Hyperlinks continued
A Google search for "sidewalk basement" on the internet 4/17/06 turned up a few relevant sites. Here they are, from the first 100:
- San Francisco regulations
There were several links that referred to city funding and city regulation of manhole covers for sidewalk basements, among other things. The term used is "sub-sidewalk basement." Unfortunately, none of the gave any kind of description or definition of the curious structures. The links included:
- SFGOV: Mayor's Office on Disability: DPW Sub Sidewalk Basement...
- San Francisco Redevelopment Agency: February 15, 2005 (Part 1)
- City Enacts Law Regulating Manhole Covers for Sidewalks | July 2004
- CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO Department OF Public Works ORDER ... [PDF]
- August 13, 2003 Volume 9, Number 6 issue of BOMA: "Supervisor Aaron Peskin Introduces Ordinance Regulating Surfaces of Manhole/Sub-Sidewalk Basement Covers" ...
- San Francisco Redevelopment Agency: February 15, 2005 (Part 1) : "to provide grants to property owners for engineering fees related to the sub-sidewalk basement work..."
- A patent to direct light into basements: 269292 - Jackson - "Illuminating Basements" - Page 1. I presume than when this 1882 patent mentions "basement-extensions," they mean sidewalk basements. Another 1858 patent hints at how old some designs for sidewalk basements are.
- Comments on ongoing sidewalk replacement in Portland, Oregon, that had to deal with sidewalk basements: 3rd & 4th Ave Construction Update Blog
"Construction on the underground basement vaults below the sidewalk..."
... "It feels like construction has been going on forever on on those pesky vaults, and we're not done yet. Here's why: when they started ripping into two different large vaults on that block, the subcontractor discovered that conditions were a bit different than expected, which meant two trips back to the drawing board at the City's end. Then, alert property owner Jim Atwood brought to our attention a third vault on this block -- one we hadn't known about before.
"More stories underground - You may have noticed some seemingly random pockets of work outside the main construction areas. There are 23 underground sidewalk basement vaults on this project, and each one either gets a new structural lid, or it gets a new wall next to the building and gets filled in. All Concrete Specialties is the subcontractor doing the vault work. It's most efficient when ACS can do their work prior to RCI's excavation, otherwise the block has to be done in pieces (which happened in front of Seven Stars and Magic Gardens on the west side of 4th). New hatch doors have already been installed on several vaults. ACS is currently working underground at the Fritz Building on the east side of NW 3rd near Burnside, building the shoring for the new structural lid of the large vault there. They will soon be starting on the four vaults along the north side of Couch between 3rd & 4th."
- Sidewalk improvements in the San Francisco area: Newsletter February 2005
"SIXTH STREET IMPROVEMENT PROJECT UPDATE - Phase II of the Redevelopment Agency's Streetscape Improvement project is well underway on Sixth Street. Over the last few months, you may have noticiced the large plywood boxes oddly placed along the Sixth Street sidewalks from Howard to Market streets. Below these oversized boxes, contractors are busy abandoning the sub-sidewalk areas of Sixth Street property basements. New retaining walls are being constructed to separate the sub-sidewalk and roadway areas from the private property basements, and in effect returning the past easement of property in the public's right of way back to the public.
Funded by the Redevelopment Agency and coordinated with the assistance of Urban Solutions staff, the basement abandonment projects are being carried out independently with the cooperation of the various property owners. In a few cases, property owners have opted to instead structurally reinforce their sub-sidewalk basement space to withstand the upcoming street-wide improvements. ..."
- Work on a Fulton Street Transit Center in New York City: CHAPTER 10: DISPLACEMENTAND RELOCATION (PDF) or view as HTML
"DESCRIPTION OF EASEMENT, BASEMENT AND VAULT REQUIREMENTS - Under Alternative 9, a number of new permanent easements and modifications to existing easements would be required which could impact existing use of and access to vaults and basements. Information on the existing use of and access to potentially affected vaults and basements is currently being developed with the Preliminary Engineering. ... Vaults are the sub-grade spaces beneath sidewalks that extend beyond the building line of private properties. While sidewalk vaults are the property of the City, some of these spaces are used by private tenants for storage, basement access and other purposes. ..." followed by a list of 22 sites.
- A "Smart Street" concept for New York City: Existing Furniture - Access. Among the illustration in the website is a photo of sidewalk basement access doors.
