Cross Sections and City Plans: London, Berlin and NYC, 1914 and 1927

JF Ptak Science Books LLC    Post 133
These two images (from the Illustrirte Zeitung, Leipzig, published in November 1927)are unusual bird’s-eye view/cross sections showing two levels( above-ground and below-ground) of each city—the first showing the found vortexes of the underground utility and public works systems in Berlin at the intersection of Muhlenstrasse, Hauptstrasse and Tempelhoferstrasse, and the second showing pedestrian walkways and tube access under Piccadilly Circus in London  The point of view for each is an oblique about 50 high, looking down at about a 30-degree angle.  To my experience it is very uncommon to find all of these elements together in one image.  They’re both very clean and well designed and even though there’s quite a bit of activity in them the point that the illustrator is trying to make is abundantly obvious.
 

Generally when I think of the cross sections that I’ve seen for underground and public works for cities it is almost always like the following (published, again, in the Illustrirte Zeitung, Leipzig, 23 April 1914 in the “Aus Industrie und technik section”--namely, a straight-on cross section elevation.   This image relates the depths of the tunnels delivering water to NYC from the Ashokan Reservoir (in the Catskills) to the heights of the tallest buildings.  (In this case the depth of the water delivery systems was equal to about the height of the scandalous (!!) statue atop the old Madison Square Garden building, which was about 80 meters.)