Sidewalk Critic, Lewis Mumford's Writings on New York [Paperback]

Robert Wojtowicz (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1568982526 | ISBN-13: 978-1568982526 | Publication Date: September 21, 2000

Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) is still revered as one of America's leading cultural critics and an international authority on architecture and urbanism.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sidewalk Critic opens with two charming autobiographical essays that introduce readers to Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), who was the architectural critic for the New Yorker from 1931 to 1963. He also published more than 20 books on various topics including architecture, literary criticism, technology, and philosophy. Sidewalk Critic is a selection of Mumford's writings, primarily taken from the "Sky Line" column of the New Yorker, which he wrote during the '30s. As a born and bred New Yorker growing up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Mumford offers a wonderful vantage point from which to view the changing city: "It was about 1905 that automobiles were becoming so common that crying 'get a horse' didn't seem so funny anymore."

Maybe it was Mumford's roots in New York that caused him to have rather emotional reactions to new architecture in the city. He attacked the plans for building Radio City in Midtown, criticizing the increase in congestion that another skyscraper was sure to bring: "When the cross-town traffic permanently blocks the downtown traffic ... and when the queues form at the subway stations at five o'clock ... the practical man may finally come down to earth. At present he is still in cloudcuckooland. It was by the cannons of cloudcuckooland that Radio City was designed." In various columns Mumford discussed such well known New York landmarks as the Museum of Modern Art, the Cloisters, and the Triborough Bridge. Throughout the book are attacks on stylistic atrocities, overspending, urban planning, and an occasional congratulations for a job well done. The 272-page book includes 16 pages of black-and-white photos. --Jennifer Cohen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Time and the impatience of our culture have conspired to leave Lewis Mumford as someone we dimly recognize but probably haven't read. By gathering some of the best of Mumford's "The Sky Line" columns from The New Yorker of the Thirties, editor Wojtowicz does readers of our era a great service. Mumford was best known as an architectural critic, but this collection shows him as an urban aesthetician at his best when writing as an analyst of the values, life, and political culture of New York City. Today, his ridicule or praise of a strip of brick or his dissection of window placement in a massive wall may be of little consequence, but these essays remain valuable because they demonstrate Mumford's ability to find art and precision in many of the city's physical spaces while clarifying the sociological schematic of New York. Wojtowicz's compact biography of Mumford is a fitting prelude to the essays of this very busy writer. Diamonstein is the chair of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center. The third edition of her book includes a section on recently designated landmarks while holding to the format of the 1988 and 1993 editions: a straightforward black-and-white photograph of the building is accompanied by a brief text on its history, purpose, and significance. This book is formal and comprehensive, making it a significant library reference source with particular usefulness in the New York metropolitan area. Both works are recommended for all architecture as well as regional collections.?David Bryant, New Canaan
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Archit.Press (September 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568982526
• ISBN-13: 978-1568982526
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars A shout in the street, July 6, 2011

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S. Smith-Peter (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sidewalk Critic: Lewis Mumford's Writings on New York (Hardcover)

This is a collection of Lewis Mumford's writings on New York architecture in the New Yorker. If it sounds very New York, it is. Mumford has an idea of organic architecture that builds upon the accomplishments of what he calls the Brown Decades around the turn of the century. He disliked Georgian and other older styles being refitted for use in the modern era, as he wanted new forms of architecture to suit new needs.

Beginning with two interesting autobiographical sketches, the book consists mainly of his column for the New Yorker, The Sky Line. Many of the pieces are so short that the reader doesn't really get a sense of what's being discussed. I would have really liked to see more photos, although there are two sections of black and white photos from Mumford's time. He often praised diners and shops more than big projects, and it would have been very interesting to see those little projects he liked.

The best sections for me were those on Rockefeller Center - where we see him changing his mind over time, from hating it to a tempered appreciation - and on the Cloisters, which he loved. These are also longer pieces that allow him time to develop his theme of organic architecture.

I have to admit that many of the things he disliked, such as ornamentation, don't bother me at all, but then he was writing before the Hideous Decades of the 1960s and 1970s when if a building wasn't unbelievably ugly, it had few chances of being built. Oh, and if it could tear down blocks of buildings that actually had character, even better. I was impressed that Mumford was already suspicious of Le Corbusier's projects, calling them windy. Being born after this monstrous architecture was imagined and built, I can only try to imagine the attraction before it was implemented. Mumford seemed to have enough sense to be wary of it.