The city of New York is the city of skyscrapers. Every first-time visitor to Manhattan experiences the awe of gazing up at the soaring stone, steel, and glass towers of Wall Street or Midtown, and wonders how those structures came to be built. Manhattan Skyscrapers answers the question by presenting the 75 most significant tall buildings that make up the city's famous skyline. From Louis Sullivan's Bayard-Condict Building of 1898 on Bleeker Street to the Conde Nast tower currently rising above Times Square, Manhattan Skyscrapers lavishly presents over a hundred years of New York's most interesting and important tall buildings. Author Eric P. Nash profiles familiar skyscrapers such as the Woolworth Building, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the World Trade Towers, the AT&T (now Sony) Building, and the Seagram Building, while also championing several often-overlooked yet significant structures, such as the McGraw- Hill, the Metropolitan Life Insurance, and the Fred F. French Buildings. Nash's writing strikes an elegant balance between history, archi-tectural evaluation, and intelligent guidebook. For each building, Nash identifies the building style, gives the overall profile and image of the building, and discusses its construction; also included are quotes from the buildings' architects and the architectural critics of the time. Each skyscraper is illustrated with full-page color photo-graphs by noted photographer Norman McGrath as well as architectural drawings and plans, archival images of the original interiors, postcards, and other ephemera. Manhattan Skyscrapers is essential reading-or an ideal gift-for anyone interested in the buildings that make New York the ultimate skyscraper city.

The invention of the New York skyscraper is one of the most fascinating developments in the history of architecture. This authoritative book chronicles the history of New York's first skyscrapers, challenging conventional wisdom that it was in Chicago and not New York that the skyscraper was born. 206 illustrations.

The Manhattan skyline is one of the great wonders of the modern world. But how and why did it form? Much has been written about the city's architecture and its general history, but little work has explored the economic forces that created the skyline. In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr chronicles the economic history of the Manhattan skyline. In the process, he debunks some widely held misconceptions about the city's history. Starting with Manhattan's natural and geological history, Barr moves on to how these formations influenced early land use and the development of neighborhoods, including the dense tenement neighborhoods of Five Points and the Lower East Side, and how these early decisions eventually impacted the location of skyscrapers built during the Skyscraper Revolution at the end of the 19th century. Barr then explores the economic history of skyscrapers and the skyline, investigating the reasons for their heights, frequencies, locations, and shapes. He discusses why skyscrapers emerged downtown and why they appeared three miles to the north in midtown-but not in between the two areas. Contrary to popular belief, this was not due to the depths of Manhattan's bedrock, nor the presence of Grand Central Station. Rather, midtown's emergence was a response to the economic and demographic forces that were taking place north of 14th Street after the Civil War. Building the Skyline also presents the first rigorous investigation of the causes of the building boom during the Roaring Twenties. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the boom was largely a rational response to the economic growth of the nation and city. The last chapter investigates the value of Manhattan Island and the relationship between skyscrapers and land prices. Finally, an Epilogue offers policy recommendations for a resilient and robust future skyline.

The official guide to New York's must-see buildings profiles a host of new landmarks and includes 80 two-color, easy-to-read maps, and more than 200 photographs. This new edition will make every visitor feel like a native--and turn every native into a wide-eyed tourist. Includes a Foreword by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Find your corner of New York City with this essential travel guide to this great city, designed to help you create your own unique trip and to transport you there before you've even packed your suitcase - step back in time at Ellis Island and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, get a bird's eye view of New York City from the Top of the Rock, or Central Park. The DK Eyewitness Guide to New York City covers the must-see sights and the hidden corners, so you won't miss a thing. - Gorgeous, all-new color photography so you can imagine yourself there - Reasons to love New York City: world-class museums, lively local markets, jazz and Jewish food - what will yours be? - See New York City from a different angle - 26 pages of fresh ideas for exploring the city - A year-long calendar of events in New York City gives a selection of local events and festivals for all seasons - Expert advice covers the practical stuff: get ready, get around and stay safe - Over 15 detailed, color maps help you navigate the city with ease - Expert tips to make memories that last - where to snap and share the perfect photo, take in stunning views and escape the crowds - The most authentic places to stay, eat, drink and shop - Easy-to-follow walks and itineraries take you on a tour of each area, with plenty of eat and drink stops en route. - Hand-drawn illustrations show the inside of the must-see attractions, including Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, the Guggenheim, Grand Central Terminal, United Nations, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Cathedral of St. John the Divine. - Covers Lower Manhattan; Lower East Side; Chinatown, Little Italy, and Nolita; SoHo and Tribeca; Greenwich Village; East Village; Gramercy and the Flatiron District; Chelsea and the Garment District; Midtown West and the Theater District; Lower Midtown; Upper Midtown; Upper East Side; Central Park and the Upper West Side; Harlem and Morningside Heights; and Brooklyn, plus sights beyond the city in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide New York City is a detailed, easy-to-use guide designed to help you create your own unique trip. Staying longer? Try our DK Eyewitness Guide to the USA.

