allengeorge
Senior Member
I was in Beacon Hill recently, so I was amused that you happened to choose a few examples from there. Indeed - in a lot of cities with intact, circa 1700-era neighbourhoods (Boston, Philadelphia are the two I'm familiar with) you'll get narrow streets, narrow sidewalks and 2-3 storey high streetwalls. Trees are a rarity because they just can't grow without encroaching onto the roads or into the foundations of houses themselves.I think you need to find me examples we can discuss. Don't get me wrong, there are attractive mews and such...........but, well, let's take this 6M wide street in Boston:
View attachment 573809
Source: https://amateurplanner.blogspot.com/2016/02/there-has-been-lot-of-discussion-in.html
The sidewalks are not accessible to those with mobility aids /wheelchairs / strollers. It's too narrow.
There are no trees, and none will grow here, but even if they could, there wouldn't be a road at all anymore.
Toronto Fire would definitely balk.
Is it cute, sure, though I like my trees, but to be clear there are some very real tradeoffs.
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From the same site as above:
View attachment 573810
ROW has trees, works for me....but, but.....
First, you have a 3-4s street wall and the ROW has now stretched to 11M wide. But notice the sidewalk with trees is again impassable to anyone with a stroller/wheelchair etc. They would have to walk in the street. Now imagine snowbanks.
That said, I think you could look at neighbourhoods in Brooklyn
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I think I measured the road as ~7m. The sidewalks are wide enough for trees and strollers. I don't know about accessibility devices. Basically all of Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill etc. look like this. 3 storey streetwalls are the norm, and I believe (don't quote me on this) - but 4 storeys are allowed on redevelopments in anything that isn't heritage.
These are two examples in the West Village:
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(first one is higher streetwalls)
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(this one again, around 3s; maybe 4)
Up in Hell's Kitchen:
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I don't think these are particularly unique examples in New York. Large chunks of Manhattan and Brooklyn have the same typology - with 3s being on the lower end. Yes, both boroughs have plenty of very wide streets, but they have a lot of comparatively tight streets with 3s+ buildings on each side.
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