- What I believe is a 3-D rendering of sidewalk basement doors: Texture jpg utility diamond plates. You can buy it for $10.
- A robbery through a sidewalk basemnt: Ave. L Laundromat Hit By Burglars - Again!. "The owner of Luxury Laundromat...said burglars entered through the basement after tearing off the steel doors entering the basement from the sidewalk in front of the store."
- A subsurface investigation to find underground storage tanks also turned up sidewalk besements: CLIENT: Portland Development Commission 1900 SW Fourth Avenue, St ... (PDF) or view as HTML. "Surface features, were observed on the site and include signs, power poles with guy wires, street lights, a catch basin, water meters, a coke/natural gas valve, a sidewalk-basement elevator vault, metal garage doors, fences, metallic debris in the yard of the warehouse, and parked vehicles." A few photos illustrate the sidewalk basement locations.
- Buy a stock photo of a bike's shadow on sidewalk doors at Images.com.
- Do you have the same fear? "My NYC fear is falling thru those sidewalk basement hatches." GreekChat.com Forums - so what are you scared of.....
A Google search for "sidewalk hollow" on the internet 5/2/06 turned up a few relevant sites. Here they are, from the first 50:
- A photo of a sign warning "HOLLOW SIDEWALK / NO PARKING."
Thumbnail index of photos of the sites of demolished buildings in Sacramento, California, many showing exposed sidewalk basements. - A photo of a sign warning "HOLLOW SIDEWALK / NO PARKING / MOTORCYCLES KEEP OFF. "Hollow sidewalk, SoHo, Manhattan, New York."
- A photo of a sign warning "HOLLOW SIDEWALK. "On our way to the Apple Store, I saw these Hollow Sidewalk signs and wondered if that had something to do with it. Why would the sidewalks be hollow and what's under them? "
Information about and a photo of the Randolph Street Vaulted Sidewalk Improvement Project in Chicago.
A Google search for "vault light" on the internet (and secondary links) 5/7/06 turned up a few relevant sites. (Several were dictionary entries, indicating that this phrase is more well known than the others in this websection.) Here they are, from the first 50:
"Vault Light History," a sidebar to a guidebook on caring for Sidewalk Basement glass lights: PRESERVATION Tech Notes: Repair and Rehabilitation of Historic Sidewalk Vault Lights, by the National Park Service. 
The UK Pavement Lighting company make glass blocks and sidewalk frames with glass vault lights, including "cellar flaps" (sidewalk doors). - Glassian.org's Prism Glass Links.
- "New York Architecture Images" webpage on 155 West Broadway, which was a factory for Vault Lights and sidewalk doors.
- Not much on vault lights, but a good deal on "manhole covers:" "Drainspotting", a website for "manhole cover" afficianadoes.
- Entry in the illustrated architectural dictionary of the "Recent Past Preservation Network."
"Cast-iron vault lights were originally patented by Thaddeus Hyatt in 1845. As envisioned by Hyatt, the system incorporated small glass lenses set into cast-iron panels. The panels were modular, allowing for installation over large areas. Vault lights, sometimes referred to as "Hyatt Patent Lights," became widespread through the second half of the nineteenth century, paralleling the rapid development of cast-iron architecture."
"Although this publication focuses on cast-iron vault lights, it is also possible to replace deteriorated or even missing historic reinforced concrete vault lights. Beginning in the early 1900s, this type of installation supplanted cast-iron panels."
"We have extensive experience of building cellar flaps, with easy access hatches for personnel and extra lifting flaps for easy movement of goods or equipment."
A Google search for "vaulted sidewalk" on the internet (and secondary links) 5/8/06 turned up a few relevant sites, many of which are descriptions of urban sidewalk basement demolitions, many in the Chicago area. Here they are, from the first 50:
- The doom of sidewalk basements in a part of Chicago: Randolph Vaulted Sidewalk Project, where "vaulted sidewalk reconstruction" = sidewalk basement demolition.
- How sidewalk basements came to be in Chicago: "City Streets: How Chicago Raised Itself Out of the Mud and Astonished the World."
- Don't park delivery trucks on sidewalks in Chicago: " Firm Cited In South Side Sidewalk Collapse; Worker Critically Injured In Accident."
