Manhattan Skyscrapers: 3rd Edition - Hardcover

Nash, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1568989679 ISBN 13: 9781568989679

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010

Synopsis

What do you picture when you think of New York City? For most, it is the city's distinctive skyline, made famous bycountless movies and photographs. Everyone in Manhattan, whether first-time visitor or longtime resident, 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. First published in 1999, Manhattan Skyscrapers was the first book to document the most important peaks in the city's concrete canyons. From the earliest skyscrapers built in thecity—such as the 1896 American Tract Society Building—to the most well known, including the Woolworth, Empire State, and Chrysler buildings, the book has become the definitive reference work on the Big Apple's skyline. Now available in a revised third edition, Manhattan Skyscrapers presents more than a century's worth of New York's most fascinating and important buildings. Each skyscraper is presented with informative and entertaining texts by New York Times contributor Eric Nash, a striking full-page photograph by architectural photographer Norman McGrath, archival images, interior views, and architectural drawings.

In addition to the eighty-five buildings documented in previous versions of the book, Manhattan Skyscrapers showcases eight of the most exciting new skyscrapers built in the past few years. These wonderfully diverse additions to the city—the New York Times Building by Renzo Piano, the Standard Hotel byPolshek Partnership Architects, 7 World Trade Center by SOM, the Blue Tower by Bernard Tschumi, Bank of America Tower by Cook + Fox, 11 Times Square by FXFOWLE, 200 West Street by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, and 425 Fifth Avenue by Michael Graves—give an indication of how the city continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. Manhattan Skyscrapers is an indispensable book for both the serious student of architecture and the casual collector of all things New York.

About this title

Review:

Whether or not New York City, in all its teeming chaos, strikes readers as exciting or abominating, its superb urban architecture is undeniable. Life in the Big Apple is so fast-paced that most of the time the buildings that fill the island go unnoticed. Manhattan Skyscrapers offers the chance to leisurely peruse the stunning skyline, one building at a time, by compiling 75 of the most noteworthy towers in Manhattan (and one in Brooklyn). Spanning about a 100-year history and organized in chronological order, the book treats each skyscraper to its own section replete with photographs, commentary, and history. And the shifting architectural styles are fascinating to see in one volume. These tall buildings can appear intimidating, dwarfing the people who live in their midst, but this book offers readers an intimacy with these immense structures. There are details here that readers could easily miss in person; for instance, built into the lobby of the gothic-style Woolworth Building of 1913 are gargoyles depicting F.W. Woolworth counting his fortune and the builder in a monk's hood. The photographs are beautiful, with clear perspectives that seem almost impossible to get on the crowded streets of New York. --J.P. Cohen

About the Author:

Eric P. Nash has been a researcher and writer for the New York Times since 1986. He is the author of several books about architecture and design.

Norman McGrath's long career includes a wide variety of work for many well-known architects and designers. Every major architectural publication has featured his images.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1568989679
• ISBN 13: 9781568989679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 240