Building the Skyline

Building the Skyline
Author: Jason M. Barr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2016-05-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199344388

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.

Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934

Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934
Author: Thomas Leslie
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2013-05-15
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0252094794

A detailed tour, inside and out, of Chicago's distinctive towers from an earlier age For more than a century, Chicago's skyline has included some of the world's most distinctive and inspiring buildings. This history of the Windy City's skyscrapers begins in the key period of reconstruction after the Great Fire of 1871 and concludes in 1934 with the onset of the Great Depression, which brought architectural progress to a standstill. During this time, such iconic landmarks as the Chicago Tribune Tower, the Wrigley Building, the Marshall Field and Company Building, the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Palmolive Building, the Masonic Temple, the City Opera, Merchandise Mart, and many others rose to impressive new heights, thanks to innovations in building methods and materials. Solid, earthbound edifices of iron, brick, and stone made way for towers of steel and plate glass, imparting a striking new look to Chicago's growing urban landscape. Thomas Leslie reveals the daily struggles, technical breakthroughs, and negotiations that produced these magnificent buildings. He also considers how the city's infamous political climate contributed to its architecture, as building and zoning codes were often disputed by shifting networks of rivals, labor unions, professional organizations, and municipal bodies. Featuring more than a hundred photographs and illustrations of the city's physically impressive and beautifully diverse architecture, Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871–1934 highlights an exceptionally dynamic, energetic period of architectural progress in Chicago.

The Black Skyscraper

The Black Skyscraper
Author: Adrienne Brown
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2017-11-15
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1421423839

A highly interdisciplinary work, The Black Skyscraper reclaims the influence of race on modern architectural design as well as the less-well-understood effects these designs had on the experience and perception of race.

A History of New York in 27 Buildings

A History of New York in 27 Buildings
Author: Sam Roberts
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 162040981X

From the urban affairs correspondent of the New York Times--the story of a city through twenty-seven structures that define it. As New York is poised to celebrate its four hundredth anniversary, New York Times correspondent Sam Roberts tells the story of the city through bricks, glass, wood, and mortar, revealing why and how it evolved into the nation's biggest and most influential. From the seven hundred thousand or so buildings in New York, Roberts selects twenty-seven that, in the past four centuries, have been the most emblematic of the city's economic, social, and political evolution. He describes not only the buildings and how they came to be, but also their enduring impact on the city and its people and how the consequences of the construction often reverberated around the world. A few structures, such as the Empire State Building, are architectural icons, but Roberts goes beyond the familiar with intriguing stories of the personalities and exploits behind the unrivaled skyscraper's construction. Some stretch the definition of buildings, to include the city's oldest bridge and the landmark Coney Island Boardwalk. Others offer surprises: where the United Nations General Assembly first met; a hidden hub of global internet traffic; a nondescript factory that produced billions of dollars of currency in the poorest neighborhood in the country; and the buildings that triggered the Depression and launched the New Deal. With his deep knowledge of the city and penchant for fascinating facts, Roberts brings to light the brilliant architecture, remarkable history, and bright future of the greatest city in the world.

New York Skyscrapers

New York Skyscrapers
Author: Dirk Stichweh
Publisher: Prestel Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9783791340548

This definitive guide to the world's most vertical city charts the history and engineering genius that has made Manhattan synonymous with skyscrapers. New York City is home to more skyscrapers than any other city in the world. Iconic in stature, they tell the story of the city's commercial and architectural history. The buildings pictured here stretch from the sidewalks to the sky, from the East River to the Hudson, from Battery Park to the far reaches of Central Park. Along with structures that are familiar to readers such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler and Woolworth buildings, there are other less recognizable but nonetheless important structures that have become a part of New Yorkers' daily lives. Each chapter focuses on an area of Manhattan, and opens with numbered maps showing the exact locations of the featured buildings. In a series of two to four page spreads, fullpage photographs of the skyscrapers are accompanied by additional illustrations, historical insights, architectural details, and interesting facts about their construction and evolution. An essay on the collective history of the city's skyscrapers rounds out this compilation of nearly 85 examples of New York City's most magnificent feature--its far-reaching, everchanging skyline. AUTHOR: DIRK STICHWEH is an avid New York fan and has been engaged in the study of skyscrapers for many years. He lives in Bremen, Germany. JÖRG MACHIRUS is a photographer based in Bremen, Germany. SCOTT MURPHY is a photographer based in New York.

