Manhattan’s 1811 grid

Christopher Gray, who has been writing the “Streetscapes” feature in the Sunday New York Times real estate section for years, authored an Oct. 23 article debating whether Manhattan’s 1811 grid, which covers most of the island, has turned out to be good or bad. In the article, New York architect John Massengale argued that “there’s nothing wrong with a grid — but gridirons are boring and monotonous.” Massengale said the New York grid “is best where there are interruptions and variety: short blocks, open places like Gramercy Park and different types of streets together like Park Avenue and its side streets, or Broadway and its side streets.” Andres Duany said the Manhattan grid “distributes traffic very efficiently,” but he added that “the lack of rear alleys means in New York everything’s on the street, like the trash pickup — New York survives because of the high quality of its public services.”