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Anyone interested in art and architecture, or in the best and worst aspects of the modern city, will relish this compelling and eminently readable history of New York's Municipal Art Society, the citizen-based group that has been instrumental in shaping the city's public spaces for the past ten years. 100 photos.
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as a "juicy little time bomb of a book", Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience examines for the first time, New York City's 39-year mixed experience with the production of more than 500 plazas, parks, and atriums located on private property yet by law accessible to and usable by the public. Until now, comprehensive, systematic knowledge about this vast collection of public spaces has not existed, either for experts or members of the public. To remedy this gap, Harvard University professor Jerold S. Kayden, The New York City Department of City Planning, and The Municipal Art Society of New York have joined forces to research and write Pri...
"A casually wondrous experience; it made me feel like the city was unfolding beneath my feet.” —Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror In place-names lie stories. That’s the truth that animates this fascinating journey through the names of New York City’s streets and parks, boroughs and bridges, playgrounds and neighborhoods. Exploring the power of naming to shape experience and our sense of place, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro traces the ways in which native Lenape, Dutch settlers, British invaders, and successive waves of immigrants have left their marks on the city’s map. He excavates the roots of many names, from Brooklyn to Harlem, that have gained iconic meaning worldwide. He interviews the last living speakers of Lenape, visits the harbor’s forgotten islands, lingers on street corners named for ballplayers and saints, and meets linguists who study the estimated eight hundred languages now spoken in New York. As recent arrivals continue to find new ways to make New York’s neighborhoods their own, the names that stick to the city’s streets function not only as portals to explore the past but also as a means to reimagine what is possible now.
During the 1800s, Manhattanville flourished as the West Side counterpart to its parent village of Harlem. The wide valley around present-day Broadway and 125th Street formed a unique gateway to the Hudson River between Morningside Heights and Washington Heights. Although rural, Manhattanville was the convergence of river, railroad, and stage lines, representing one of nineteenth-century New York City's most significant residential, manufacturing, and transportation hubs. However, this once-prominent upper Manhattan suburb eventually succumbed to the advent of mass transit and to the absorption of its distinctive features by the city in chase. Manhattanville: Old Heart of West Harlem acquaint...
The first guidebook devoted exclusively to New York Citys Art Deco treasures. Of all the worlds great cities, perhaps none is so defined by its Art Deco architecture as New York. Lively and informative, New York Art Deco leads readers step-by-step past the monuments of the 1920s and 30s that recast New York as the worlds modern metropolis. Anthony W. Robins, New Yorks best-known Art Deco guide, includes an introductory essay describing the Art Deco phenomenon, followed by eleven walking tour itineraries in Manhattaneach accompanied by a map designed by legendary New York cartographer John Tauranacand a survey of Deco sites across the four other boroughs. Also included is a phot...