Stupid things to be annoyed by
Jan. 3rd, 2021 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficI have had a plot bunny for Prodigal Son for a year now and have finally started to write it, but I'm doing a rewatch of the show to make sure I've gotten the details right, as it's pre-series. In particular, I wanted to make sure I had the details about the Milton house correct.
Episode 1x08, Jessica Whitly explains that Miltons owned the whole neighborhood when it was farm land; they bought it with money they got from arming the Hessians, so, okay, they were Revolutionary War profiteers; and that the house was built in 1871.
Okay, so, New York house built by well established family in 1871--that should be somewhere in the Village or Chelsea or the Gramercy Park area. Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace was built in 1848, and that's on 20th Street. So, maybe Gramercy Park, that would make sense for a house of that age.
Except--what does the outside of the house look like? TOTALLY WRONG. A New York house from 1871 should be a brick or brownstone row house. The entrance should be up a full flight of steps from the outside. And what is the Milton house? Appears to be white stone clad--when they zoom out enough, there's some brick visible. But also, the front door is only a few steps up from the street.
The interior, too, is totally wrong. You should enter into a large foyer. The stairs and hallway should be directly in front of the door, with all the house's rooms off to one side. You shouldn't be opening into a central hall/living room with the stairs way off to the side.
Okay, whatever, I can work with it.
Then I get to episode 1x15, and they give the house's address--as 3 E 88th Street. You know what's at 3 E 88th Street? THE FUCKING GUGGENHEIM.
It is also TOTALLY WRONG for the house to be on Central Park East if it was built in 1871. Central Park was started in 1857 and completed in 1876. You know why they could put a park there? BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING FUCKING THERE. THE ENTIRE NORTHERN PART OF THE ISLAND WAS UNDEVELOPED LAND. GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDPA MILTON WOULD NOT HAVE BUILT HIS GRAND FAMILY MANSE IN THE FUCKING BOONIES. That area of Manhattan was not developed until the subway went in, and the first subway line was in 1903.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS FUCKING HOUSE IS WRONG.
Look, I know that this is a show where a serial killer somehow still sees medical patients. I had just been hoping that they were vague enough that I could cludge something somewhat reasonable together. But no. They had to throw in just enough details that nothing about it is reasonable at all.
ARGH.
(Yes, I wrote a page today then got sucked into a wiki hole about Victorian masonry techniques. Shut up.)
ETA: Fuck it. I've now bought the AIA Guide to New York City and a few other books on architecture in New York. To be clear--this was meant to be a paragraph in the story. Now I'm just homesick for my city.
Episode 1x08, Jessica Whitly explains that Miltons owned the whole neighborhood when it was farm land; they bought it with money they got from arming the Hessians, so, okay, they were Revolutionary War profiteers; and that the house was built in 1871.
Okay, so, New York house built by well established family in 1871--that should be somewhere in the Village or Chelsea or the Gramercy Park area. Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace was built in 1848, and that's on 20th Street. So, maybe Gramercy Park, that would make sense for a house of that age.
Except--what does the outside of the house look like? TOTALLY WRONG. A New York house from 1871 should be a brick or brownstone row house. The entrance should be up a full flight of steps from the outside. And what is the Milton house? Appears to be white stone clad--when they zoom out enough, there's some brick visible. But also, the front door is only a few steps up from the street.
The interior, too, is totally wrong. You should enter into a large foyer. The stairs and hallway should be directly in front of the door, with all the house's rooms off to one side. You shouldn't be opening into a central hall/living room with the stairs way off to the side.
Okay, whatever, I can work with it.
Then I get to episode 1x15, and they give the house's address--as 3 E 88th Street. You know what's at 3 E 88th Street? THE FUCKING GUGGENHEIM.
It is also TOTALLY WRONG for the house to be on Central Park East if it was built in 1871. Central Park was started in 1857 and completed in 1876. You know why they could put a park there? BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING FUCKING THERE. THE ENTIRE NORTHERN PART OF THE ISLAND WAS UNDEVELOPED LAND. GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDPA MILTON WOULD NOT HAVE BUILT HIS GRAND FAMILY MANSE IN THE FUCKING BOONIES. That area of Manhattan was not developed until the subway went in, and the first subway line was in 1903.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS FUCKING HOUSE IS WRONG.
Look, I know that this is a show where a serial killer somehow still sees medical patients. I had just been hoping that they were vague enough that I could cludge something somewhat reasonable together. But no. They had to throw in just enough details that nothing about it is reasonable at all.
ARGH.
(Yes, I wrote a page today then got sucked into a wiki hole about Victorian masonry techniques. Shut up.)
ETA: Fuck it. I've now bought the AIA Guide to New York City and a few other books on architecture in New York. To be clear--this was meant to be a paragraph in the story. Now I'm just homesick for my city.
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Date: 2021-01-05 02:10 am (UTC)Also I always love to read about New York history/architecture, even though I've never been there - it really helps with writing for fandoms set in New York.
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Date: 2021-01-05 08:49 pm (UTC)