Skyscraper

Skyscraper
Author: Benjamin Flowers
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2012-02-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812202600

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Nowhere in the world is there a greater concentration of significant skyscrapers than in New York City. And though this iconographic American building style has roots in Chicago, New York is where it has grown into such a powerful reflection of American commerce and culture. In Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century, Benjamin Flowers explores the role of culture and ideology in shaping the construction of skyscrapers and the way wealth and power have operated to reshape the urban landscape. Flowers narrates this modern tale by closely examining the creation and reception of three significant sites: the Empire State Building, the Seagram Building, and the World Trade Center. He demonstrates how architects and their clients employed a diverse range of modernist styles to engage with and influence broader cultural themes in American society: immigration, the Cold War, and the rise of American global capitalism. Skyscraper explores the various wider meanings associated with this architectural form as well as contemporary reactions to it across the critical spectrum. Employing a broad array of archival sources, such as corporate records, architects' papers, newspaper ads, and political cartoons, Flowers examines the personal, political, cultural, and economic agendas that motivate architects and their clients to build ever higher. He depicts the American saga of commerce, wealth, and power in the twentieth century through their most visible symbol, the skyscraper.

Skylines of New York

Skylines of New York
Author: Richard Berenholtz
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-09-26
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 0789341484

Acclaimed photographer Richard Berenholtz's brilliant portfolio of New York City skyline photographs. For thirty-five years, best-selling photographer Richard Berenholtz has captured the iconic skylines of New York and all of its buildings and bridges. Skylines of New York wonderfully showcases the city that never sleeps in grand style with this collection of 75 breathtaking skyline images. From the tip of Lower Manhattan, Battery Park, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park and the Hudson River--and dozens of locations in between--every well-known NYC site is featured here. To really bring the Big Apple home, some of the city's most memorable skyline panoramas are featured on gatefold pages that open to two-and-a-half feet wide. Designed in a handsome yet affordable package, Skylines of New York is the perfect gift for all who love New York.

How to Build a Skyscraper

How to Build a Skyscraper
Author: John Hill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2017
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9781770859609

"45 skyscrapers are examined for their pioneering technology, sustainability, and other characteristics that set them apart. Each building is presented with a large photograph with cross-section drawings plus fact boxes listing location, year of completion, height, stories, primary functions, owner/developer, architect, structural engineer, and construction firm. The buildings examined are distributed over the world's most developed regions of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia."--

Skyscraper Dreams

Skyscraper Dreams
Author: Tom Shachtman
Publisher: Dissertation.com
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000-12
Genre: Family corporations
ISBN: 9780595163601

"Fascinating history, showing how the city has been molded by the edifice complexes of risk-takers. The stuff of grand comedy." -Business Week

Skylines

Skylines
Author: M. Hill Goodspeed
Publisher: Universe Publishing(NY)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Cities and towns
ISBN: 9780883635278

With the completion of the world's first skyscraper in Chicago in 1885, the modern city skyline was born. A result of American technology and ingenuity, the 180-foot steel-framed Home Insurance Building rose above the city, and Americans have been reaching higher ever since. From Boston, steeped in history, to Las Vegas, a modern mirage in the desert, to Honolulu, America's paradise, each city has its own story. 'Skylines' takes us cross country and back in time to witness the steady growth of our great nation-city by city. For even the most well-seasoned air traveller, a city emerging from beneath the clouds is a compelling sight. Though the perspective is different for those arriving in cars, trains, on bicycles, or on foot, the first view of a city is always memorable. Throughout history, cartographers and explorers, photographer and artists have produced meticulous panoramas of urban areas-from the decks of ships, aloft in hot-air balloons, or perched on the side of a high hill. This sumptuous volume showcases the skylines of 48 great American cities with the spectacular panoramic photographs of Blakeway World-wide Panoramas.James Blakeway and Chris Gjevre have travelled the world photographing cities and other major attractions, waiting for the perfect time to take to the skies and capture each subject at its best. Complementing these images are historical photographs and bird's-eye-view maps reflecting each city's distinct character. The book completes its spectacular tour with a well-travelled historian guiding the reader through each city, offering atmospheric written portraits to accompany the antique photos and stunning Blakeway panoramas.