Book Description
A fresh look at the greatest builder in the history of New York City and one of its most controversial figures.
In various roles in city and state government from 1930 to 1965, Robert Moses reshaped the fabric of the city. From Lincoln Center to the Triborough Bridge, the West Side Highway to the Cross Bronx Expressway, his public projects, reassessed in this book by notable urbanists, continue to exert a strong influence in the lives of New Yorkers. 250 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
A top pick not just for New York libraries.......2007-07-07
ROBERT MOSES AND THE MODERN CITY: THE TRANSFORMATION OF NEW YORK, which offers a new look at legendary architect Robert Moses, who reshaped the skyline of New York City. Readers familiar with New York will readily recognize some of his major contributions from the Lincoln Center to the Cross Bronx Expressway - so it's surprising to note this is the first major publication since the 1974 biography THE POWER BROKER appeared - and ROBERT MOSES AND THE MODERN CITY: THE TRANSFORMATION OF NEW YORK comes packed with photos that his biography doesn't provide. Far from hastening the demise of New York, this book shows how his works strengthened the central city and brought it into modern times, altering road systems and creating an urban design plan to foster changes. Plenty of detailed history surround the photos and descriptions of each project's special challenges, making this a top pick not just for New York libraries, but for any college-level art or urban planning collection.
ITS A WONDER HE DID NOT TRY TO PART THE EAST RIVER.......2007-03-22
Now this man had POWER. It is amazing how much control he had over the building of infastructure in NYC, he was the first and last word. He was like a 20th century Baron Hausemann. This book is well written and scholarly and frankly just fascinating. I saw a documentary on Robert Moses one time and was just blown away at his hubris and power. His reign over NYC spanned several powerful mayors and to this day no person has ever had so much power of the cities infrastructure. Great book, highly recommended.
A modern take on the metropolis that Moses crafted.......2007-03-19
The Power Broker (another prominent work on Moses) is a product of the 1970s pessimism concerning the death of the city, saying that Moses helped bring about the downfall experienced in 1974 when the book was published. In Ballon's book, we have the experience that 30 years of hindsight provides, and the tone is radically different Ballon and other essayists provide a more modern insight to Moses and his achievements. Do not be fooled, this is not a coffee table book, but almost a text book for urban planners on the practices employed by Moses. The book was inspired by the museum exhibits going on currently in New York City concerning Moses and his works, and is an excellent supplement to them. If you are interested in NYC, public works, or Urban History- this is a must buy, and will become more important as time wears on.
I also recommend The Power Broker and Moses' own book Public Works: A Dangerous Trade
Book Description
A lavish look at the private homes of the storied Hamptons, with gorgeous photographs and engaging text that discusses the history, decor, and architecture from an insider's perspective. HAMPTONS HAVENS offers readers a glimpse behind the hedgerows of the Hamptons on Long Island, New York. The photographs are drawn from the archives of Hamptons Cottages and Gardens magazine and feature 24 homes and gardens that vary greatly in architecture and interior design. Every home in the book, from cozy cottage to grand estate, is a testament to the enormous breadth and natural beauty of the seaside region.
Customer Reviews:
More cottages than gardens.......2007-09-19
A lovely book with interesting stories but I was after beach gardens and there are very few. The title is misleading as it is from the magazine by this name.
Hamptons Cottages and Gardens.......2007-09-06
This is a beautiful book which is as entertaining to read as it is to gaze at the pictures! I would have appreciated it more had all the houses featured been in a similar style to the one on the cover. There is quite a large spectrum of different designs. I wished they had presented more photographs of each individual home, but overall there is plenty to feast your eyes on.
Hampton Havens Review.......2006-08-27
The book was purchased for an anniversary gift for my daughter who resides on one of the Hamptons. She liked the book and even was familiar with the owner of the garden on the cover.
Book Description
This beautiful book focuses on Laurelton Hall, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s extraordinary country estate in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. Beginning in 1902, Tiffany (1848–1933) designed every aspect of the immense home, which had eighty-four rooms and eight levels, and extensive grounds into which the house was carefully integrated. Tiffany’s residential masterpiece was also a quasi-museum, for he filled it with his own works—windows, glassware, pottery, enamels, lamps, oil paintings, and watercolors—as well as with objects from his collections of Islamic, Asian, and Native American art.
Laurelton Hall burned down in 1957, but about ten years earlier most of its contents had been removed and sold. Every aspect of the estate is examined and re-created in this volume: its terraced gardens with fountains and pools; the many outbuildings; and Tiffany’s life there. The interior decoration of Laurelton Hall, a particular focus of the book, is represented by both numerous period photographs and newly commissioned color photography of surviving artworks and salvaged architectural components from the estate. For all who admire Tiffany and his work, this book presents a unique portrait of his remarkable home.
Customer Reviews:
Louis Comfort Tiffany's Laurelton Hall.......2007-01-19
This is an excellent and scholarly book filled with incredible photos and descriptions of LCT's home, Laurelton Hall. The author has written a series of fine chapters that look at all aspects of this magnificent residence. What the fire at Laurelton destroyed, this book restores with words and photos. For all of you who love Tiffany's artistry, this book is not to be missed!
