brownstones

  

This is the best example I have of an 1860s Manhattan brownstone.  Eliminate the flower boxes and A/C.  They are imposing, but rather severe in style; no frills or curlicues, no balconies or bay windows.  Steep stoops and tall ground-floor front windows.  (Ground floor is the so-called parlor floor, reached by the stoop.  Level with the street is the basement,  which can also have front windows, but not tall like on the parlor floor.)








Turn-of-†he-century Brooklyn brownstones.  Too ornate and too differentiated for 1860s Manhattan brownstones, rows of which can be similar in style.  But see how the brownstones cluster together as row houses.






Brooklyn brownstones.  But: in 1860s Manhattan, no bay windows.  But a sameness of style for them all; no one stands out.  No fire escapes in the 1860s.





More Brooklyn brownstones.  But no bay windows in 1860s Manhattan.  See how the whole row of them are similar in style; no one of them really stands out.