Andrew S. Dolkart

Morningside Heights, the institutional heart of New York City, is also one of the city's most architecturally distinguished neighborhoods. In this extensively illustrated book, Andrew S. Dolkart explores the architecturally varied complexes built by Columbia College, St. Luke's Hospital, and other organizations. He traces the successes and failures of each building project, as trustees and supporters struggled to raise funds in order to construct great campuses in a city where residents were not always generous in their support of such endeavors. Dolkart also traces the history of the surrounding residential neighborhood, providing the first comprehensive analysis of the design and construction the early-twentieth-century speculative apartment houses that typify so many New York neighborhoods.… (más)

Ironically, the more that I give tours of contemporary architecture in New York City, the more I purchase books on historical architecture and neighborhoods in the city. These books provide a strong historical background for the tours, in which I examine recent architecture but try to be ground them in history and context. One such tour focuses on the residential projects in Tribeca, Hudson Square, and the West Village, many on blocks formerly devoted to industrial and commercial uses. Recently I found this book in the rare book room at the Strand. It was published by a local committee in 1989 as a way of documenting the area's architecture and arguing for its preservation through the creation of a Tribeca landmark district. A few years later the Landmarks Preservation Commission created four smaller districts, each corresponding to the variety of primarily 19th-century architecture and differing uses across Tribeca. Dolkart, who once worked at LPC and teaches historic preservation at Columbia University, contributed the text that covers, over the course of a few short chapters, the area from its "rural beginnings" to the "advent of tall buildings and lofts" at the turn of the 20th century. It's a solid overview that highlights numerous important buildings, many of them still standing — due in part to this book. I only wish the book were longer and delved deeper into what is fittingly one of New York's most popular neighborhoods.… (más)

This was quite delightful.

I picked it up after a visit to the Tenement Museum on the lower East Side of Manhattan. The visit was great (if you're in NY you should definitely make the time to go). The book is equally great. It is of course really a history of immigration, especially of poor immigrants, into New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But it's also a history of building in NY at this time, especially in poor areas, and of social changes affecting what is considered to be adequate housing. It's all held together by reference to this particular building at 97 Orchard Street as it is built and changes over the years.

It's an easy read; short, concisely written, lots of pictures and illustrations. But also full of good information including vignettes of the people who lived in this particular building. Well worth reading if you enjoy architecture, social history, or maybe just seeing what life was like for your grandparents.… (más)