Customer Reviews

Sidewalk Critic: Lewis Mumford's Writings on New York

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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.