Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes

by Robin Lynn, Francis Morrone, Edward A. Toran (Photographer), Pete Hamill (Foreword by)

Overview

A tour of not-to-be-missed public places—parks, plazas, memorials, streets—that shape the New York experience.

The thirty-eight urban gems covered here range from newly created linear spaces along the water’s edge, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park and the East River Waterfront Esplanade, to revitalized squares and circles, such as those at Gansevoort Plaza in the Meatpacking District and Columbus Circle, to repurposed open spaces like the freight tracks, now the High Line, and Concrete Plant Park in the Bronx. Readers can discover midtown atriums, mingle with the crowds in Union Square, travel offshore to nearby Governors Island, and enjoy the vistas of historic Green-Wood Cemetery. Pete Hamill writes in his foreword, “I’ve . . . made a list of new places I must visit while there is time. With any luck at all, I’ll see all of them. I hope you, the reader, can find the time too.” Concise descriptions, helpful maps, and vivid photographs capture the New York urban scene.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393733570
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/05/2013
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robin Lynn conceived and edited 10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan by Francis Morrone and Matthew Postal (W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), and co-authored A Walking Tour of Cast Iron Architecture in SoHo with Margot Gayle (Friends of Cast Iron Architecture, 1983; second edition, Victorian Society New York on behalf of Friends of Cast Iron Architecture, 2011). She organized architectural walking tours for the Municipal Art Society for over ten years. Robin teaches English and New York City history to new New Yorkers at the College of Mt. St. Vincent’s Center for Immigrant Studies and Columbia University’s Community Impact program.

Francis Morrone is an art and architecture critic who writes book reviews, film criticism, and design criticism for many publications. He has written architectural guides to Philadelphia and New York City. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is also the recipient of the 2012 Arthur Ross Award in History/Journalism, given by The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA).

Pete Hamill (1935–2020) was a legendary reporter and columnist for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and other publications.

Table of Contents

Foreword Pete Hamill 9

Introduction Richard J. Moylan, President, Green-Wood 11

Acknowledgments Robin Lynn Francis Morrone 13

Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes Blog 14

"The Lungs" James Huneker (1914) 15

Along the Water's Edge 23

Manhattan 26

1 Historic Battery Park 29

2 Battery Park City 33

3 East River Waterfront 56

4 Hudson River Park and Riverside Park South 67

5 Riverside Park 81

6 Riverbank State Park 88

7 West Harlem Piers Park 92

Brooklyn 97

8 Brooklyn Bridge Park 97

9 Williamsburg Waterfront 106

10 Erie Basin Park 110

11 Newtown Creek Nature Walk 114

Queens 119

12 Gantry Plaza State Park 119

Bronx 123

13 Concrete Plant Park 123

Staten Island 127

14 North Shore Waterfront Esplanade, St. George 127

15 From Fresh Kills Landfill to Freshkills Park 131

Islands 139

16 Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park and Southpoint Park, Roosevelt Island 139

17 Governors Island 145

18 Randall's Island 150

Inland 155

Reclaimed 156

19 High Line 156

Cemeteries 165

20 Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn 165

21 Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx 173

Boulevards 177

22 Eastern Parkway and Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn 177

23 Broadway 183

Plazas and Circles 194

24 Columbus Circle 194

25 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn 197

26 Gansevoort Plaza 201

Atriums 205

27 Midtown Atriums 205

28 Urban Garden Room 211

Cultural Institutions 215

29 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 215

Green Roofs 221

30 Brooklyn Grange, Queens 221

Parks 223

31 Washington Square Park 223

32 Union Square 228

33 Bryant Park 234

34 Paley Park 240

35 Conservatory Garden, Central Park 242

36 Liz Christy Garden 247

37 Zuccotti Park 250

38 National September 11 Memorial 254

Eating and Drinking 261

About the Contributors 277

Index 279

Editorial Reviews

"The city offers prospects as beautiful and sublime as any in nature, as Robin Lynn and Francis Morrone amply demonstrate in their ‘Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes’ (Norton, $29.95), a helpful and insightful pathfinder to 38 inviting sites."

New York Times

"[L]ovely color photos throughout . . . . [B]lend of history and travelogue perfect for any visiting New York City who want a guide to urban and natural landscapes that make up the City’s buildings and natural areas."

Midwest Book Review

"This is the perfect book to consult before your relatives come to town and expect an insider’s tour of the city or before you pass by an unknown bit of green in the city. Many of the urban landscapes described in the guide are likely known only by nearby residents or only by the most keen city observers. . . . [C]oncise and beautifully illustrated . . ."

The Architect's Newspaper Blog

"[I]nteresting histories and useful explanations for both local and visitor alike."

Chicago Botanic Garden

"Morrone has written 10 books on the architectural history of the city, and Lynn has organized a number of walking tours for the Municipal Art Society. But with “Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes,” they’ve outdone themselves. . . . [A] book that’s arrived at precisely the moment of landscape architecture’s newest ascent. . . . [A] definitive guide . . . . They cover it all. . . . [N]ot just a book for the moment, but for the future, too."

Architects + Artisans

"[R]eveals a plethora of diverse urban places that many, even the most knowledgeable New York, may not fully appreciate–or even know about. . . . Combining descriptive and at times evocative word pictures, necessary facts and figures, and stunning visual images, Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes is a most useful resource for all who live in New York, spend any time there, or are students of the role of urban landscape in making our places appealing and habitable."

New York Journal of Books

"[G]allops exuberantly through the five boroughs of New York."

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