The Building of Manhattan (Dover Architecture) [Paperback]

Donald A. Mackay (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Dover Architecture | Publication Date: April 21, 2010

Meticulously accurate line drawings and fascinating text trace Manhattan's growth from a tiny Dutch outpost to the commercial, financial, and cultural heart of the world. This book explains construction above and below ground, including excavating subway lines and building bridges and skyscrapers. Hundreds of illustrations reveal intricate details of construction techniques.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (April 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486473171
• ISBN-13: 978-0486473178
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Manhattan's Best Construction Tour, July 21, 2001

By 

schackbo "schackbo" (Granby, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Building of Manhattan (Paperback)

Mr. MacKay has a winner on his hands with this illustrated narrative of how Manhattan was constructed from the ground up. I have purchased this book many times as gifts for friends. It makes a great coffee table book, often spurring conversation. Packed with interesting facts and technical data (made easy to understand for us novices) the book is a must for any one who has a keen interest in the construction development of Manhattan Island. I grew up across the river from Manhattan and worked in the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center. My only regret is that the book is now out of print.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Educational, Original and Enjoyable!, April 22, 2011

By 

Pierre Gauthier (Montréal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Building of Manhattan (Dover Architecture) (Paperback)

This work is truly unique thanks to the author's own detailed black and white drawings. Among these, all dealing with contemporary topics are clearly based on careful in situ observations.

In terms of contents, the reader is actually offered two books for the price of one. The first 50 pages present an overview of Manhattan's architectural and urban development history, all the way since New Amsterdam. The final 100 pages or so deal with seldom covered technical aspects of building: excavation, foundations, crane assembly and dismounting, concrete and steel construction, infrastructure such as gas and phone lines or sewers and even unions.

Though a reprint of a 1988 work, this book is still very worthwhile although it is sad of course to be reminded about the `strength' of the Twin Towers and the pride they inspired.

This work is accessible to a young public but, chock full of information, it is certainly of great interest to adults as well, including architecture or planning specialists.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biography - died 12/17/2005, June 29, 2006

By 

Insight (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Building of Manhattan (Paperback)

Donald A. Mackay, an artist and illustrator best known for drawing the evolution of Manhattan, died on Dec. 17 in Frederick, Md., where he retired in 1993. He was 91 and formerly lived in Ossining, N.Y.

The cause was heart disease, his family said.

Mr. Mackay crowned a long career in 1987 with the book "The Building of Manhattan" (Harper & Row). It was a meticulous evocation, in text and drawings and in great detail, of how Manhattan was built from the ground up.

His story progresses from the mastodons, to the Paleo-Indians of about 7,000 years ago, then to the Algonquin-speaking inhabitants of the island when the first Europeans arrived to found New Amsterdam. Eventually it shows how structures like subways and ever-higher buildings gave Manhattan its modern shape.

Chapters detail the work of architects, construction methods and vital city services.

Mr. Mackay was a commercial artist in the 1950's when the excavation of a bank site on Wall Street piqued his interest. He followed its progress in his sketchbook and discovered a new avocation.

"I am a goofer-offer," he told The New York Times in 1988, "and used to make thumbnail sketches of construction work going on nearby." As it happened, he had also been catching up with his forebears, who, he said, had arrived in the city in the 1640's. The two interests merged in the early 80's and, with a lot more research, produced a book.

Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic, called "The Building of Manhattan" a "highly impressive primer for adults, a book that traces the history of building and construction in Manhattan with clear, reasoned good sense." He termed the sections on the construction of the Flatiron and Woolworth buildings and contemporary skyscrapers "better than any textbook."

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Donald Alexander Mackay grew up in Boston and attended the Massachusetts College of Art. He got a designer's job in the plastics division of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company but was laid off during the Depression.

Serving in the Army during World War II, he wound up in Europe and, after a year's studies in Biarritz, France, went to work for an art studio in Greenwich Village. He met and married a fellow artist, Stella DaCosta, with whom he went to Mexico to study graphics with Alfredo Zalce; later he also studied lithography and etching at Pratt Institute.

Mr. Mackay worked as a freelancer, contributing drawings to a number of publications and illustrating children's books. His own artwork included a series on space flight, nature subjects and illustrations of the White House and the Metropolitan Opera House.

Mr. Mackay's wife died in 2004. He is survived by their sons, John, of Tarrytown, N.Y., and Neil, of Frederick; and four grandchildren.