A city block , residential block , urban block , or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design .
88-465: The Kingston Stockade District is an eight- block area in the western section of Kingston , New York, United States, commonly referred to as Uptown Kingston . It is the original site of the mid-17th century Dutch settlement of Wiltwyck, which was later renamed Kingston when it passed to English control . It is the only one of three original Dutch settlements in New York surrounded by stockades where
176-560: A geothermal heating system. The project won a 2007 Excellence in Preservation Award from the Historic Preservation League, and RUPCO has leased out space for commercial and residential use. It is hoping that someone will be able to reopen the restaurant. The streets and sidewalks were also in need of repair. In 2008 Rep. Maurice Hinchey helped the city secure $ 1.3 million in federal grants to rehabilitate uptown and
264-407: A grid plan of square or rectangular city blocks. Using the perimeter block development principle, city blocks are developed so that buildings are located along the perimeter of the block, with entrances facing the street, and semi-private courtyards in the rear of the buildings. This historic arrangement reflects organic development of structures and land usage, adapted to urban planning. Since
352-465: A grid plan or quasi-grid plan. That typology is prevalent in Japan and China, for example. Chen defines the supergrid and superblock urban morphology in that context as follows: “The Supergrid is a large-scale net of wide roads that defines a series of cells or Superblocks, each containing a network of narrower streets.” Superblocks can also be retroactively superimposed on pre-existing grid plan by changing
440-459: A city grid) or the equivalent of three blocks without a grid. Since there is no standard dimension for city blocks, and they are typically rectangular in shape, meaning a block and one direction is a different length than a block in another, colloquial directions involving blocks as proxies for measurements in feet or meters are obviously both imprecise and relative. Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant ( c. 1610 – August 1672)
528-553: A father his children," and began the task of rebuilding the physical and moral state of the colony. In September 1647 he appointed the Nine Men , an advisory council composed of representatives of the colonists, to help rebuild relationships with them, temper his rule with their guidance, and restore New Netherland to the kind of well-run place that the Dutch preferred. In 1648 a conflict began between him and Brant Aertzsz van Slechtenhorst,
616-532: A great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam beyond the southern tip of Manhattan . Among the projects built by Stuyvesant's administration were the protective wall on Wall Street , the canal that became Broad Street , and Broadway . Stuyvesant, himself a member of the Dutch Reformed Church , opposed religious pluralism and came into conflict with Lutherans , Jews , Roman Catholics , and Quakers as they attempted to build places of worship in
704-406: A high plain near the drainage of Rondout Creek , was chosen for the ease with which it could be defended. Other colonists came to the area despite regular Indian raids. Six years later, by 1658, Dutch colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered all settlers to move to the village, behind the stockade whose construction he personally supervised. It was burned in 1663 and rebuilt, remaining until
792-477: A more extensive grid plan . Some variations of the interpretation of city blocks include superblocks, subblocks, and perimeter blocks. A superblock , or super-block , is an area of urban land that is bounded by arterial roads and the size of multiple typically sized city blocks. Within the superblock, the local road network, if any, is designed to serve only local needs. Superblocks can also contain an orthogonal internal road network, including those based on
880-510: A position he held until 1644. In April 1644, he coordinated and led an attack on the island of Saint Martin —which the Spanish had taken from the Dutch. Peter thought they had few men. When Peter raised the Dutch flag the Spanish fired. A cannonball hit Peter. They lost the battle and Peter had his lower leg amputated. Stuyvesant returned to the Netherlands for convalescence, where his right leg
968-558: A system of fire wardens and a volunteer fire watch that patrolled the streets to keep an eye on any fire, or potential fire, from nine o'clock in the evening until the morning drum-beat. As such Stuyvesant became the organizer and head of the first volunteer firemen in America The colony of New Netherland had severe external problems. The population was too small and contentious, and the Company provided little military support. The most serious
