The Urban Landscape New York City Lost in the 2010s

Over the last decade, many historic buildings and cultural institutions throughout New York City have disappeared. The result has been the transformation of neighborhoods and the city’s character.

1 minute read

December 29, 2019, 11:00 AM PST

By Camille Fink


5  Pointz New York City

annulla / Flickr

Nathan Kensinger looks at ten buildings that have disappeared from New York City in the last decade, and the effect of those losses on neighborhoods. "As new development projects and rezonings reshaped the city, it also lost countless historic buildings and cultural institutions; dive bars, bungalows, churches, and even entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map."

In Harlem, Manhattanville is an industrial neighborhood that is quickly disappearing as Columbia University expands its campus. The loss, says Kensinger, is buildings and other structures that capture the essence of the city and connect the present to the past. "What has been erased in Manhattanville is the same type of vernacular architecture that is vanishing throughout New York City: diners and tenement buildings, cobblestone streets and slaughterhouses, auto body shops and horse stables.”

He writes about a variety of other places that are completely or mostly gone, including the Cedar Grove Beach Club in Staten Island, the 5 Pointz warehouse and graffiti haven in Long Island City, and the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse on the Gowanus Canal.

"New York has always been a dynamic place that changes and reinvents itself. But these recent developments represent something different, where billionaires and politicians conspired to maximize private profits and enrich private developers by destroying thousands of small businesses and dozens of neighborhoods," notes Kensinger.

Thursday, December 12, 2019 in Curbed New York

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight