Travel back to a time when that eyesore of a Verizon Building wasn't jutting out of the city's skyline. This image is pretty self-explanatory, showing the skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge, and as it looked from that viewpoint during the years 1876, 1932, 1988, and a rendering of what it could look like next year. Since there's such a big chunk of time missing there, here's some video showing the same area in different decades. First, the 1970s: more ›

The New York skyline got a little brighter recently. We can't say we'd noticed, but it seems that the Dursts have started lighting up the spire that caps the Bank of America tower off Bryant Park. more ›

The new Keith de Lellis Gallery exhibit, "New York: A Bird’s-Eye View," contains photographs of New York as we know it in a period of rapid development, between 1870 and 1940. From the Chrysler building's construction, renderings of the Empire State Building's proposed use as a dirigible dock, and City Hall backed by relative nothingness, the mostly government-commissioned photographs capture a skyline trying to stay as current as the city's population, even if that meant falsifying reasons to make the buildings taller. more ›

After being approved by the City Planning Commission in July, plans for a 1,200-foot tower just two avenues away from the Empire State Building are being reviewed by the City Council. If passed, the tower at 15 Penn Plaza would be a huge change to the New York City skyline. And the Empire State Building isn't happy about it. Anthony Malkin of Malkin Holdings, an ESB owner, wrote to the City Council: more ›

How many buildings in New York City's famous skyline can you identify? Click through the images to test yourself (answers at the end); the Illuminating Engineering Society of New York created this Nightseeing map, and the Daily News recently tested locals with it. Turns out their sample pool of New Yorkers didn't test any better than tourists! more ›

What's the strangest thing you've ever put in storage? One man sent Curbed some photos from his Brooklyn storage locker, which contains 10 chairs adorned with some of the city's landmark buildings. He says they were created by Frank Peter Siciliano in the late '70s (though some say they're from the '80s). Together, the piece is called "Manhattan Suite" and it used to be owned by Automotive Tycoon Malcolm Bricklin, who purchased it for $250K a few decades ago. The current owner says he hopes to get the pieces into a museum—though they would make a pretty sweet conversation piece for the dining room. more ›

Artist Stephen Wiltshire has been hard at work this week drawing the Manhattan skyline from memory over at Pratt. He only took a 20 minute helicopter ride prior to getting started, "during which time he impressed on his mind thousands of landmarks, great and small." He told the Brooklyn Paper: “My arm starts to hurt sometimes, but I push on.” more ›

Even Coke fans probably appreciate the old Pepsi Cola sign that's been part of the LIC skyline since 1936. It may have moved from its old spot, but (for quite some time) it's been getting rebuilt not too far away, letter by letter. Just a couple of days ago it only had the P E I and C letters in place, and now the NY Times checks in to find "the 120-foot-long scrawl, a creation of the Artkraft Strauss Sign Corporation," has just one more letter to go. One source told them the original plan was to have it back to its original splendor by March 1st, “But they’ve run into difficulties and now say they don’t have a schedule." Perhaps Madoff's old papers got in the way. more ›

There's nothing quite like walking hand in hand with the one you love on the Brooklyn Promenade, gazing across the East River into Manhattan, watching the sunset, and remembering you have to pay your Verizon bill. The Brooklyn Paper reports that one man is so angry about the glowing Verizon logo affixed to the equally uninspired building, that he's "vowing to ramp up the fight." Brooklyn Heights newcomer Richard Brown, "who now spends significant time on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade with a new significant other, said he first noticed the 'unsightly blemish' as he and his lady were enjoying a sunset a few weeks ago." Ever since, the sign, housed at 375 Pearl Street, has become the Moby Dick to his Ahab. more ›

The Empire State Building will celebrate the Olympics by illuminating each of its sides with the colors of a different nation's flag throughout the sixteen days of the Summer Games. This will be the first time the skyscraper will have separate color schemes on each side as it will represent the 66 nations with the most athletes sent to Beijing. A typical color change at the Empire State Building takes six electricians six hours to switch out whichever of the 182 lights needs altering. Good thing there were so many electricians nearby during last night's power outage! more ›

Last year a farm floated into the city on a barge and this coming summer a farm will sprout at PS1, but will a sustainable urban farm ever take root in New York for good? more ›

Beginning at noon this Saturday the New Museum will open its new doors, but this morning we snuck a peak inside. The gray aluminum mesh exterior of the building is a whimsical stack of rectilinear boxes shifted off-axis, not unlike a pile of blocks arranged haphazardly by a toddler. It's a bold, dynamic presence on the Bowery and, along with the Bowery Hotel, signifies yet another firm step away from the area's gritty past.... more ›