SECTION 10
#17328555138571056-453: A third chain drugstore in the uptown area would only drive an independent local drugstore on North Front Street out of business and make the city's main western gateway into a commercial strip indistinguishable from others in the country. One city alderman tried to stop the project with a building moratorium along Washington, which received the support of the Stockade's business association. It
1144-401: Is always within a block with sidewalks . The geometric subtraction of a block without sidewalks from block with sidewalks , contains the sidewalk, the alley, and any other non-lot sub-structure. A perimeter block is a type of city block which is built up on all sides surrounding a central space that is semi-private. They may contain a mixture of uses, with commercial or retail functions on
1232-601: Is their headquarters. A few years later, in 1908, George Clinton, long buried in Washington, was brought back to Kingston and reburied in the yard of the Old Dutch Church with full honors. Decades later, in 1965, Friends of the Senate House was founded to work to protect and preserve that building. It soon expanded its mission to all the city's historic architecture and became Friends of Historic Kingston (FOHK). In 1969 it got
1320-501: The Dutch Reformed Church remains an important part of the community, as well as shopping centers, yacht clubs and other buildings and facilities throughout the area where the Dutch colony once was. The Peter Stuyvesant Monument by J. Massey Rhind situated at Bergen Square in Jersey City was dedicated in 1915 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Dutch settlement there The World War II Liberty Ship SS Peter Stuyvesant
1408-509: The East River and to erect a fortification. In 1653, a convention of two deputies from each village in New Netherland demanded reforms, and Stuyvesant commanded that assembly to disperse, saying: "We derive our authority from God and the company, not from a few ignorant subjects." In 1654, Stuyvesant signed a deed for an allotment of land 10,000 square feet (930 m ) that corresponds to
1496-572: The New York State Thruway . Washington Avenue is a block to the west. Both Interstate 587 and NY 28 end at Albany Avenue ( NY 32 ) a short distance to the east. No major roads or streets go through the Stockade District. From its founding in the mid-17th century to the creation of the modern city of Kingston in 1872, the history of the Stockade District is the history of Kingston. Most of its older buildings were restored and rebuilt in
1584-608: The Revolutionary War . The intersection of Crown and John streets has Colonial-era Dutch stone houses on all four corners, the only intersection in the country where this is so. In 1970 the area in the vicinity of the Senate House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Clinton Avenue Historic District. Five years later, as the historic value of the entire uptown area became apparent,
1672-589: The Stuyvesant Town housing complex; the site of the original Stuyvesant High School , still marked Stuyvesant on its front face, on East 15th Street near First Avenue, Stuyvesant Square , a park in the area; and the Stuyvesant Apartments on East 18th Street. The new Stuyvesant High , a premier public high school, is on Chambers Street near the World Trade Center. His farm, called the "Bouwerij" –
1760-567: The Treaty of Hartford , to settle the border between New Amsterdam and the English colonies to the north and east. The border was arranged to the dissatisfaction of the Nine Men, who declared that "the governor had ceded away enough territory to found fifty colonies each fifty miles square." Stuyvesant then threatened to dissolve the council. A new plan of municipal government was arranged in the Netherlands, and
1848-664: The United States Constitution 's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights . In 1664, King Charles II of England ceded to his brother, the Duke of York, later King James II , a large tract of land that included all of New Netherland . This came at a period of considerable conflict between England and the Netherlands in the Anglo-Dutch Wars . Four English ships bearing 450 men, commanded by Richard Nicolls , seized
SECTION 20
#17328555138571936-573: The University of Franeker , where he studied languages and philosophy, but several years later he was expelled from the school after he seduced the daughter of his landlord. He was then sent to Amsterdam by his father, where Stuyvesant – now using the Latinized version of his first name, "Petrus", to indicate that he had university schooling – joined the Dutch West India Company (GWC). In 1630,
