City - inhabitant do n’t want to be reminded they live in an industrial wasteland . appearing is everything , right ? But the metropolitan landscape is n’t all brownstones and sorcerous local shop . There ’s an base that keeps cities running , and it can be an eyesore . luckily , we human being are prettyingeniouscreatures . The resolution : false building . And New York City is full of them .
These fictive frontage are Edgar Lee Masters of camouflage . Sometimes they see like townhomes , complete with windows , stair , doors and balconies . And sometimes they ’re repurposed facilities , like the Strecker Memorial Laboratory on Roosevelt Island , which you’re able to check out in the above TV . But their exteriors belie their subject matter — inside , the car that power the city ’s energy and transportation system are interfering mold . The buildings house airing cock , electrical substations and emergency brake tunnels ( because the zombie Book of Revelation issureto start in New York ) .
The Big Apple is n’t the only office you may find these deceptive front line . There ’s a cover song - up for a substation inToronto . A ventilation chimney hides in patent sight inParis . InChicago , an imposing limestone and calamitous granite edifice topped with an fine art deco carving shelters one of Commonwealth Edison ’s substations . It ’s not all fashion before function , though : The buildings make it harder for thieves to access worthful materials , like copper , inside .
There are some telltale polarity of these social organisation ' alter ego . The windows may be covered . The door may not spread or may be made of hard - obligation metal . And oh yeah , sometimes they do n’t have roofs . So perchance their disguise science tier is more Groucho glasses thanClark Kent . But that ’s hunky-dory — they ’re still pretty cool , inside and out .
