The Architecture of New York City: Histories and Views of Important Structures, Sites, and Symbols

I Had Professor Reynolds in college years ago for an architecture of NY course and we used this as our text book along with walking tours. Excellent in Kindle form to take on tours of NYC. You will never look at a NYC bldg the same.

Reynolds has created the kind of book that in my younger days- before arthritis and side effects from blood pressure medications had a chance to take their toll- I would have gladly read at leisure a little bit at a time to save it for as long as possible. My background is in biology and history, but I have been fascinated by architecture and building things since my childhood.After a brief historical sketch of New York’s earliest, i.e., Dutch architecture the book is well organized by building categories- housing, theaters, churches etcetera. You can see both the forest and the trees rather than getting lost in a street-by-street tour. Guidebooks like this too often read like laundry lists of facts and figures that can dehumanize a subject like this and turn the book into a textbook. But based on the little bit I have been able to read Reynolds’ hasn’t created a typical guide book. It’s very readable.The book’s one serious drawback is, as other readers have commented, its lack of illustrations, and its lack of color illustrations really emphasizes this one shortcoming. I realize that photos showing the construction and early history of an awful lot of NY buildings were done with primitive technology and it’s sad that so many early buildings have been lost without us having an adequate photographic record of them. That can’t be helped. But, I would have really liked for this book to have more photographs of the buildings that are still around- and which people like me will never be able to see in person.

Very nice book with a lot of useful information. The book has an interesting historical sight and id explores several building styles in NYC.