Review:
Appreciating the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building is easy: their greatness is agreed upon. It is a lot harder to say something intelligent about the hulking Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. In "Manhattan Skyscrapers, " Eric P. Nash manages to do both. The book, which features 75 extant examples built since the skyscraper was invented a century ago, is admirable grounded in the details of stone, steel and glass. In fact, nonarchitects will find themselves consulting the handy glossary when words like "chamfered" and "intrados" come up. Nash, a researcher at "The New York Times Magazine, " writes a deft prose: in his entry on the postmodern Cond Nast Building, he compares buildings that look different from various side to "politic but perhaps hypocritical gentlemen." The magnificent Lever House, financed by a soap-manufacturing fortune, remains "bright, minty-fresh, and smacks of prosperity." His take on the Marriott Marquis acknowledges its "ghastly" elements but finds the anti-urbanist design, which encourages guests to shun the city, "insidiously brilliant." Even an architecture writer should be able to empathize with the villain of the piece.
About the Author:
Eric P. Nash has been a researcher and writer for the New York Times Magazine since 1986. He is the author of several books about architecture and design, including Manhattan Skyscrapers (1-56898-181-3), The Destruction of Penn Station, New York's 50 Best
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