7 – North of the border: Historic post-war apartment blocks, built to house middle-income families and veterans of the World War II.

North of 14^th Street sits one of the most iconic and architecturally imposing private housing projects in New York City – Stuyvesant Town. Named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, the complex opened its first building in 1947, as part of a larger post-war urban renewal plan.  The estate is immense, stretching from 1^st Avenue to Avenue C, and from 14^th street to 20^th street. 35 red brick apartment buildings house more than 8000 apartments, making this a sort of mini-city.

What is interesting about Stuyvesant Town was how “yuppie” it feels, despite the hideous, monotonous architecture, presenting a stark contrast to the depressed but colourful streetscapes just across the street. Through tree-lined sidewalks, young urban professionals in suits and office attire headed east, towards the 1^st Avenue subway station, on their way to work.  Many of them walked straight ahead determinedly, without ever turning their heads left, as if to say there, across the border of 14^th Street, is another world altogether.

In this section – part II of the walk from Avenue C to 1^st Avenue – I adopt a slightly idiosyncratic and tongue-in-cheek approach, juxtaposing scenes north and south of the 14^th Street border, not in the order I walked by them, to highlight the differences financial, architectural, and inadvertently, ethnic between these two sides of the same coin.

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8 – South of the border: Historic Tenements, built in 1890 as one of the first large-scale housing developments for immigrants.

9 – North of the Border: Power-mums.

10 – South of the Border: Power-dressing

11 – North of the Border: Protestant work ethic.

12 – South of the Border: Catholic somnolence.

B – Border Politics