3 minute read
BOOKS
New York by Neighborhood by Andrew Garn New York: Universe Press, $30 234 pages, 438 color illustrations
When planning a building in any part of a great city, most designers seek authoritative information on the site’s history and character. An unusual and lavishly illustrated book (its author is a professional photographer) that takes us to 70 locations in all five New York boroughs—five in Staten Island, seven each in the Bronx and Queens, 19 in Brooklyn, and 32 in Manhattan—is a terrific start. We learn, for example, that Brooklyn's Greenpoint was originally settled by Poles, Russians, and Italians; is known for making glass, pottery, prints, and cast iron; and has quieter streets than its adjacent neighborhoods, and no direct subway stop. The Sailors Snug Harbor section of Staten Island, on the other hand, “offers a window into New York’s 19thcentury maritime history,” with properties that once catered to aged and retired sailors but now accommodate notforprofit art studios, two museums, and a botanical garden. While Fordham Heights in the Bronx, we are told, is a “bustling, working class shopping district” with tattoo parlors, sidewalk racks of $5 and $10 dresses, and “a smattering of layaway furniture shops,” but also the home of “the glorious terracotta fronted Lowe’s Paradise Theater,” now the World Changers Church International. A little gem of a read, it taught me more about New York in 35 minutes than I had learned in 35 years of living there. Fifth Avenue: From Washington Square to Marcus Garvey Park by William J. Hennessey New York: Monacelli, $35 224 pages, 396 illustrations (390 color)
This title is an homage to Fifth Avenue as the most important street in New York (with Broadway, we assume, as runnerup). The author, a pedestrian of the highest order, is architectural historian William J. Hennessey, whose previous books includeWalking Broadway: Thirteen Miles of Architecture and History, also published by Monacelli. For this book, his text is in the formof six richly detailed walking tours that together take us all the way from Greenwich Village in the south to Harlem in the north.
Along the way we pause to admire the Empire State Building, the New York Public Library, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral; stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Bulgari, and BergdorfGoodman; hotels including the St. Regis, the Peninsula, the SherryNetherland, and the Plaza; the iconic University, Metropolitan, Harmonie, and Knickerbocker clubs; and museums galore, from the Met, Jewish, and City of New York to the Frick and the Guggenheim. Architects whose work we admire are featured throughout, starting with Richard Morris Hunt, Stanford White, and James Renwick, moving on to Frank Lloyd Wright, and then all the way up to Rem Koolhaas.
books edited by Stanley Abercrombie
Laurence Carr
Founder of Laurence Carr
What They’ re Reading...
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller New York: Ecco, $10 416 pages
“I travel back to Paris at least four times a year and always buy newly published books at Smith & Son on Rue de Rivoli. It’s an old habit from when I used to live in the City of Lights. One of the staff recommended this book—I love Greek mythology. Having been born and raised in France, in the world of the performing and visual arts, I have a deep respect for storytelling, history, art, and theater. This book puts a new light on an ancient story in a modern context. It explores what it means to be a hero through one’s actions and treatment of others, and the inherent flaws that come with being human. I think a lot about how the work I do as a designer affects others and the Earth. By embracing principles of circular design, we can truly create with wellness in mind—benefitting both human life and the planet—with respect for nature as our guiding light. To that end, we are currently launching season two of my EarthxTV original series, Chez Laurence, where I highlight companies and organizations in the built environment, architecture, furnishings, and design-related industries that have adopted and prioritized circular processes to reduce waste and improve their environmental impact.”
