if you have been walking past Cast-Iron building without realizing it, you're not alone! most of the people (me icluded...) who walk through the streets of the SoHo in New York do not notice that many of the charming facades, which are so typical to the area, are actually made of Cast-Iron. the reason is, that the original owners and builders of iron structures wanted their buildings to look like stone. from the colors to the popular renaissance stone design and motives, every afford was made to give the facades a stone-made appearance.
the use of Cast-Iron in architecture began at the second half of the 19th century and the biggest concentration of Cast-Iron facades is in the Soho Area in New York, although some individuals stand alone in other parts of the city. most of the buildings were build for commercial activities: offices, warehouses and hotels which their owners were overwhelmed by the advantages that this new technology had offered-the speed and the economy of the construction. the prefabricated sections of the facade were easy to ship, they were assembled and bolted together, floor above floor, at the construction site. since the iron was cast in molds, it was easy to change the design of the components according to the on going fashion, from Italianate style to high Victorian.
the decline of Cast-Iron architecture began with the introduction of steel-frame building which developed then into the modern skyscraper.
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