ChicagoChicago's street raisingLifting a whole downtown with hand screws is a huge job. Was raising the buildings easier than digging them out, or was something already covering the old street?In the 1850s and 1860s central Chicago was raised to a new grade. Buildings were lifted on jackscrews, and in January 1858 a four-storey, 750-ton brick building at Randolph and Dearborn went up 6 ft 2 in.
Photo: Mentnafunangann · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Mud Flood · Italy
Baiae
The open question
A town that went under the water. What would that look like if it happened to a modern city?
On the record
From 36 BC, Baiae included Portus Julius, the base of the western fleet of the Roman Navy before it was abandoned because of the silting up of Lake Lucrinus (from which a short channel led to Lake Avernus) for the two harbours at Cape Miseno 4 miles (6.4 km) south. In April 2023 the sunken remains of an ancient Roman villa including marble tiled flooring, numerous marble columns and an ornate mosaic were discovered by underwater archaeologists from the Campi Flegrei Archaeological Park.
- Year
- 2023
- Kind
- sea
Sources
More from Mud Flood
ChicagoChicago's street raisingLifting a whole downtown with hand screws is a huge job. Was raising the buildings easier than digging them out, or was something already covering the old street?In the 1850s and 1860s central Chicago was raised to a new grade. Buildings were lifted on jackscrews, and in January 1858 a four-storey, 750-ton brick building at Randolph and Dearborn went up 6 ft 2 in.
ChicagoTremont House hotel liftWhy lift a big brick hotel rather than just fill in around it?In 1861 Ely, Smith and Pullman lifted the Tremont House hotel six feet to meet the new street grade.
SeattleSeattle UndergroundA whole storey of shops ended up below the street. Why build new streets a floor up instead of on the old ones?After the 1889 fire, Pioneer Square's streets were raised from several feet to a full storey. The old sidewalks and shopfronts are still down there, lit by glass vault lights. The city condemned the Underground in 1907.
SeattlePioneer Building, SeattleIf the old ground floor is underground, which floor was really the first one?Built in Pioneer Square after the 1889 fire; Bill Speidel's Underground Tour has run from it since 1965.