Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History (Dover Architecture)

This was the perfect Xmas present for a new friend, and arrived in good order Dec. 24. It wasn't promised to arrive in time for the holiday (which was actually OK with me), so a win all around.

Luxury Houses of Manhattan does a good job of explaining how the apartment/condominium/co-op style of living came to be: from Scotland, as far back as the 1400s, no less. Once this background is given, author Andrew Alpern jumps to the New York City of the late 19th-century and explains how single-family living in Manhattan gave way to luxury apartment houses, a change hastened by lower personal income after the 1929 crash, surging property taxes, the scarcity of servants to properly run such an abode, and declining family size.From there, perhaps a quarter of the way through, I think only a serious student of architecture would be interested.For page after page the author clinically and thoroughly describes how developers acquired land and hired architects and contracters. While there is a wealth of photos of the exteriors of such buildings (which tend to look alike, at least to me), I doubt that there are a dozen photos of apartment interiors. At the very least, I would have liked a 50/50 balance of such photos, or at least floor plans. I think there are a handful of plans, of which one concerning former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller is fascinating, making the point all the more clear that something of the interiors of these buildings is needed to engage the reader. Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History

Loved all the floorplans and descriptions of these great, unparalleled buildings.

A very nice and reasonably priced collection of photos, floor plans, drawings, and descriptions of many notable Manhattan apartment buildings. Insightful. Too bad none of it is in color, but for the price, you get what you paid for in this case.

I gave the book to a friend who grew up in one of the buildings.... at 1185 PARK AVENUE... and she is having a wonderful time with it. Her mother remained there until her death a few years ago.

This photo history of New York City apartment homes is just very special - it is wonderful that the photos and the history of these homes is still able to be known - please enjoy this book as much a I did.

I gave this book as a Christmas present to my sister who loves architecture and interior design and she was thrilled with it. I liked it as a former New Yorker -- not that I ever lived in such style.

I choose the book to see more of those iconic buildings.The book it's rich in information but poor in pictures and images.In addition, i think that this kind of book deserves a better paper and impression too, despite beeig paperback.

Nice old pics and illustrations but mainly interesting for the floor plans. It is good addition to your library if you love heritage.

Interesting read... Photos very poor quality would have liked to see more interiors and floor plans.