A long letter the editor in the February 2014 issue of POB alludes to a "crisis in the making" involving Manhattan boundary surveys and some WPA-era maps. It includes a reference to this site that expands upon the subject at length.
I haven't read all of the pages on the website, but I read enough to see some plausible concerns along with the distinct possibility of some serious windmill tilting. Any Manhattan boundary surveyors care to comment?
I bid on a project in manhattan once. Boundary and stakeout of a building (don't remember how many floors). I only wanted 1% of the budget (don't remember how many millions). Didn't get the job. Maybe now they will regret it:-D
Where's Cowboy?
He has had some stories of various differences in lengths up there.
Andy
> A long letter the editor in the February 2014 issue of POB alludes to a "crisis in the making" involving Manhattan boundary surveys and some WPA-era maps. It includes a reference to this site that expands upon the subject at length.
>
> I haven't read all of the pages on the website, but I read enough to see some plausible concerns along with the distinct possibility of some serious windmill tilting. Any Manhattan boundary surveyors care to comment?
Interesting that Harwood, is making these comments. At one point Manhattan was the exclusive territory of Harwood & Harwood and Lovell & Belcher (and Stephen Reid to a lesser extent). They even developed their own License called CS (City Surveyor). It seems the fact that outsiders are now willing to risk wandering into Manhattan and providing Boundary Surveys is Troubling him.
Mr. Harwood is the third generation of Harwoods, starting with Julius.
Lovell and Belcher is Older and Bigger but stays out of the radar.
They had a lot of George Hollerith's Records, Hollerith worked under Randel on the Commissioner's plan (I believe)and his son J George Hollerith was his successor. I remember working on an update of the Empire State Building and holding the Original field notes from when it was the Waldorf Astoria, from existing to demolition to Empire State.
Here's some more on this, take note of article 202 and notice whose testimony it is and you'll be able to figure out the genealogy behind your original link.
City Surveyors
There are only 3 or 4 City Surveyors left. At this point it is purely a ceremonial title. At one point I considered it but it was a pretty exclusive club
> There are only 3 or 4 City Surveyors left. At this point it is purely a ceremonial title.
The 1934 appellate decision upheld the exclusive right of City Surveyors to file Vault Surveys. Did that subsequently get overturned, or are Vault Surveys no longer a factor?
SC has posted in the past a few times through the years about the firm with the old records is the "gatekeeper' to boundary surveying in Manhattan.
It just a fact of life there and one must traverse through that portal before even thinking of traversing in the city.
I did not read the POB letter. I read the info at the website.
I wondered to myself (which does not mean much at times), if there is a move by the city trying to get GISsified with a parcel layer.
With no public records available except the WPA maps, some GISer is trying to use them as the "official' maps even though they have been shown to be in error as far as occupation.
> > There are only 3 or 4 City Surveyors left. At this point it is purely a ceremonial title.
>
> The 1934 appellate decision upheld the exclusive right of City Surveyors to file Vault Surveys. Did that subsequently get overturned, or are Vault Surveys no longer a factor?
Vaults are an inherent part of practically every building in Manhattan, don't know if it got overturned but it appears that nobody cares anymore. It gave the CS Leverage when it came to City Surveys and for the most part gave them exclusivity.