2024-495: The 1970s. Several owners since then had tried to at least reopen a restaurant in the hotel's basement, but had made no progress beyond repainting the exterior. In 2003 the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), a local nonprofit organization devoted to housing, bought the hotel with the intention of completing the restoration. It spent $ 4.7 million over several years to restore the original porch and put in
2112-617: The Amsterdam Chamber of the GWC in 1654, he hoped that "the deceitful race, — such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ, — be not allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony." He referred to Jews as a "deceitful race" and "usurers", and was concerned that "Jewish settlers should not be granted the same liberties enjoyed by Jews in Holland, lest members of other persecuted minority groups, such as Roman Catholics, be attracted to
2200-575: The Articles of Capitulation. The Dutch settlers mainly belonged to the Dutch Reformed church, a Calvinist denomination, holding to the Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dordt). The English were Anglicans, holding to the 39 Articles , a Protestant confession, with bishops. In 1665, Stuyvesant went to the Netherlands to report on his term as governor. On his return to
2288-533: The Dutch colony. On 30 August 1664, George Cartwright sent the governor a letter demanding surrender. He promised "life, estate, and liberty to all who would submit to the king's authority." On 6 September 1664, Stuyvesant sent Johannes de Decker , a lawyer for the West India Company, and five others to sign the Articles of Capitulation. Nicolls was declared governor, and the city was renamed New York . Stuyvesant obtained civil rights and freedom of religion in
2376-848: The English Connecticut Colony were strained, with disputes over ownership of land in the Connecticut valley, and in eastern Long island. The treaty of Hartford of 1650 was advantageous to the English, as Stuyvesant gave up claims to the Connecticut Valley while gaining only a small portion of Long island. In any case, Connecticut settlers ignored the treaty and steadily poured into the Hudson Valley, where they agitated against Stuyvesant. In 1664, England sent an expeditionary force to capture New Netherland. The colony's settlers refused to fight, forcing Stuyvesant to surrender and demonstrating
2464-483: The Frog Alley area at the district's northwest corner. During the 1970s, the roofs were added to the sidewalks on North Front and Wall streets, part of the "Pike Plan" (named after Woodstock artist John Pike, who designed and built them) to revitalize the area, which had begun to lose shoppers to malls outside of the city. Businesses on those streets pay a maintenance fee for them. Some have called for their removal. In
2552-458: The GWC in 1651. Stuyvesant did not tolerate full religious freedom in the colony, and was strongly committed to the supremacy of the Dutch Reformed Church . In 1657 he refused Lutherans the right to organize a church. When he also issued an ordinance forbidding them from worshiping in their own homes, the directors of the GWC, three of whom were Lutherans, told him to rescind the order and allow private gatherings of Lutherans. The Company position
2640-533: The Middle East tend to have irregularly shaped street patterns and urban blocks, while cities based on grids have much more regular arrangements. By extension, the word "block" is an important informal unit of length equal to the distance between two streets of a street grid. In most cities of the New World that were planned rather than developing gradually over a long period of time, streets are typically laid out on
2728-410: The Old Dutch Church, was designated Kingston's first National Historic Landmark in 2008. Other contributing properties are not separately listed at present but are important to the district. City block In a city with a grid system, the block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets . City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, and form
Kingston Stockade District - Misplaced Pages Continue
2816-549: The Old Dutch Church. Its white tower rises over 200 feet above the district and is a city landmark. Later in the century the villages of Kingston and Rondout merged into the current city. Rondout had grown from being at the northern end of the Delaware and Hudson Canal since 1825 and its commercial center on the banks of Rondout Creek near where it flows into the Hudson River became known as "downtown" to distinguish itself from
2904-495: The Stockade District, which accordingly became "uptown". Historic preservation efforts in the Stockade began early in the 20th century. The Henry Sleight House on Crown Street had been used for many purposes since it was built around 1695, but by 1900 it was decrepit and in danger of demolition . The local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter paid for a complete restoration of the interior and exterior. Today it
