Never Built New York

(Hardback)

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Description

Following on the success of Never Built Los Angeles (Metropolis Books, 2013), authors Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell now turn their eye to New York City. New York towers among world capitals, but the city we know might have reached even more stellar heights, or burrowed into more destructive depths, had the ideas pictured in the minds of its greatest dreamers progressed beyond the drawing board and taken form in stone, steel, and glass. What is wonderfully elegant and grand might easily have been ingloriously grandiose; what is blandly unremarkable, equally, might have become delightfully provocative or humanely inspiring. The ambitious schemes gathered here tell the story of a different skyline and a different sidewalk alike. Nearly 200 ambitious proposals spanning 200 years encompass bridges, skyscrapers, master plans, parks, transit schemes, amusements, airports, plans to fill in rivers and extend Manhattan, and much, much more. Included are alternate visions for such landmarks as Central Park, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, MoMA, the U.N., Grand Central Station and the World Trade Centre site, among many others sites. Fact-filled and entertaining texts, as well as sketches, renderings, prints, and models drawn from archives all across the New York metropolitan region tell stories of a new New York, one that surely would have changed the way we inhabit and move through the city.

Reviews

...leafing through Never Built New York will keep right on provoking gasps at the sheer, lunatic audacity emblazoned on every page.--Justin Davidson "New York Magazine"
Never Built New York encompasses a record of renderings, images, models, and plans... offering an opportunity to reevaluate the present in terms of the possible.--Alexandre De Looz "Bomb Magazine"
a unique look at New York through various historical eras, such as the Gilded Age and the mid-20th century. And yet the concepts covered in Never Built New York don't seem entirely unfamiliar. Indeed, they reveal a concern for the environment and a preoccupation with space that are still on the minds of New York City residents today.--Katie Hiler "Science Friday"
the impression one gets from flipping through Never Built New York is one of visionary ambition for a city that's often remained architecturally conservative, partly due to space limitations and partly because of bureaucratic city planning.--Allison Meier "Hyperallergic"
Compiling nearly 200 plans that came to naught, Never Built New York (Metropolis Books) imagines an alternative city of fairy-castle skyscrapers, pneumatic tubes, man-made islands, and river-spanning jetports.-- "Elle Decor"
If you believe New York City's ongoing infestation of sliver towers and chain stores is ruining the town you love, you may find some small cheer in knowing how much worse things could be. Never Built New York provides detailed, copiously illustrated accounts of citywide plans spanning a century - a few intriguing, others fanciful, many examples of outright vandalism - that highlight how technological change commercial exigencies, and architectural vanity could combine to distastefully ill effect.--Albert Mobilio "Bookforum"
Retro and futuristic, Never Built New York is perfect for dreamers, conceptual-design lovers, and those with an inclination towards paradoxical "what ifs" An architectural and philosophical tour-de-force.--Amber C. Snider "The Culture Trip, Editors' Top Pick 2016"

Author Bio

Sam Lubell is the West Coast Editor of the Architect's Newspaper and the co-curator of the recent exhibition 'Never Built Los Angeles'. He is the author of five books about architecture. Greg Goldin was the architectural critic at Los Angeles Magazine from 1999 to 2011. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Architectural Record, Architect's Newspaper and Zocalo, among many other publications.