Tiffany Book.......2007-01-16
Nicely put together and informative for those who are seriously interested in the life and works of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Book Description
Repairing Old and Historic Windows Windows are a common problem in nearly every rehabilitation projectshould they be repaired or must they be replaced? What can be done to repair a water-damaged sill? Can a window be retrofitted with storm windows? How can windows be replaced while still maintaining their historical integrity? Repairing Old and Historic Windows explores these questions and provides detailed information on how to go about refurbishing windows within current preservation standards. Written for homeowners, architects, builders, engineers, and preservationists, Repairing Old and Historic Windows is the complete and authoritative guide to window maintenance and repair. Chapters focus on window problems, including deterioration, weather damage, paint problems, and condensation; window maintenance, including cleaning, weatherstripping, and installing shutters; and window replacement, including design, fabrication, and installation. Some 140 photographs and illustrations, many of which are technical drawings, an extensive glossary of window refurbishing terms, and a suggested reading list provide further ideas and guidance for undertaking the repair of old and historic windows. The complete primer on window repair and maintenance.
Book Description
Color has always played an important role in interior design, from the earth-toned halls of ancient Cretan palaces to the bright surfaces of modern homes. Yet most people are largely unaware of the way in which color affects their surroundings. In this comprehensive introduction, readers discover the impact that color has on the way they see the world and learn how to effectively use color to beautify their environment.
With a wealth of information and images, the book is divided into three parts: a history of interiors from the perspective of color systems, an easy-to-understand outline of color theory and its underlying science, and a practical guide to using color to enhance interior settings and create specific effects. From James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room in Washington D.C., to Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye in provincial France, to a Prairie-style interior by Frank Lloyd Wright, Ethel Rompilla shows how color creates the world in which we live. This lavishly illustrated volume is an indispensable and accessible guide for the professional and amateur decorator alike. AUTHOR BIO: Ethel Rompilla is a professor of color theory at the New York School of Interior Design in Manhattan, as well as a highly regarded interior designer. She lives in New York City. The New York School of Interior Design is an accredited school of interior design offering programs leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees in interior design. The school is located in New York City.
Customer Reviews:
Very nice, but more of a textbook........2007-10-01
This book has some lovely interiors and color combination ideas, but it's more of a textbook and has many pages devoted to color spectrum charts and the science of color. I read about it in a well-known home decorating magazine which described it as one of the best books for decorating with color, but I really found it a little too technical. If you are a design student, it would probably be more appropriate.
A good beginner's handbook.......2006-04-04
This book is good for those who have limited background in color theory and want a concise history of color. Most of the book discusses color from cave to modern and contemporary periods culminating with applications to decorating. The color plates are good examples of the content being presented. Certainly a good handbook for a beginner.
Product Description
GREAT HOUSES OF NEW YORK, 1880-1930 presents the stories of 43 most elegant houses built in New York. With over 300 archival photographs and floor plans and a decade of research, Michael Kathrens profiles New York houses known only for their magisterial presence on the city s most elegant boulevards, some of which still exist today. IN the book the lavish rooms are brought to life again polished black and white columns reflect in the marble floor of a grand entryway, Dutch master paintings line damask walls in the second floor reception room, a crystal chandelier softly lights a dining rooms whose boiserie glows with paintings by Boucher evoking the elegant private life that has become a trademark of the wealthy New Yorker.
Customer Reviews:
Architectural Joy.......2007-08-16
A fascinating book, covering the now mostly demolished great homes of New York, during the extraordinary flowering of wealth and enterprise in the late C19th.
All the famous families appear together with Edith Wharton style stories of scandal and excess...
The book boasts beautiful photographs, attractively reproduced, and fascinating floor plans.
Great Houses is exceptionally well written and a joy to the eye. One for architecture enthusiasts everywhere!
awesome book.......2006-06-23
A must read for design, architecture and house enthusiasts. Well written and althought all pictures are in black and white they are fabulous. An easy read full of great backgound and rich in history.
Gilded Age New York.......2005-07-15
I have been waiting for a book like this for some time, and this one does not disappoint. It is well researched with wonderful historic black and white photos. The book is of the finest quality and the text is well put together. This is such an interesting subject and the authors are very thorough in their research, the book really feels complete. I highly recommend it to anyone with any interest in wonderful Gilded Age residental architecture or just an interest in the rich history of this great city. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed in this book and I commend the authors on doing such a fine job on a most worthy subject. Thank you.
Book Description
Take a journey up the Hudson River to see how some of the wealthiest familiesRoosevelts, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Astorscreated country retreats in the most spectacular of locations. An introduction by architect and historian Michael Dwyer provides insight into the beauty and importance of the houses.
Customer Reviews:
review.......2007-01-04
Beautifully photographed, well written. Will be appreciated by those who have visited these houses as well as those who enjoy fine architecture and interesting history.