2992-478: The Stockade District. $ 1.7 million had been set aside to restore the Pike Plan canopies, which were in need of repair. The following spring the city announced it would use some of the money to reverse the direction of traffic on several of the one-way streets within the district to ease travel through and around it. Later that year City council debated whether to restore the traffic light at North Front and Wall or keep
3080-538: The United States and Canada, the addresses follow a block and lot number system , in which each block of a street is allotted 100 building numbers. The blocks in central Melbourne, Australia , are also 330 by 660 feet (100 m × 200 m), formed by splitting the square blocks in an original grid with a narrow street down the middle. Many Old World cities have grown by accretion over time rather than being planned, making rectangular city blocks uncommon in
3168-529: The basic unit of a city's urban fabric. City blocks may be subdivided into any number of smaller land lots usually in private ownership, though in some cases, it may be other forms of tenure. City blocks are usually built-up to varying degrees and thus form the physical containers or "streetwalls" of public space. Most cities are composed of a greater or lesser variety of sizes and shapes of urban block. For example, many pre-industrial cores of cities in Europe, Asia, and
3256-419: The building. It was hoping to use federal stimulus money to finish the work. During the 2000s, preservationists and the city clashed over some projects slated for areas near or on the fringes of the district. A New Jersey developer's proposal for a 12-story condominium on the site of a closed parking garage the city planned to demolish on North Front Street drew objections for its height, as it would become
3344-528: The citizens of the City of Kingston, New York, and others ... This area contains the architecture of the past 300 years, and new development must not be allowed to erode the best of the architectural spaces and cultural association of the past. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission reviews applications for new construction, including significant alterations to existing structures, in the Stockade District. It may consider, and request modification of, many elements of
3432-624: The city and practice their faiths. Stuyvesant was in particular antisemitic , loathing both the Jewish ethnicity and religion . Peter Stuyvesant was born around 1610 in Peperga or Scherpenzeel , Friesland , in the Netherlands , to Balthasar Stuyvesant, a Reformed Calvinist minister, and Margaretha Hardenstein. He grew up in Peperga, Scherpenzeel, and Berlikum . At the age of 20, Stuyvesant went to
3520-432: The city council declares: it is in the public interest to ensure that the distinctive and historical character of this Historic and Architectural Design District shall not be injuriously affected, that the value to the community of those buildings having architectural and historical worth shall not be impaired and that said ... [d]istrict be maintained and preserved to promote its use of the education, pleasure and welfare of
3608-427: The city's tallest building, dwarfing nearby historic buildings, and requiring a variance as Kingston's zoning code prohibits any new buildings in the Stockade District from being taller than the base of the Old Dutch Church's steeple , 62 feet (19 m) above street level. The city's attorney later decided that it would not need one since the parts of the proposed building that exceeded the height limit were outside
Kingston Stockade District - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-481: The colony had left the colony in terrible condition. Only a small number of villages remained after Kieft's wars, and many of their inhabitants had been driven away and returned home, leaving only 250 to 300 men able to carry arms. Kieft himself had accumulated a fortune of over 4,000 guilders during his term in office, and become an alcoholic. Certain that righting New Netherland was the work which God had saved him for, Stuyvesant told its people "I shall govern you as
3784-422: The colony stopped sheltering runaways from New Netherland. In 1657, the GWC's directors wrote to Stuyvesant, telling him that they were not going to be able to send him all the tradesmen that he requested and that he would have to use slaves as well. Although it is commonly thought that Stuyvesant was New Netherland's largest slaveholder, he only owned two slaves, purchasing them as part of the farm he bought from
3872-476: The colony, he spent the remainder of his life on his farm, Stuyvesant Farm , of sixty-two acres outside the city, called the Great Bouwerie, beyond which stretched the woods and swamps of the village of Nieuw Haarlem . A pear tree that he reputedly brought from the Netherlands in 1647 remained at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Third Avenue until 1867 when it was destroyed by a storm, bearing fruit almost to
