Customer Reviews

Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History (Dover Architecture)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Architectural historian Andrew Alpern takes the reader through a survey of luxury apartment buildings on Manhattan Island. There are 34 chapters, of which 28 are descriptions of particular buildings, their histories, and their unique features, each illustrated by one or more large b&w photographs. The book includes four floor plans. Buildings discussed include the Majestic, Century, Ansonia, London Terrace, Beresford, Osborne, and Alwyn Court. There are also six chapters dealing with more general topics: British 'antecedents of American apartments,' famous courtyard buildings, office-to-residence conversions, classic buildings of Fifth Avenue, double-height studios for artists, and changing fashions in floor plans.

There is substantial overlap with Alpern's earlier book, 'New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments,' although the two books were clearly separately written works. That earlier book is aimed at the reader whose interest is mainly in floor plans, while the reader who is more interested in detailed narrative descriptions might prefer 'Luxury Apartment Houses.'

An interesting overview of the design and evolutions of apartment bulidings in NYC, originally published as the very hard to find 'APARTMENTS FOR THE AFFLUENT.' Cretainly good fun for todays real estate conscious New Yorker with photos, floorplans and even original selling prices of NY's tonier buildings.

Luxury Houses of Manhattan does a good job of explaining how the apartment/condominium/co-op style of living came to be: from Scotland, as far back as the 1400s, no less. Once this background is given, author Andrew Alpern jumps to the New York City of the late 19th-century and explains how single-family living in Manhattan gave way to luxury apartment houses, a change hastened by lower personal income after the 1929 crash, surging property taxes, the scarcity of servants to properly run such an abode, and declining family size.

From there, perhaps a quarter of the way through, I think only a serious student of architecture would be interested.
For page after page the author clinically and thoroughly describes how developers acquired land and hired architects and contracters. While there is a wealth of photos of the exteriors of such buildings (which tend to look alike, at least to me), I doubt that there are a dozen photos of apartment interiors. At the very least, I would have liked a 50/50 balance of such photos, or at least floor plans. I think there are a handful of plans, of which one concerning former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller is fascinating, making the point all the more clear that something of the interiors of these buildings is needed to engage the reader.
Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History

buildings there are until one reads this essential history of some of the greatest buildings in the city.

An interesting overview of the design and evolutions of apartment bulidings in NYC, originally published as the very hard to find 'APARTMENTS FOR THE AFFLUENT.' Cretainly good fun for todays real estate conscious New Yorker with photos, floorplans and even original selling prices of NY's tonier buildings.

The book arrived in a timely fashion and was in perfect condition. I would definitely order from this person again.