This book is beautifully conceived. The photographer, James Rudnick, had the foresight and the love for these icons of New York City to preserve them photographically for generations to come.
The design is elegant. The text is interesting and important.
A great book.

Thomas Mellins provides the text for Gotham Restored: The Preservation Of Monumental New York, an impressive survey of photographer James Rudnick's works on New York. Rudnick's images gave him a reputation as a documentary photographer, and his projects following landmark buildings and structures in New York provide fine shots from 'before' and 'after' their reconstruction. New Yorkers in particular will find this packed with memories and familiar images.

This beautifully designed book presents monumental icons in a way that is both insightful and inspirational. The subject matter in this work is so very familiar (the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Station and the NY Public Library) that it would have been temptingly easy to trivialize and display these structures as they are frequently seen in glossy calendars and travel books. In contrast, Rudnick's exquisite work transcends these more commonly seen depictions. His intimate knowledge of, and obvious reverence for, the structures allows him to share with the reader unique perspectives that revitalize our appreciation for these great national treasures. The book celebrates the exhaustive and impressive work that the restorations entailed and the presence of the various craftspeople in the shots allows one to appreciate the enormous scale of the projects. Those who spend time with this book will never look upon these colossal structures in quite the same way again.

When people talk about New York's Golden Age, they're usually referring to the late 1800s, but I would argue that New York's true Golden Age was the 1920s. With over 800 pages, this tome is difficult to handle, but nevertheless, it covers New York at its peak of glory, and is the best of Robert Stern's books about New York architecture (e.g., New York 1880, New York 1900, New York 1960). Especially noteworthy are the beautiful b&w photos, averaging more than one per page. There are also approximately 40 floor plans, although most page space is given over to text. The authors give attention to both exteriors and interiors of the era's buildings. Each chapter covers a specific type of building, with a special emphasis on Rockefeller Center, the 1939 World's Fair, 57th Street, and the works of architects Kahn, Walker, and Hood.

This is an encyclopedic description of New York as I remember it from my student years. The numerous neat clean photographs and drawings present an idealized city. But what is additionally fascinating are the rich background histories that illustrate the social and economic complexity of Gotham. I enjoy this book at two levels: one, as a valuable artistic document, two, as an encapsulation of the memories and fantasies of my youth. I bought a sport coat at Finchleys; I lived in the Greenpoint Housing Project; I wanted to work or live in those buildings; I wanted to draw like those architects and engineers. I loved these last embodiments of Art Deco construction and the grand civic projects.

This history presents New York from the viewpoint of the upper crust and the insulated, the planning was grand and well funded. The slums, the dirt, the menace of some streets and the ethnic tapestry are ignored. Just as memory tends to purge the unpleasent, so does this book, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.

This photographic survey of the Seine examines the structures and spaces of Paris, focussing on the architectural styles of the city and examining both old and new sites. Changing Paris is an artistic rendering of Paris architecture which could also have been featured in our 'art' section but deserves mention here also as a special documentary of modern Paris.

Our Town: Images and Stories from the Museum of the City of New York presents--in the highest quality four-color and duotone reproductions--an amazing range of New York City images, from urban scene paintings, to the renowned Stettheimer Dollhouse, to the phenomenal 20th c. photography of such artists as Berenice Abbott and Edward Steichen. The essays capture glimpses of the City and its history from the widest range of noted authors--Robert A.M. Stern, Oscar Hijuelos, Hilton Als, Louis Auchincloss, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, etc. Don't miss it!

A great book for the coffee table or the library. Concise desriptions of built projects as well as conceptual ideas for the City of New York. Focuses on individual neighborhoods as well as the city as a whole.

First of all, the book is just too darned big to handle comfortably. With over 1300 pages, I don't know whether to congratulate the authors on their thoroughness or criticize them for having no sense of self-restraint. This tome could have been divided into three separate volumes, and each would have been a substantial book in itself.

The epic length of the book allows the authors to go into incredible detail. The book is divided into chapters primarily by neighborhood. There are also chapters devoted to the topic of interior decoration, the 1964-65 World's Fair, "Beyond the Boroughs," "Historic Preservation," and "New York and the Arts." The numerous b&w photographs, averaging more than one per page, are stunning.

A chapter titled "Death by Development" walks the reader through the ideology of the era that led to public housing monstrosities, as well as middle-class housing of dubious aesthetic and structural integrity. This same chapter discusses proposals for air-raid shelters, some of which would have had expanses large enough to hold a nine-story building, as well as the 1945 incident in which a US military plane crashed into the Empire State Building. The same chapter shifts to transportation issues, and presents a 1951 proposal for an unconventional "people mover" under 42nd Street, and the beginning of construction in 1972 on the Second Avenue subway (which perhaps, will open sometime in my lifetime). All this in just one of seventeen chapters - gives you some idea of the expansiveness and thoroughness of this book.

Many readers will take special note of the eight pages devoted to the World Trade Center. This book was written before "9-11," and the book's coverage of the WTC is haunting, to say the least.

From our perspective, the era in question (1945-1976) constitutes the "dark ages" of urban planning and architecture. Yet, the beautiful period photographs and accompanying text immerse the reader in the aesthetic mentality of the era. This book is a masterpiece, and maybe later in the day I'll find the strength to move this eight pound book from my table to my desk.

which gets to the core of what metropolitan cities, and specifically New York, are all about. Politics, codes, social agendas, design, and chance mix, struggle and interchange to become Architecture, which in return can be read as the memory and the conscious of the city. Given the sheer amount of information provided by this book, it's almost stunning how easily it reads. Countless anecdotes amuse and surprise through this enormous journey and keep the reader's interest focused and a smile on his face.

This period was covered in New York 1900, which provided background material from 1876 and before. Although New York 1880 is longer than New York 1900, it seemed to me to be a padding of what had already been said in a more succinct and more readable way in the first book of the series (NY 1900).As for the length, New York 1880 badly needs an editor.

With over 1100 pages, this book was so difficult to handle physically, that it hampered my enjoyment of this epic-length volume. On the other hand, the book is a bargain in terms of cents per page! Photos average more than one per page; however, the quality of photographic reproduction is frequently very disappointing (even when compared to Stern's 'New York 1900,' which also uses very old photographs). There are approximately 75 floor plans, with most page space used for the less-than-rivetting text. Chapters are divided by building type. A surprising amount of page space is consumed by illustrations of entries in architectural competitions (Union League Club and Cathedral of St. John the Divine).

While it is too heavy to lug around, NY 1880 is an eye popping journey into New York of 120 or so years ago. There are over 1,200 photographs and 99 pages of footnotes. Anyone interested in seeing what this wonderful city was like a generation before the First World War is strongly urged to grab this book. So much of what this book is about is no longer standing - churches, synagogues, clubs, apartments, etc.

Buy it!! This is the best of the 4 books in the series (NY 1880, NY 1900, NY 1930 and NY 1960) with NY 2000 to come in a few years.