3960-481: The colony." Stuyvesant's decision was again rescinded after pressure from the directors of the company. As a result, Jewish immigrants were allowed to stay in the colony as long as their community was self-supporting. However, Stuyvesant would not allow them to build a synagogue, forcing them to worship instead in a private house. In 1657, the Quakers , who were newly arrived in the colony, drew his attention. He ordered
4048-399: The commissary of the patroonship Rensselaerwijck , which surrounded Fort Orange (present-day Albany). Stuyvesant claimed he had power over Rensselaerwijck, despite special privileges granted to Kiliaen van Rensselaer in the patroonship regulations of 1629. When Van Slechtenhorst refused, Stuyvesant sent a group of soldiers to enforce his orders. The controversy that followed resulted in
4136-492: The company assigned him to be their commercial agent on a small island just off of Brazil , Fernando de Noronha , and then five years later transferred him to the nearby Brazilian state of Pernambuco . In 1638, he was moved again, this time to the colony of Curaçao , the main Dutch naval base in the West Indies , where, just four years later, aged 30, he became the acting governor of that colony, as well as Aruba and Bonaire ,
4224-412: The condo proposal would bring to the Stockade outweighed any effect it would have on the district's historic character. Eventually the developer began to reconsider the project due to the opposition, With the project stalled, the city decided to survey residents about what should be built at the site. The results indicated strong opposition to affordable housing or any kind of rental units being built on
4312-476: The dilemma of domestic dissatisfaction, small size, and overwhelming external pressures with inadequate military support from the Company that was fixated on profits. Stuyvesant became involved in a dispute with Theophilus Eaton , the governor of English New Haven Colony , over the border of the two colonies. In September 1650, a meeting of the commissioners on boundaries took place in Hartford, Connecticut , called
4400-418: The district boundary. The state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation warned the city that such a towering building would have a negative impact on the Stockade District, and the state's Historic Preservation League put the Stockade on its "Seven to Save" list for 2007 because of the proposal. The city's mayor and proponents among the Stockade business community felt that the economic benefit
4488-483: The district, to the point that some critics have referred to the group as Friends of Hysteric Kingston or Enemies of Development. The group has also bought and restored some of the homes in the district, as well as elsewhere in the city. It operates two museums in the city and offers walking tours of the Stockade. Some of the Stockade's buildings have earned a place on the National Register in their own right. One,
SECTION 50
#17328555138574576-412: The early 18th century. By then it had established the street pattern along its boundaries which persists today. At its northwest corner, where the log palisade formed a bastion on a bluff that remains today, it was especially defensible. In 1777, it was chosen to host the constitutional convention that established New York State. George Clinton was chosen the first governor , and John Jay , later
4664-514: The early 21st century, the county sponsored an archaeological dig at the site of the Persen House, one of the four at the Crown-John intersection, as part of efforts to restore it and make it a museum. It yielded a number of artifacts , including some misshapen apparent cannonballs . Eight years later, in 2008, after having spent $ 2 million on the project the county was still unsure what to do with
4752-507: The early instruction of youth." In 1661, New Amsterdam had one grammar school, two free elementary schools, and had licensed 28 schoolmasters. As director-general of New Netherland, Stuyvesant greatly increased the colony's involvement with slavery . During the late 1640s, authorities in the neighboring English colonies of Connecticut and Maryland encouraged New Netherland slaves to escape there, refusing to return them. In 1650, Stuyvesant threatened to offer freedom to Maryland slaves unless
4840-641: The first Chief Justice of the United States , opened the first term of the New York Supreme Court in Kingston. Later that year, the British under General John Vaughan took the lightly defended settlement by surprise and burned it. A total of 326 buildings inside and outside of the stockade were destroyed, with only a handful, such as the Tobias Van Steenburgh House , remaining untouched. The city
