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Long Island is a terminal moraine. We don't have accessible bedrock here, which limits the safe height of structures.
Science.
While it's not an apartment building, University Hospital Stony Brook (UHSB) is the tallest building on LI at 19 floors or 360'. They're adding on to the buildings, but everything new is much shorter.
Again, this all goes back to early development on Long Island. The Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities recently published a book entitled Gardens of Eden: Long Island's Early Twentieth Century Planned Communities.
I've just ordered it from Amazon and look forward to learning more. The synopsis on the Amazon website:
Quote:
While the onset of suburbia on Long Island is often believed to be a post-World War II phenomena, it actually began a half century earlier when greater affluence, improved railroad service, and new methods of financing made the dream of country living a greater reality for a growing urban middle class. Luminaries such as Grosvenor Atterbury, Charles W. Leavitt Jr., and Frederick Law Olmsted designed dozens of high-end, carefully conceived communities on New York’s Long Island. Touted as an antidote to the complexities of urban living, these “residential parks” were characterized by significant investment in landscaping and infrastructure and employed concepts introduced by the Garden City movement in England.
Gardens of Eden covers the history and development of more than twenty of these remarkable communities and the colorful, at times unscrupulous personalities behind them―like Plandome, designed “for teachers only,” and the Metropolitan Museum’s Munsey Park, where all the streets were named for artists―with writings from their most knowledgeable historians. Other featured communities include: Garden City, Forest Hills Gardens, Long Beach, Great Neck Estates, Brightwaters, Montauk Beach, Prospect Park South in Brooklyn, and many more.
People were moving away from the city, they didn't want tall apartment buildings reminiscent of the cityscape.
Somewhat related question, I noticed that Philly, a densely populated urban city, doesn't seem to have many apartment buildings over 3 stories high either. I even saw a new apartment building being built and it was only 3 stories, does the City of Philadelphia have zoning restrictions preventing the construction of apartment buildings taller than 3 stories?
Somewhat related question, I noticed that Philly, a densely populated urban city, doesn't seem to have many apartment buildings over 3 stories high either. I even saw a new apartment building being built and it was only 3 stories, does the City of Philadelphia have zoning restrictions preventing the construction of apartment buildings taller than 3 stories?
You're probably best off asking this on the Philadelphia board. Interesting question.
Doing some quick Googling, it looks like some parts of the city have water table and flooding issues.
I'm guessing that building height might be limited in some historic areas so as not to overshadow historic buildings or sights.
people used to be a lot shorter years ago and could not climb that many steps
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