Overview

Since its emergence in the mid-nineteenth century as the nation's ""metropolis,"" New York has faced the most challenging housing problems of any American city, but it has also led the nation in innovation and reform. The horrors of the tenement were perfected in New York at the same time that the very rich were building palaces along Fifth Avenue; public housing for the poor originated in New York, as did government subsidies for middle-class housing. A standard in the field since its publication in 1992, A History of Housing in New York City traces New York's housing development from 1850 to the present in text and profuse illustrations. Richard Plunz explores the housing of all classes, with comparative discussion of the development of types ranging from the single-family house to the high-rise apartment tower. His analysis is placed within the context of the broader political and cultural development of New York City. This revised edition extends the scope of the book into the city's recent history, adding three decades to the study, covering the recent housing bubble crisis, the rebound and gentrification of the five boroughs, and the ecological issues facing the next generation of New Yorkers. More than 300 illustrations are integrated throughout the text, depicting housing plans, neighborhood changes, and city architecture over the past 130 years. This new edition also features a foreword by the distinguished urban historian Kenneth T. Jackson.

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9780231178341

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Reviews

?Plunz provides an erudite, revealing, and relentlessly engaging portrait of a great urban place and its people. One would think the recollection of so many cycles of high-mindedness, ruthless exploitation, and damned foolishness would only exacerbate the discouragement we feel in the face of the intractable housing problems of our times. Somehow, that is not the case, for one is more impressed by the energy and the ingenuity, and the funny mix of social vision and business acumen upon which New York has been so unsatisfactorily but magnificently built. -- Kent Barwick, President, The Municipal Art Society of New York ?Plunz's book requires us to confront the meaning of the social housing tradition for an era marked by social catastrophe for the poor. -- Robert Fishman New York History ?Enormously ambitious but profoundly troubling... A deeply personal polemic about society and architecture. -- Robert Bruegmann Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians ?Thorough in its coverage and provocative in its interpretation. -- Samuel T. McSeveney Population and Environment ?Plunz's book restores to housing design the attention it deserves as architecture. -- Tony Schuman Journal of Architectural Education

Author Information

Richard Plunz is professor of architecture and the director of the Earth Institute's Urban Design Lab at Columbia University, where he has also chaired the Division of Architecture and directed the Urban Design Program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. His many books include The Urban Lifeworld: Formation, Perception, Representation (2001), After Shopping (2003), Eco-Gowanus: Urban Remediation by Design (2007), and Urban Climate Change Crossroads (2010).

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