4928-410: The founding of the new settlement, Beverwijck . In an effort to remedy the neglect on the town, previously under Kieft's administration, Stuyvesant took measures to improve the appearance and safety of the town, with numerous regulations to achieve this end that were routinely issued by his office. Building codes were established for houses and other structures, including fences in an effort to control
5016-431: The ground floor. Perimeter blocks are a key component of many European cities and are an urban form that allows very high urban densities to be achieved without high-rise buildings. In North American English and Australian English , the word "block" is used as an informal unit of distance. For example, someone giving directions might say, "It's three blocks from here", meaning either literally three blocks distant (in
5104-490: The innermost development among most European cities , for example. An exception is represented by those cities that were founded as Roman military settlements, and that often preserve the original grid layout around two main orthogonal axes (such as Turin, Italy ) and cities heavily damaged during World War II (like Frankfurt ). Following the example of Philadelphia , New York City adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 for
5192-464: The larger Stockade District was created, subsuming the original one. The formal recognition of its historic importance has led to contentious battles in local government over proposals to redevelop the area. The Stockade District is parallelogram -shaped, with its boundaries defined as the rear property lines of lots on the far side of North Front Street on the north, Green Street on the west, Main Street on
5280-555: The last. The house was destroyed by fire in 1777. He also built an executive mansion of stone called Whitehall . In 1645, Stuyvesant married Judith Bayard ( c. 1610 –1687) of the Bayard family . Her brother, Samuel Bayard, was the husband of Stuyvesant's sister, Anna Stuyvesant. Petrus and Judith had two sons together: He died in August 1672 and his body was entombed in the east wall of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery , which sits on
5368-552: The modern-day Financial District of lower Manhattan . It was co-signed by land grantee and secretary of the New Netherland Council Cornelis van Ruijven (alternative spelling Ruyven). The lot was given and granted to van Ruijven. The deed conveys a tract of land on Manhattan island in the Sheep Pasture. It was bounded by present-day Broad Street to William Street , and Beaver Street to Exchange Place . In
SECTION 60
#17328555138575456-520: The name "New Amsterdam" was officially declared on 2 February 1653. Stuyvesant made a speech for the occasion, saying that his authority would remain undiminished. Stuyvesant was then ordered to the Netherlands, but the order was soon revoked under pressure from the States of Holland and the city of Amsterdam. Stuyvesant prepared against an attack by ordering the citizens to dig a ditch from the North River to
5544-407: The only significant green space in the district. There are also many parking lots between buildings in this area. To the north and east the neighborhoods are primarily commercial. The city's football stadium is a short distance to the west, where the neighborhood is residential, as it also is on the south. It is a short distance from the two major approaches to the city of Kingston from the west and
5632-414: The original Clinton Avenue Historic District, consisting of the block between Clinton, North Fair, and John streets and Westbrook Lane, locally recognized as a historic district, the city's first listing on the National Register. Four years later it was expanded into the Stockade District. FOHK has worked to get other properties in the Stockade recognized as well, and renovated some others. It also maintains
5720-543: The outline of the stockade is still evident due to the raised ground. Within the area are many historic buildings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the original Ulster County courthouse, the Senate House where the state of New York was established in 1777, and the Old Dutch Church designed by Minard Lafever , a National Historic Landmark . Some survived the burning of Kingston by British forces during
5808-416: The proposed construction, including roof shape, walls and paving, in the interest of protecting the Stockade's historic character. The height of new buildings is limited to 62 feet (19 m), or the base of the Old Dutch Church's steeple. The commission may also require the use of bluestone in sidewalks where it considers it historically appropriate, and that any newer construction be set back further from
