TEN TOPS
Featured Exhibition: In March 2015, the Museum exhibited TEN TOPS, which created a simple category of buildings 100 stories and higher, focusing on one aspect of their identity—the topmost floors. #NYC #skyscrapers #CultureFromHome #MuseumFromHome
https://tinyurl.com/y5frca47
HIGHLY Recommended: One of the best skyscraper shows in the world is free! Ride the #StatenIsland Ferry and take in the breathtaking views.
Check out our virtual exhibit SKYLINE for a history of the #NYC skyline: https://old.skyscraper.org/skyline/
Fireworks from the Empire State Building
Firework display from the Empire State Building captured on the 4th by one of our Museum staff!
Skyscraper Seminar
"To be perfectly frank, the scissor stairs was one of the two things that made the building work," explained Rafael Viñoly about the luxury of the 15.5 ft ceilings of 432 Park Ave. #skyscraper #nyc
#MuseumFromHome
https://tinyurl.com/ybxs8jr3
SKY HIGH exhibit:
https://tinyurl.com/yb53fsx2
New York Icons: Madison Square Garden
In 1890, "At 319 feet, the Madison Square Garden Tower was the tallest spot in the tallest city, the loftiest tower in the U.S." notes Suzanne Hinman in her book talk from Sept. 2019. @MSG #MuseumFromHome #NYC
https://tinyurl.com/yag4shlx
New York City Icons
"These are the first ever NYC taxi cabs, which were introduced to New Yorkers on the Plaza's opening day" on Oct. 1, 1907 said Julie Satow in her talk about The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel (recently released in paperback!). https://tinyurl.com/ybdhgxta
Historic Preservation Series
Fifty-five years ago last month, on April 19, 1965, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. signed the law that established the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). This week's series of talks explore the values of Historic Preservation and the incremental, often political, and frequently litigious actions that expanded the protections that today extend to more than 31,000 properties.
In July 2015, Andrew S. Dolkart, Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia's GSAPP, offered an insightful history of the earliest years of the Commission and its initial judgments and biases for designations, distilled from his essay for Saving Place: 50 Years of New York City Landmarks, the book that accompanied the anniversary exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. Andrew also reviewed the meager history of skyscraper designations in the first quarter-century of the LPC and highlighted the harrowing threat of the proposal for a towering slab designed by modernist Marcel Breuer intended to rise straight above the concourse of Grand Central Terminal. The proposal ultimately led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the Landmarks Law. #museumfromhome #skymusfromhome #culturefromhome
Full video here: https://tinyurl.com/y8tahhpm
"This book was a 'recovery operation' into lost chapters of Brooklyn history" said Thomas Campanella about Brooklyn: The Once and Future City. Tom's illustrated lecture spans from the borough's ice-age topography to Coney Island and schemes of Robert Moses. #MuseumFromHome For full talk: https://tinyurl.com/y9kuqc9m
“I do think that people have an emotional connection to New York,” mused Ken Jackson on why The Encyclopedia of New York City has become a classic and bestseller. In February 2011, the Museum hosted an insiders evening with Ken and Lisa Keller who shared insights into editing the 2nd edition at 2 million words and 5,124 entries. #museumfromhome #culturefromhome #skymusfromhome
Full talk here: https://skyscraper.org/programs/the-encyclopedia-of-new-york-city-second-edition/
Greater Gotham by Mike Wallace
“Authoritative” and “encyclopedic” are adjectives that must be earned, and this week’s reprise of talks on New York City history definitely qualify. We start the series with a lecture by Mike Wallace, who won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in History for the sweeping survey Gotham, written with the late Edwin G. Burrows. In November 2017, he spoke about his new book, Greater Gotham, which doubles down on detail to cover just two decades – from the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 to the end of WW1. Wallace favored the audience with a lively narrative overview of the 1200 pages of his tome, as well posed a series of questions and speculations about the emergence of the skyline as an expression of the “consolidation ethos.” #museumfromhome #skymusfromhome #nyc Full talk: https://tinyurl.com/ybcw8avo
“Authoritative” and “encyclopedic” are adjectives that must be earned, and this week’s reprise of talks on New York City history definitely qualify. We start the series with a lecture by Mike Wallace, who won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in History for the sweeping survey Gotham, written with the late Edwin G. Burrows. In November 2017, he spoke about his new book, Greater Gotham, which doubles down on detail to cover just two decades – from the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 to the end of WW1. Wallace favored the audience with a lively narrative overview of the 1200 pages of his tome, as well posed a series of questions and speculations about the emergence of the skyline as an expression of the “consolidation ethos.” #museumfromhome #skymusfromhome #nyc
Link in bio for full talk!
Peter Laurence on Jane Jacobs
It's Jane Jacobs's birthday! We collect a series of talks that explore the evolution of her genius and insights. Peter Laurence unearths her earliest writings:
“If Joseph McCarthy had a list of State Dept. employees suspected of Communist sympathies, Jacobs would have been on that list." https://tinyurl.com/ycq94ccl
Thomas Leslie on the glass box
Love the “Glass Box” skyscrapers of postwar Park Avenue like Lever House or Seagram? Trace the origins of the “triumph of transparency” with Thomas Leslie. https://tinyurl.com/y9homdml
Judith Dupre Book Talk
Join Judith Dupre next Wednesday, June 8 at 6:30 as she presents her new book One WTC: Biography of the Building.
