, Irish, Jewish and Italian histories that overlap.
Nikanavi · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Elfreths Alley: a residential street with a long public history
A narrow residential lane preserves evidence of trades and households near Philadelphia’s early waterfront.
Kelly Anne Martin (kellygrape) from Philadelphia · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Society Hill Philadelphia: looking at preservation and change together
Society Hill combines surviving early houses, selective restoration, modern infill and the consequences of urban renewal.
Georgetown Washington DC: a port town within the capital
Georgetown’s commercial streets grew from an older port whose history includes tobacco, skilled work and enslavement.
Capitol Hill Washington DC: looking beyond the Capitol to the surrounding neighborhood
Capitol Hill’s residential streets record the growth of a working neighborhood beside federal institutions.
Original uploader was Ванка5 at bg.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Chinatown San Francisco: a neighborhood beyond its gateway
Chinatown’s rebuilt streets reflect community resistance, commercial strategy and everyday urban life.
Mobilus In Mobili · CC BY 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
.jpg){kind=link}
Mission District San Francisco: understanding murals as part of a living neighborhood
The Mission’s cultural geography includes murals, businesses and institutions whose survival depends on people being able to remain.
El Pueblo Los Angeles: starting a city story with its historic core
The plaza area preserves buildings from several periods rather than one intact founding moment.
RightCowLeftCoast · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Little Tokyo Los Angeles: public landmarks within a residential and commercial community
Little Tokyo’s buildings record community formation, forced removal and repeated pressures on the neighborhood.
Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Pioneer Square Seattle: reading the streets of an early business district
Pioneer Square’s masonry streetscape records rebuilding after fire and later resistance to demolition.
ZhengZhou · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
International District Seattle: a neighborhood shaped by several Asian American histories
Seattle’s Chinatown–International District contains overlapping community histories rather than one uniform identity.
Ajbenj at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Old Town Chinatown Portland: reading several histories in one neighborhood
Old Town Chinatown contains intersecting historic districts and community histories that do not share one simple boundary.
Old Town San Diego: distinguishing a historic park from the surrounding neighborhood
Old Town’s plaza and buildings interpret several periods of San Diego history, including restoration and reconstruction.
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Gaslamp Quarter San Diego: looking at Victorian-era buildings within a changing district
The Gaslamp Quarter’s historic commercial buildings belong to the growth of a downtown near the bay and its later preservation.
French Quarter New Orleans: reading the street plan beyond its busiest blocks
The French Quarter’s streets combine an early grid with buildings shaped by fires, colonial transitions and later adaptation.
Infrogmation of New Orleans · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Garden District New Orleans: a neighborhood understood through streets, lots and houses
Lot sizes, front gardens and successive building campaigns explain more of this New Orleans neighborhood than a checklist of famous residents.
MARELBU · CC BY 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
.jpg){kind=link}
Canyon Road Santa Fe: a neighborhood street and an art destination
Canyon Road’s gallery life occupies a street whose domestic scale and older properties remain central to its character.
skarz · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Santa Fe Railyard: how railway land became a mixed urban district
The Railyard combines active transport, reused industrial land and public space secured through a long community planning process.
Tony Kent · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
.jpg){kind=link}
King William Historic District: reading a neighborhood beyond its largest houses
King William’s large houses are only one part of a district shaped by irrigation land, migration, changing households and preservation.
formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
.jpg){kind=link}
South Congress Austin: a commercial street shaped by change
South Congress grew as a route into Austin before becoming a well-known shopping and entertainment corridor.
ajay_suresh · CC BY 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
.jpg){kind=link}
Sixth Street Austin: reading an entertainment district through its older buildings
Historic Sixth Street is a surviving commercial streetscape whose architecture is easier to read when the nightlife signs are not the only focus.
Jayron32 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Savannah Historic District: how a ward plan gives structure to a walk
Savannah’s historic district is defined by the relationship between its ward plan and the varied buildings constructed within it.
French Quarter Charleston: a small district with several overlapping histories
Charleston’s French Quarter contains several histories within a compact street network, from religious institutions to commerce and theatrical reuse.
Robbschultz69 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Art Deco Historic District Miami Beach: reading buildings through repeated shapes and details
Miami Beach’s historic architecture includes several related styles, and its survival reflects organized preservation rather than an untouched resort landscape.
Infrogmation · CC BY 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Little Havana Miami: a neighborhood beyond a single visitor street
Little Havana is a residential and commercial neighborhood whose architecture records several generations of migration and adaptation.
w_lemay · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Corktown Detroit: a historic neighborhood and the pressures of change
Small houses, a monumental station and missing blocks tell different chapters of the neighborhood’s history.
Jim Reynolds from Cleveland, USA · CC BY 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Strip District Pittsburgh: a district understood through warehouses, food and trade
Food shops and reused industrial buildings preserve different parts of the Strip’s trading history.
North Loop Minneapolis: warehouse buildings and the changing uses around them
Former wholesale buildings reveal how a district designed for goods adapted to homes, offices and street life.
LoDo Denver: reading an older commercial district through surviving buildings
LoDo’s warehouses and commercial blocks show how rail-oriented buildings can survive changes in the work performed inside them.
w_lemay · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Lafayette Square St Louis: a neighborhood built around a park
The park at Lafayette Square shaped surrounding residential development, while disaster and restoration altered what survives around its edges.
Bruce Emmerling · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
Fells Point Baltimore: a waterfront neighborhood shaped by maritime work
Fells Point’s houses, commercial buildings and waterfront edges reveal a maritime neighborhood that supported much more than ships.
Mony xl · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; thumbnails may be cropped.
College Hill Providence: reading a neighborhood across changes in slope and time
College Hill combines a steep physical setting with houses, institutions and a twentieth-century preservation history that shaped what remains visible.