5896-462: The public torture of Robert Hodgson, a 23-year-old Quaker convert who had become an influential preacher. Stuyvesant then made an ordinance, punishable by fine and imprisonment, against anyone found guilty of harboring Quakers. That action led to a protest from the citizens of Flushing , which came to be known as the Flushing Remonstrance , considered by some historians to be a precursor to
5984-549: The seventeenth-century Dutch word for "farm" – was the source for the name of the Manhattan street and surrounding neighborhood named " The Bowery ". The contemporary neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn includes Stuyvesant Heights and retains its name. Also named after him are the hamlets of Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Falls in Columbia County, New York , where descendants of the early Dutch settlers still live and where
6072-399: The site of Stuyvesant's family chapel. The last acknowledged descendant of Peter Stuyvesant to bear his surname was Augustus van Horne Stuyvesant, Jr., who died a bachelor in 1953 at the age of 83 in his mansion at 2 East 79th Street. Rutherfurd Stuyvesant , the 19th-century New York developer, and his descendants are also descended from Peter Stuyvesant; however, Rutherford Stuyvesant's name
6160-414: The site. The parking garage was finally demolished amid allegations of bid rigging . A temporary parking lot has opened on the site. At the time the condominium project was failing, in 2008, CVS Pharmacy proposed a 12,900-square-foot (1,200 m) store on Washington Avenue and Schwenk Drive. KingstonCitizens.org and preservationists collected 600 signatures on petitions opposing the development, saying
6248-512: The south and Clinton Avenue on the east. Crown Street is entirely within the district, as are the intersecting segments of Fair, John and Wall streets. It also extends slightly along Frog Alley to take in the Lowe-Bogardus ruin and an interpretive exhibit with some of the original stockade at Frog Alley on the northwest corner. The total area is 32 acres (13 ha). The district is split between residential and commercial use. The former dominates
6336-510: The spacing of streets in grid plans varies so widely among cities, or even within cities, it is difficult to generalize about the size of a city block. Oblong blocks range considerably in width and length. The standard block in Manhattan is about 264 by 900 feet (80 m × 274 m). In Chicago , a typical city block is 330 by 660 feet (100 m × 200 m), meaning that 16 east-west blocks or 8 north-south blocks measure one mile, which has been adopted by other US cities. In much of
6424-479: The stop signs. They ultimately decided in favor of the traffic light. Just prior to completion of the canopy project, graffiti artists painted red goats on eleven of the new sidewalk planters, raising a furor. The two suspects face up to four years in prison for felony criminal mischief. An entire section of Kingston's zoning code governs new construction in what it refers to as the Stockade Area. In its preamble
6512-460: The street than neighboring historic buildings and screened from view with trees, possibly evergreens . Five percent of the area of all parking lots must be used for plantings to screen it. Friends of Historic Kingston (FOHK), the group founded in the late 1960s to preserve the Senate House, has been a vocal defender of the Stockade's historic character. Its 400 members have actively opposed some recent projects that they believed would adversely affect
6600-413: The styles such as Federal architecture Greek Revival popular in the century's early decades. A new county courthouse, the current building, was built in 1818 on the site of the first one. The First Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston , the city's oldest congregation, dating to 1659, went through two buildings before the construction of its current home, the 1852 Minard Lafever edifice known as
6688-524: The summer of 1655, he sailed down to the Delaware River with a fleet of seven vessels and about 300 men and took possession of the colony of New Sweden , which was renamed "New Amstel." In his absence, Pavonia and Staten Island were attacked by Native Americans on 15 September 1655 in what became known as the Peach War . In 1660, Stuyvesant was quoted as saying that "Nothing is of greater importance than
6776-484: The traffic rules and streetscape of internal streets within the superblock, as in the case of Barcelona 's superilles ( Catalan for superblocks). Each superilla has nine city blocks, with speed limits on the internal roads slowed to 10–20 km/h (6.2–12.4 mph), through traffic disallowed, and through travel possible only on the perimeter roads. In a geoprocessing perspective there are two complementary ways of modeling city blocks: A block without sidewalks
