The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-01-16
HousEroPs OF NEW YORK.
What . Hird's-Eys Study Of Them n.
v0AlH.

What . Hird's-Eys Study Of Thsm H.
veals.
From the New York Sun.
There are half a dozen points from
which they can be seen-Trinity steeple,
the Field building, the Produce Ex-
change tower, the Equitable Company's
roof, and the fiat, broad ridge pole Of
the Western Union building. But the
most popular and comfortable point Of
view, and the only one that affords o
good view of Brooklyn in the bargain,
is the East River bridge. From the
highest point on the curving foot path
one fully realizes the fact that nearly
100000 roofs lie below-1O0, 900 in
Brooklyn and 1876, 900 in the principal
city.
At first the scene is bewildering, and
the eye refuses to bring instant order
out of the confusion of ch~imney-pots,
pipes, signs, poles, wire, and sheets of
tin and slate; but q minute of fixed at
%tention straightens the tangle out, and
the spectator is able to scan the scene
intelligently, especially when he takes
note of q section of it Of a time. Myriad
threads of smoke, scores of towers, and
steeples, a forest of ratings and posts,
and countless tapping flags helped the
first bewilderment, and this was furth-
err increased by the pisty indistinctness
of those most distant roofs which seem
to lie close under the palisades and be-
bond the blurred foliage of Central
Park.
In what is left of OldNew York there
are many pitched roofs rising from low
cutters to high ridge poles, and among
them are some that are covered with
bent e~arthenware tiles. A long line Of
these on Fulton street calls to mind the
views artists have sketched Of street
Genes in Antwerp.
Less precipitous housetops, coated
with shingles, are to be seen on every
hand when the eye turns toward Brook
Ign. There the brightest spot in all
the broad expanse spread out on every
hand is a line of luxuriant gardens be.
tween the Fulton and Wall street fer
ries. The gaudy flowers and umbrage.
GUS trees, the garden paths, summer
houses and squares of green lawn mis-
lead the senses into the belief that this
is q row of ordinary gardens, yet these
are merely the roofs of the riverside
storehouses covered with earth and
planted with vegetation. The roofs Of
these storage buildings reach to the
) basement of the mansions of Columbia
heights, and the rich residents there
, would have no gardens if these roof:
, were left bare. Rounded green treetops,
! shivering in the breezes, peep between
, the roofs all over Brooklyn.
: Close to the bridge on the New Yorl
: side are many blocks of tenements, ant
their roofs are very interesting. Nearl,
J all are fenced in at the sides, and man,
of them are boarded over. Moderi
= roofs are nearly fiat, and tenemen
| roofs in such crowded districts as thi
are equipped with clothes poles ant
: lines from which drying garments ar
always waving, for since each famil..
ticular day of the week, it may be SAT-
to be always washday in these neigh
borhoods. But the tenement roofs ar
too precious to be given up to clothes
drying exclusively.
They offer q delightful retreat fror
the close and sitting atmosphere of tn
p crowded buildings. So it happens tina
those who cross the bridge at daybrea
r in the summer time often see men an
. boys stretched out asleep upon the bar
boards or upon mattresses brought u
$ there for the purpose, and during tn
last hour of daylight, when all til
young people are home from the work
shops, one frequently sees young me
F" and women whirling over the boards
Il the music of an accordion in the hand
of a youth seated out of the way of til
q dancers on the stone coping of the sid
wall of the building.
- On other tenement roofs, seated j
" the shadows of dry sheets or counter
'e panes, are sewing women and groups
&c talkative girls, while perched on chin
ney tops or on the very edge of I'll
lofty platforms, little boys send the
kites up into the sluggish air curren
q overhead. Shrewd advertisers VII
have noted the advantages of places
II the range of near vision from the bus
'e bridge, have painted on other roofs Il
y names of patent medicines, new SEWN
machines, and other wares, and 9th,
roofs are otherwise utilized for bushes
One is given up to racks for drying pc
terry, another to long lines of split can
If for chair seats. Hides hang on franz
l. on yet another roof, and acre and the,
II the sun touches the slanting window
rs of a photographers ceiling and turns
is into a sheet of dazzling light.
,e At night nearly all the roofs are shat
owy and dark. The towers and CHR
> neys show indistinctly above a dim Lii
"a of dull brown. One roof, however,
D distinguished among all others.
,e seems to be covered with a mass of lit
- yellow globes. 1t IS the top of an u.
> town theatre Uttered with tables, chat
81 and Towering plants in pots and boxe
ng The little globes are lamps arranged
d, arches overhead to illuminate this aeri
garden. Landlords are beginning
III utilize their roofs now that open air
81 scarce and SO highly priced. {
n Cyrus w. Fisld's new building the 70
is used for a restaurant, and the roof
the great roller skating hall, loon to
IS, erected up town, is to be one of q
y. main attractions in the project. Tree
plants and flowers will ornament
ut and there will be music and eating al
IS drinking amid the leaves and blossor
there.
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