Historic Building Styles

Have you ever looked at old photographs and noticed how differently people were dressed than today? Similar to how clothing and fashion styles have popularity that come and go for a certain time period, so does the popularity for certain building designs. When buildings share many of the same common characteristics in appearance, details, decoration or the materials that are used, we say they share the same building style.

To help you figure out when a particular building was likely designed and built, this brochure contains a simple guide to each of the major historic styles that can be found in Tribeca. For each style, look at the checklist and photographs to identify typical traits. If the building you are examining shows many or all of these characteristics, it likely falls under that style.

Typically, the popularity of a particular style or design element lasted over a period of time, often more than 20 years. Although correctly figuring out the style a building belongs to may not lead you to an exact date of construction, it can help narrow down a time period, in which it was likely built.

(Click images to enlarge, and download link below.)