Make your trip to New York City extraordinary A theatre show on Broadway. Cruising past the Statue of Liberty. Visiting countless world-class museums. New York City offers enough bucket-list experiences to fill a lifetime. Whatever your dream trip involves, this DK travel guide is the perfect companion. Our updated guide brings New York City to life, transporting you there like no other travel guide does with expert-led insights, trusted travel advice, detailed breakdowns of all the must-see sights, photographs on practically every page, and our hand-drawn illustrations, which take you inside the city's buildings and neighbourhoods. You'll discover: - our pick of New York City's must-sees and top experiences - beautiful photography and detailed illustrations, taking you to the heart of New York City - the best spots to eat, drink, shop and stay - detailed maps and walks which make navigating the region easy - easy-to-follow itineraries - expert advice: get ready, get around and stay safe - colour-coded chapters to each part of New York City - a lightweight format, so you can take it with you wherever you go Want the best of New York in your pocket? Try Top 10 New York City.

A major urban history of the design and development of postwar San Francisco Designing San Francisco is the untold story of the formative postwar decades when U.S. cities took their modern shape amid clashing visions of the future. In this pathbreaking and richly illustrated book, Alison Isenberg shifts the focus from architects and city planners—those most often hailed in histories of urban development and design—to the unsung artists, activists, and others who played pivotal roles in rebuilding San Francisco between the 1940s and the 1970s. Previous accounts of midcentury urban renewal have focused on the opposing terms set down by Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs—put simply, development versus preservation—and have followed New York City models. Now Isenberg turns our attention west to colorful, pioneering, and contentious San Francisco, where unexpectedly fierce battles were waged over iconic private and public projects like Ghirardelli Square, Golden Gateway, and the Transamerica Pyramid. When large-scale redevelopment came to low-rise San Francisco in the 1950s, the resulting rivalries and conflicts sparked the proliferation of numerous allied arts fields and their professionals, including architectural model makers, real estate publicists, graphic designers, photographers, property managers, builders, sculptors, public-interest lawyers, alternative press writers, and preservationists. Isenberg explores how these centrally engaged arts professionals brought new ideas to city, regional, and national planning and shaped novel projects across urban, suburban, and rural borders. San Francisco’s rebuilding galvanized far-reaching critiques of the inequitable competition for scarce urban land, and propelled debates over responsible public land stewardship. Isenberg challenges many truisms of this renewal era—especially the presumed male domination of postwar urban design, showing how women collaborated in city building long before feminism’s impact in the 1970s. An evocative portrait of one of the world’s great cities, Designing San Francisco provides a new paradigm for understanding past and present struggles to define the urban future.

This book is about the design of the facade of 51 of America's most extravagant early skyscrapers. Included are the biographies of noted architects and the aristocrats who financed America's first skyscrapers. This book discusses the influences of European aesthetic values in America--and scandals, rogues and class distinctions. Interpretations by contemporary critics are sprinkled throughout the text. Woven throughout the book are inquiries about the validity of Greek and Roman mythologies and their relationships to "modern" America and its spirit of invention and progress. Foreign traditions were challenged by some architects but then accepted by most. Why was it necessary for the long-dead hero of a faraway civilization to be included on the facade of a newly invented American skyscraper? This book tells why.

One of today's foremost art historians and critics presents a strikingly original view of architecture and the city through the twin lenses of cultural theory and psychoanalysis. In engaging a subject that has been of continuing interest to Damisch over the last 30 years, he develops a unique way of looking at the city and its architecture, the landscape and its spaces.

The definitive, all-color guide for any Art Deco enthusiast. Showcasing over 1,000 individually priced items and with up-to-date tips and advice from bestselling expert Judith Miller, this glorious guide will show you all you need to know about Art Deco. Art Deco contains affordable collectables and classic pieces, and showcases popular Art Deco collecting fields. From Clarice Cliff to Chanel, an array of styles are covered here, with historical information, collectors' tips and price guides. A must-have for all Art Deco collectors.