6864-480: The western half of the district, while the commercial properties are on the east. The densely developed block of Wall Street between John and North Front streets has flat wooden roofs over its sidewalks, a distinctive touch not common in New York. The block of Wall to the south is dominated by the old county courthouse and the Old Dutch Church, whose cemetery and yard is apart from the Senate House State Park,
6952-582: The widespread problem of wandering livestock about the town. As the housing and other structures in New Amsterdam were built almost entirely from wood and stood very close together the possibility of a spreading fire was very great. As governor, Stuyvensant forbid the construction of wooden chimneys, and imposed a tax of a beaver skin, or its trade equivalent, on every householder to finance the cost of two hundred and fifty leather fire buckets and hooks and ladders, which he had sent from Holland. He also established
7040-437: The years after the 1777 burning of the village by the British, and its historic character has been made diverse as significant buildings were erected throughout the 19th century. Late 20th century preservation efforts have led to some confrontations between the city and its residents in recent years. Kingston began as the Dutch village of Wiltwijck, founded by Thomas Chambers of Fort Orange (later Albany ) in 1652. The site, on
7128-548: Was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was provisionally ceded to the Kingdom of England . He was a major figure in the history of New York City and his name has been given to various landmarks and points of interest throughout the city (e.g. Stuyvesant High School , Stuyvesant Town , Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood , etc.). Stuyvesant's accomplishments as director-general of New Netherland included
7216-513: Was changed from Stuyvesant Rutherford in 1863 to satisfy the terms of the 1847 will of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant . His descendants include: According to historian Eleanor Bruchey: Stuyvesant and his family were large landowners in the northeastern portion of New Amsterdam, and the Stuyvesant name is currently associated with four places in Manhattan 's East Side, near present-day Gramercy Park :
7304-537: Was eventually passed, excluding the CVS proposal. The city's Planning Board eventually approved the project, and construction crews began clearing the site in September 2009. The city and preservationists were able to work together on one project, the restoration of the 1899 Kirkland Hotel at Clinton Avenue and Main Street in the southeast corner of the district. A rare example of a wood-frame urban hotel, it had been vacant since
7392-420: Was rebuilt along the lines previous established by the stockade. Five years later, George Washington visited Kingston. On a tour of the city's boundaries, he expressed appreciation for Stuyvesant's foresight in having the stockade built. In 1783, as the war was ending, New York proposed Kingston as a national capital. In the early 19th century, the area continued to grow. New commercial buildings were erected in
7480-468: Was replaced with a wooden peg . Stuyvesant was given the nicknames "Peg Leg Pete" and "Old Silver Nails" because he used a wooden stick studded with silver nails as a prosthesis . The West India Company saw the loss of Stuyvesant's leg as a "Roman" sacrifice, while Stuyvesant himself saw the fact that he did not die from his injury as a sign that God was saving him to do great things. A year later, in May 1645, he
7568-750: Was selected by the company to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of the New Netherland colony, including New Amsterdam , the site of present-day New York City . Stuyvesant had to wait for his appointment to be confirmed by the Dutch States-General . During that time he married Judith Bayard, who was the daughter of a Huguenot minister and hailed from Breda . Together, they left Amsterdam in December 1646 and, after stopping at Curaçao, arrived in New Amsterdam by May 1647. Kieft's administration of
7656-412: Was that more tolerance led to more trade and benefited everyone. Freedom of religion was further tested when Stuyvesant refused to allow the permanent settlement of Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil in New Amsterdam (without passports), and join the handful of existing Jewish traders (with passports from Amsterdam). Stuyvesant attempted to have Jews leave the colony "in a friendly way". As he wrote to
7744-468: Was the economic rivalry with England regarding trade. Secondarily there were small scale military conflicts with neighboring Indian tribes, involving fights between mobile bands on the one hand, and scattered small Dutch outposts on the other. With a large area and limited population, defense was a major challenge. Stuyvesant's greatest success came in dealing with the Delaware River colony of New Sweden , which he invaded and annexed in 1655. Relations with
#856143