Makes you want to go see them for yourself!.......2006-07-04
If you love historical architecture, and the histories of old homes, then you shouldn't miss this book. The photographs alone make this a book worth owning, but the author has also included well written, indepth, and informative stories about these incrediable homes, their builders, owners and subsiquent owners. Reading this book has encouraged me to plan a trip to visit to the Hudson River Valley to see these beautiful places for myself.
Mansions For Miles.......2005-05-19
This is a nice overview of the best of the estates along the Hudson. The book give a nice short history on the houses presented and the photos are nice, though the pictures could be more crisp. Having said that, I did enjoy the book and was just amazed at the variety in the styles of the houses from period to period; really a very informative book. If you are interested in this sort of thing, then you will certainly be pleased with this book, though the $50.00 price tag is a bit daunting.
Hudson River Mansions.......2002-04-27
This book is fantasic! I highly recommend it. It has loads of spectacular color photographs, and the mansions are breath taking. Being someone who has never visisted the area, this book really makes me consider a trip to New York, if only to see these mansions.
Book Description
A rediscovered 1930s notebook charts the construction of the Empire State Building. Constructed in eleven months, the 1250-foot Empire State Building, the world's tallest skyscraper from 1931 to 1971, was a marvel of modern engineering. The frame rose more than a story a day; no comparable building since has matched that rate of ascent. The construction of the Empire State Building was orchestrated by general contractors Starrett Brothers and Eken, premier "skyline builders" of the 1920s. They scheduled the delivery of materials and the construction and recorded daily the number of workers by trade. Compiled from these records, an in-house notebook documented the construction process. Meticulously typed on graph paper and illustrated with construction photographs, this unique document combines a professional specificity of detail with a charming rhapsody to the firm's crowning achievement.
Customer Reviews:
The "Dead Sea Scrolls" of the Empire State Building........2000-08-11
This is actually three stories in one. First, the discovery of a personal notebook documenting the construction of the ESB by an involved, but unknown author. Meticuously typed, with photographs, the manuscript was obviously a labor of love. Second, the written manuscript provides details of the construction which are engrossing, and the notebook's photos show the processes of constuction - not what was done but how they did it. Finally, the first 40+ pages provide a great summary of the ESB's history for the uninitiated. One of the most intriguing aspects of this book are the full-page photocopies of the notebook's actual pages, which only add to the historical sense and mystique of the manuscript. A great gift for the "construction-type" in your life, which is how I got mine...after numerous hints.
Astonishing insight in the building process of this landmark.......2000-06-19
Based on actual records the construction company kept during the building process, this book gives an insight of how such an astonishing effort was completed. The whole process of buying the spot, finding an architect(!), tearing down the existing building, design, and building the Empire State took only 22 months. It's an outstanding example of how the management of a very complex project can be done and a must read for everyone in the software industry ;-). Fun to browse through yourself, a sure hit as a gift to anyone interested or working in architecture, construction or project management.
Book Description
This book is the middle volume of a three-part work devoted to the evolution of New York's architecture and urbanism in the Metropolitan Era, the three-quarters of a century from the Civil War's conclusion through the depression of the 1930s.
Customer Reviews:
Beautifully documents buildings of the turn-of-the-century.......2001-11-18
This is an excellent treatment of New York architecture, 1890-1915, divided into chapters by building type. It's substantially thinner than Robert Stern's other books in this series (New York 1880, New York 1930, New York 1960), but there's enough meat here that the reader feels the topic has been fully covered. The book has a particularly attractive page format, with numerous photos that beautifully document the era (averaging approximately one per page). There are also roughly 60 floor plans, although most page space is used for text.
The original and the still the best!.......2000-01-04
This is a groundbreaking work that unearthed the contemporaneous understanding of events that, because of the advent of modernism, was never recorded in books. It has paved the way for more specialized studies, but its breadth of learning and expertise has never been surpassed.
Indispensable........1999-08-09
The twentieth-century items by which New York City is usually synechdocally identified, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center and what have you, are arguably just later iconic ornaments set atop the massive base formed during the earlier period covered in this book. The character New York has today was really in good part formed by the turn of the last century, by the structures and systems here presented. Gimlet-eyed Robert Stern and his apparently omnivorous assistants, Gilmartin and Massengale, have sorted, digested and made available enormous amounts of information. _New York 1900_ is an indispensable starting point for architects, historians, preservationists and others serious about understanding the City of the era.
Flat and uninspiring history of a great city........1999-05-19
The book attempts to be more that an architectural history and fails miserably. They tried to use architecture as a way of intertwining the political and social history of the city. Needless to say, this type of scope is best in the capable hands of Robert Caro. In addition to the wooden text, the photographs, while rare, are uninspiring. The publisher produced a well-bounded book, so the most useful place for it would be on a coffee table.
invaluable for anyone interesting in NYC architecture.......1998-07-19
This work (the first in a projected pentology on New York architecture in 1876, 1900, 1930, 1960 and 2000) is a dead-on account of NYC high-style architecture from 1890-1915. A must have.
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General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism from the Bicentennial to the Millennium (New York)
Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels
Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
