Created by a team of architects, historians, teachers, and students, The New York Waterfront is an unprecedented documentation of the rise and fall of the waterfront's architectural, technological, industrial, and commercial existence over the past 150 years. This densely illustrated book vividly presents and preserves the waterfront's development. Superb watercolor, ink, and pencil drawings-some specially created for this publication-as well as rare historic pictures, aerial photographs, and maps culled from a wide variety of sources and reproduced here for the first time, make this book the most comprehensive study on the subject. Newly commissioned photographs by Stanley Greenberg supplement this already rich array of images, often bringing out the melancholy beauty of the waterfront in its present derelict state. Also seen here are many major modern sites-the Red Hook Water Pollution Control Plant, the Port Authority Grain Elevators, the Fresh Kills Landfill, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard-capturing the nameless, inhospitable tracts whose only landmarks are the rusting remains of a once vital commercial life. This illustrative material, together with a series of informative texts written by critics and scholars, reveals a complete picture of the New York waterfront through contemporary projects and visionary proposals, environmental plans and master-planning, built and unbuilt waterfront structures (pier warehouses, recreation piers, markets, and ferry terminals), in addition to a meticulous analysis of a variety of documents and records. The New York Waterfront offers a unique perspective on waterfront building so that the lessons of the past can inform decisions about the future. This publication also inspires us to strive for an equivalent greatness when designing the urban fabric of the twenty-first century, the kind of greatness in public works that has in the past distinguished New York City.

Through an insightful look at projects from around the world and at the current design proposals for New York itself, the author paints a portrait of redevelopment that is both pragmatic and visionary, one that holds the promise of reconnecting New Yorkers to their waterfront as a vital place of work and of public life."--BOOK JACKET.

"Nature provided New York with a sheltered harbor but the city with a challenge: to find the necessary capital to build and expand the maritime infrastructure. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the city's government did not have the responsibility or the fiscal resources to develop needed port facilities. To build the infrastructure, the government awarded "water-lots" to private individuals to build wharves and piers, surrendering public control of the waterfront. For over 250 years private enterprise ran the waterfront; the city played a peripheral role. By the end of the Civil War chaos reigned and threatened the port's dominance. In 1870 the city and state created the Department of Docks to exercise public control and rebuild the maritime infrastructure for the new era of steamships and ocean liners. A hundred years later, technological change in the form of the shipping container and jet airplane rendered Manhattan's waterfront obsolete within an incredibly short time span. The maritime use of the shoreline collapsed, mirroring the near death of the city of New York in the 1970s. Ships disappeared and abandoned piers and empty warehouses lined the waterfront. The city slowly and painfully recovered. The empty waterfront allowed visionaries and planners to completely reimagine a shore lined with parkland. Along the new waterfront, luxury housing has transformed the waterfront neighborhoods where the Irish longshoremen once lived. A few remaining piers offer spectacular views of the city's waterways, now a most precious asset. The rebirth has been driven by complex private/public partnerships, with the city of New York playing only a peripheral role. The contentious question of private vs. public control of the waterfront remains a continuing issue in the 21st century"--

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

An ultra-useful guide that brings together all the information necessary to enjoy the waterfront, in a compact, well-organized form - Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan Use this guide to discover the beaches, boardwalks, historic sites, and marine attractions, as well as the limitless opportunities for waterside fun, dining, and adventure in the five boros of New York. Designed for travelers and locals, alike, Going Coastal New York City offers the best, most comprehensive information on what's happening along New York City's over 500 miles of coastline.

Vibrant watercolors capture the New York City harbor and life on the waterfront in the 1920s and '30s.

Explores the uses of the abandoned Hudson River docks in New York City by artists and a newly emerging gay subculture between 1971 and 1983.