A Century Downtown: A Visual History of Lower Manhattan - Hardcover

Matt Kapp

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1576879445 ISBN 13: 9781576879443

Publisher: Powerhouse Books, 2020

Synopsis

Showcasing an unprecedented collection of historical and contemporary photographs, paintings, renderings, drawings and other images culled from dozens of archives and individuals worldwide, A Century Downtown ensures that no one will ever forget the vast and varied history of this famous part of New York City. Catchphrases like 'urban renewal' have a nice ring to them, but none measure up to the tectonic, often brutal metamorphoses that have remade Lower Manhattan over the last century. Downtown's defining cataclysmic event is undeniably 9/11. Yet we often forget that the original World Trade Center grew out of the wholesale demolition of an entire neighbourhood, home to more than 300 businesses employing some 30,000 workers. Once a thriving paradise for electronics enthusiasts, Radio Row was reduced to rubble to make way for Minoru Yamasaki's gleaming, gargantuan Twin Towers in the late 1960s. We forget that almost a century ago, the first 'worst terrorist attack in American history' - the Wall Street Bombing of 1920 - claimed thirty-eight lives and triggered a tsunami of anti-immigrant sentiment that swept Warren Harding into the White House. We forget that lower Washington Street was once home to the biggest Arab-American community in the country, known as Little Syria, eventually wiped off the map by the transportation appetite of a burgeoning suburbia. We forget that a century before publishing giants Conde Nast and Time Inc. moved downtown, 'Newspaper Row' was home to a dozen prominent national newspapers. Or that decades before the proliferation of artisanal farmers markets, the twin pillars of downtown sustenance - Washington and Fulton Markets - offered whatever genus of fresh fish or produce one could possibly conjure. A Century Downtown raises these and other pivotal events - some mere footnotes to the city's official history - into sharp relief. Informing and expanding on this extraordinary imagery is a rich, multilayered narrative spotlighting the parallels, ironies and oddities of downtown's remarkable arc.

About this title

About the Author

Matt Kapp is an award-winning filmmaker and writer based in Brooklyn. Most recently he wrote and co-produced the critically acclaimed documentary 16 Acres, which told the inside story of the struggle to rebuild the World Trade Center in the decade after 9/11. Among his other producing credits are Valentino: The Last Emperor and The Education of Gore Vidal. Aside from his film and television work, he was a reporter-researcher and Web contributor for Vanity Fair for more than 15 years and has written frequently for Downtown magazine. He is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a native of Burlington, Vermont.

Chris Mueller is an award-winning creative director and designer based in New York. His work for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and other brands has been recognized by the Society of Publication Designers, ASME, Folio, and the Webby Awards. He studied print and digital design at the Cooper Union, New York University, and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He divides his time between Westchester County andthe Western Catskills with his wife, Mary, and their two sons, Oscar and Milo.

Edition details

• Publisher: Powerhouse Books
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1576879445
• ISBN 13: 9781576879443
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224