One Thousand New York Buildings [Hardcover]

Bill Harris (Author), Jorg Brockmann (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 2002

From skyscrapers to parking structures, from the Stock Exchange to the historic townhouses of Harlem, the buildings of New York are as diverse as its culture. The City estimates that there are 90,000 buildings within the five boroughs, ranging from single-story warehouses to mighty skyscrapers. Now, for the first time, 1,000 of these buildings, widely varied in style-from landmarks to architectural oddities to humble utilitarian structures-are artfully photographed and beautifully celebrated. Photographer Jorg Brockmann has captured the power and personal essence of each building, providing a fresh, close-up view of New York unlike any other.

Essential information about each building, along with neighborhood maps and useful sidebars, make this the last word on New York structures large and small. It's a feast for lovers of architecture and of great photography, as well as devotees of the most vibrant and resilient city in the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clearly modeled on Eugene Atget's meticulous documentation of Parisian architecture high and low, former New York Times photographer Jorg Brockmann's One Thousand New York Buildings captures, if not always from ideal angles, everything from the Little Church Around the Corner (on E. 29th St.) to the Russian Tea Room, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (at the New York Botanical Garden) and the Jamaica Business Resource Center in Queens. Uptown apartment buildings such as the Dakota and 1001 Fifth Avenue share covers with the Police Building Apartments downtown and Crotona Terrace in the Bronx. Every borough is represented in more than 1,000 four-to-a-page b&w photos and short descriptions of each building by Bill Harris, author of 17 books about New York, including a history of the Plaza Hotel.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Imposing the unexplained and presumably arbitrary limit of 1000 buildings, New York City photographer Brockmann has selected, with a discerning eye, buildings distinguished by their opulence, historical significance, prominence, size, or architectural merit. He treats the five boroughs with relative evenness, although northern Manhattan is seriously underrepresented. What this volume lacks in comprehensiveness, however-and for that the AIA Guide to New York City is without peer-it compensates for with an elegant "portrait" (Brockmann's term) of every building. Each photograph reveals an essential aspect of the building through a keen sense of the descriptive capabilities of natural light. The composition of the pages is simple and direct, with usually six photographs on one page and the corresponding text on the opposite. The commentary by Harris (The Sidewalks of New York) is informative and without jargon, although it tends to editorialize, and there are also occasional editorial errors, such as an apparent difficulty in alphabetizing the Ms in an otherwise useful index. Linked to the text, the maps are excellent and adequately scaled. Recommended for all collections that include documentation of New York's architecture.
Paul Glassman, New York Sch. of Interior Design Lib.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (May 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157912237X
• ISBN-13: 978-1579122379
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 7.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Look At The Wonder Of NYC Buildings & Architecture!, September 20, 2002

By 

S. Henkels (Devon, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Thousand New York Buildings (Hardcover)

A great value, and amazing overview of 1,000 buildings from the world's leading architectural center! Including the greatest (Empire State, Chrysler, Woolworth...) to hundreds of smaller gems all over the five boroughs like St Nicholas Cathedral, the Hong Kong Bank Building, Trinity Church, 2 White Street, on and on...Yes, the destroyed World Trade Center is also included.And Some nice commentary.A can't miss book! My only (very minor) criticisms are (1) All the photos are black and white (color would probably too costly), and (2) some structures are only shown by a facade or small ornament...In any event, a real treasure!!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As solid and beautiful as the buildings they describe, May 18, 2006

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Thousand New York Buildings (Hardcover)

Every once in a while I'll walk down a street of my busy city and spot a building that I'd never seen before, or, if I had seen it, never paid it much mind. But something about it--its age or its architecture--tells me that there's a story to be told about it. Judith Dupre, Bill Harris, and photographer Jorg Brockmann in their monumental book, "One Thousand New York Buildings", fill in the gaps left behind in the AIA books.

There are hundreds of buildings that, for whatever reason, have escaped landmark status and/or the attention of New Yorkers. Although "One Thousand New York Buildings" does discuss the familiar structures, like the Empire State Building, the Woolworth Building, and Grand Central Station, it also devotes equal time to those that have been ignored or overlooked. What are those tiny, Colonial style houses on Harrison and Greenwich Streets? How old is that building at 2 White Street? Who lived in those somber buildings at 130-132 MacDougal Street? "One Thousand New York Buildings" answers these and hundreds of other questions. In this sense, this book is much like "New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan's Significant Buidlings and Landmarks" by Christopher Gray and Suzanne Braley, in as much as it pays equal tribute to the famous and not so famous structures.

One last note, this is a solidly put together book. The binding is sturdy, the paper thick and glossy, and the photos are clear and intriguing. It as well constructed as the buildings they pay homage to.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive to say the least, December 16, 2005

By 

Shannon Deason (Houston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Thousand New York Buildings (Hardcover)

This book is fascinating, New York City is so blessed with amazing buildings, and this book is about as thorough as you can get. I found the synopsis of each building quite interesting, I mean the author could not exactly go indepth on each building, but he gave just enough for you to understand the significance in its inclusion. The B&W photos are nice and I appreciate that every building covered comes with requisite photo, that is so important in books of this type, no matter how well a building is discribed it just can rarely compare with an actual image. I recommend this book to anyone with any interst in New York or just fine buildings.