This fascinating chronicle traces New York City's growth from Wall Street at the end of the Revolutionary War to Harlem at the turn of the twentieth century. Documenting the frantic construction and speculative frenzy that swept through Manhattan in the nineteenth century, it explores the development of the city's landmark neighborhoods as the rural landscape of Upper Manhattan gave way street by street to today's fashionable residential and commercial...

Like a parallel universe, an entire city could be formed with the lost buildings of New York City’s past. Lost New York is a walk through this virtual metropolis. More than an architectural tour, it is a fascinating view of the city’s ever-changing landscape and way of life, from magnificent buildings like Penn Station and the glorious mansions of the Gilded Age to trolleys, diners, racetracks and baseball parks that now exist only in photographs....

In this hugely appealing book, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, acclaimed author and journalist Daniel Okrent weaves together themes of money, politics, art, architecture, business, and society to tell the story of the majestic suite of buildings that came to dominate the heart of midtown Manhattan and with it, for a time, the heart of the world. At the center of Okrent's riveting story are four remarkable individuals: tycoon John D. Rockefeller,...