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Indlæser... The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with Itaf Alice Sparberg Alexiou
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The marvelous story of the Flatiron: the instantly recognizable building that signaled the start of a new era in New York history. Critics hated it. The public feared it would topple over. Passersby were knocked down by the winds. But even before it was completed, the Flatiron Building had become an unforgettable part of New York City. The Flatiron Building was built by the Chicago-based Fuller Company--a group founded by George Fuller, "the father of the skyscraper"--to be their New York headquarters. The company's president, Harry Black, was never able to make the public call the Flatiron the Fuller Building, however. Black's was the country's largest real estate firm, constructing Macy's department store, and soon after the Plaza Hotel, the Savoy Hotel, and many other iconic buildings in New York as well as in other cities across the country. With an ostentatious lifestyle that drew constant media scrutiny, Black made a fortune only to meet a tragic, untimely end. InThe Flatiron, Alice Sparberg Alexiou chronicles not just the story of the building but the heady times in New York at the dawn of the twentieth century. It was a time when Madison Square Park shifted from a promenade for rich women to one for gay prostitutes; when photography became an art; motion pictures came into existence; the booming economy suffered increasing depressions; jazz came to the forefront of popular music--and all within steps of one of the city's best-known and best-loved buildings. Ingen biblioteksbeskrivelser fundet. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)974.7History and Geography North America Northeastern U.S. New YorkLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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Although I was looking forward to reading this book as it was recommended by the Bowery Boys podcast, I was disappointed that the text did not live up to its title: The Flatiron: the New York Landmark and the Incomparable City that Arose with It. In truth, this book should have been titled Harry Black - The Man Who Built the Flatiron Building and His Story because this was really what the book turned out to be. And there's nothing wrong with that. Harry Black had an interesting story and is a man largely forgotten today despite all of his achievements. However, I was expecting more focus on the building, its history, residents, events, etc., hinted at in the introduction. There was a great deal of information about the design and construction of the building as well as it's earliest years which was satisfying. But once the building was completed, it was rarely only tangentially linked to the story that followed Harry Black beyond the building of the Flatiron. Even he lost interest in the building, always more focused on bigger, better, newer, and higher. Sadly, NOT the definitive work about the famous Flatiron building. ( )