03/17/2026
“ During the ’70s and ’80s, more than 100 downtowns from Poughkeepsie to Mesa, Ariz., installed pedestrian plazas or sidewalk canopies in a scramble to compete with the rise of malls. Covered sidewalk structures were sometimes accompanied by “slipcovering” — metal panels hiding fully intact masonry facades, windows and all. ”
A project to demolish dozens of 1970s-era sidewalk canopies has revealed an architectural time capsule in the Hudson Valley.