Drawing from more than 20,000 glass-plate negatives and 10,000 vintage photographic prints, this large-format catalog features the work of Eugene de Salignac, official photographer of the New York City Department of Bridges/Plant and Structures from 1906 to 1945. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition of de Salignac's work at the Museum of the City of New York, it includes chapters on his photographs of city inspections, accidents, and the city's major bridges.

The invention of the New York skyscraper is one of the most fascinating developments in the history of architecture. This authoritative book chronicles the history of New York's first skyscrapers, challenging conventional wisdom that it was in Chicago and not New York that the skyscraper was born. 206 illustrations.

The evolution of New York's built environment is chronicled in this breathtaking history organized chronologically by site-from architectural masterpieces to engineering marvels. Witness New York as it was being built in the years following the Civil War. It was during this era when the city spread uptown, landscaped Central Park, engineered the bridges and subways, and scaled ever higher in the form of innovative skyscrapers.The New York story unfolds in these pages with an immediacy only photography can capture. It allows us to relive the moment when the theaters moved uptown followed by the city's "newspaper of record," and muddy, horse-trodden Longacre Square sprouted its iconic neon signs and was reborn as Times Square. Trace the growth by accretion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as it nibbled away at the park or the transformation of Fifth Avenue into "millionaires row." Along the way, the majestic history of the city unfolds along with the story of the visionaries whose stamp it bears today. New York's coming of age coincided with the rise of photography, and this incredible trove of photographs culled from the archives of Time Life and the New-York Historical Society are the very images that created the larger-than-life reputation of New York that continues to dazzle the world today.

New York Rising is an illustrated history of real estate development in Manhattan, a story of speculation and innovation--of the big ideas, big personalities, and big risks that collectively shaped a city like no other. From the first European settlement in the seventeenth century through the skyscrapers and large-scale urban planning schemes of the late twentieth century, this book presents a broad historical survey, illustrated with images drawn largely from the rich archival resources of the Durst Collection at Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. The patriarch of one of New York City's most prominent real estate families, Seymour B. Durst, was a bibliophile and an avid collector of New York memorabilia. His archival holdings--once known as the Old York Library and now the Durst Collection--reflect his fascination with the city's street grid, mass transit, port, parks and open spaces, as well as its monumental buildings and signature skyline. Ten leading scholars--the late Hilary Ballon, Ann Buttenwieser, Andrew Dolkart, David King, Reinhold Martin, Richard Plunz, Lynne B. Sagalyn, Hilary Sample, Russell Shorto, and Carol Willis--delved into the collection to select objects that reflect their own areas of interest and expertise. Using these materials, they have created visual narratives on specific topics, focusing on the Dutch and English governance of Manhattan, the growth of the city according to the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, the emergence of the public transit system, the "race for height," the rise of multi-family and affordable housing, the transformation of Midtown into a commercial center, urban renewal in the Moses era, the revival of Times Square, and the reclaiming of the waterfront as public space. Essays by Kate Ascher and Thomas Mellins provide a framework for exploring these topics. New York Rising is published in association with The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.

Published to accompany the exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, 24 Mar. - 11 Oct. 2010.

New York is often described as the greatest city in the world. Yet much of the iconic architecture and culture which so defines the city as we know it today – from the Empire State Building to the Pastrami sandwich - only came into being in the 1930s, in what was perhaps the most significant decade in the city's 400-year history. After the roaring twenties, the catastrophic Wall Street Crash and ensuing Depression seemed to spell disaster for the vibrant city. Yet, in this era, New York underwent an architectural, economic, social and creative renaissance under the leadership of the charismatic mayor Fiorello La Guardia. After seizing power, he declared war on the mafia mobs running vast swathes of the city, attacked political corruption and kick-started the economy through a variety of construction and infrastructure projects. In culture, this was the age of the Harlem Renaissance championed by writers like Langston Hughes, the jazz age with the advent of Tin-Pan Alley, the Cotton Club and immortals such as Duke Ellington making his name in the Big Apple. Weaving these stories together, Jules Stewart tells the story of an iconic city in a time of change.