"Construction:
1. The vaulted sidewalk roof/top is removed.
2. Ramps and railing are installed for safe entry and exit.
3. Concrete footings are installed and if necessary, utilities are relocated as required.
4. Concrete retaining walls are formed and poured up to grade. These walls will contain the fill that is needed to eliminate the vaulted sidewalk.
5. The fill, which is a mixture of stone and crushed limestone is poured and compacted.
6. New curb and gutter and sidewalk with ADA ramps are installed."
"The streets of Chicago in the first half of the 19th century were virtually impassible for much of the year. The city and its streets were built only slightly above water level, and most of the roads were no more than unpaved, dirt tracks. ..."
"In 1855 and 1856, the city passed a series of ordinances ordering the grade level of the streets to be raised between four and 14 feet. The process took more than 20 years to complete and was accomplished by literally raising the city. ..."
"Chicago's vaulted sidewalks are also a legacy of this street raising project. As the buildings were lifted, new sidewalks had to be constructed to accommodate the new entrances and meet the new street grade. As late as 2001, there were still over 2,000 vaulted sidewalks left in Chicago, but the 150 year-old construction was becoming a dangerous hazard. Holes in the vaulted sidewalks can be over five feet deep, revealing the original level of the street. City construction crews, however, have been systematically filling in the vaulted sidewalks, and the Chicago Department of Transportation has an Emergency Vaulted Sidewalk Program that performs emergency repairs on "severely deteriorated" areas. Still, the old homes on the Near South Side and the remaining vaulted sidewalks are wonderful reminders of this fascinating period in Chicago's history."
"A forklift operator was injured Tuesday when a sidewalk collapsed as he was working on the south side Tuesday afternoon."
"Officials have cited DCI Hauling out of Downers Grove for damaging a sidewalk and also for failing to have the proper permit to operate machinery on a sidewalk like a vaulted sidewalk. Officials said had they applied for the proper permit, they would have been told to stay off the sidewalk."
"NBC5's Jennifer Mitchell reported that officials described the sidewalk as a vaulted sidewalk. When the land level was raised around the turn of last century, some sidewalks were built up, leaving a hollow space below the concrete."
"Officials said the sidewalks are perfectly safe for people, but they are not intended for heavy machinery like a forklift, which can easily weight several thousand pounds. A crane was used to lift the forklift out of the hole, Mitchell reported."
"The resulting hole, approximately 6 feet deep, swallowed the back half of the forklift and caused the man's leg to be trapped between the rim of the hole and the machine, the woman said. Officials at the scene said the operator fell approximately 5 feet, Mitchell reported."
Other links found or hinted at in above links:
- A TV new story, "Northeast Wisconsin's Underground."
- Down under down south: "a history of underground Atlanta." Unfortuntely there are no images of it, but there is a description of the tour
"There is this whole city going on above us. Down here there are no windows, no doors. We have three-feet thick limestone walls."
"As the new century took off, Atlanta began to take on a new look. Following the Chicago School of architecture, multi-story 'skyscraper' office buildings cropped-up in the downtown area, and the city became a business and retail center. In the 1920s, construction of concrete "viaducts" elevated the streets of downtown one level above the railroad tracks to facilitate traffic flow. Merchants moved their operations to the second floor, leaving the old storefronts for storage and service. These viaducts would create the unique cityscape that would later become Underground Atlanta. ..."
"In 1968, the Atlanta Board of Aldermen bestowed historic status onto the five-block area of the original downtown, paving the way for restoration. Surprisingly, after years of neglect, the 'city beneath the city' was a diamond in the rough. Original storefronts with ornate marble, granite archways, cast-iron pilasters, decorative brickwork and hand-carved wood posts and panels were still intact. Underground Atlanta opened as a retail and entertainment center in 1969, but had some economic hiccups throughout the following decade. In 1980, the original Underground Atlanta shut its doors. Construction of the MARTA rapid transit line and other factors led to its closing. Still, civic and business leaders succeeded in their bid to place Underground Atlanta on the National Register of Historic Places. And with that Atlantan spirit of determination, city leaders vowed to re-open the area. In 1989, through a joint venture between City of Atlanta and private industry, the New Underground Atlanta opened for business. At a cost of $142 million, it was redesigned to become one of the major projects aimed at preserving and revitalizing Downtown Atlanta. Today, Underground Atlanta offers a complete family experience, with retail shops, special events, unique entertainment offerings, the Old Alabama Eatery food court, and fine restaurants."
