City Observed, New York: A Guide to the Architecture of Manhattan Paperback – May 12, 1979 by Paul Goldberger (Author)

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 In this superbly written guide, Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New York Times, takes readers on a guided walking tour of Manhattan, beginning in the financial district and traveling uptown—stopping to provide historical information and aesthetic evaluations of some four hundred buildings along the way. Goldberger's lively, knowledgeable commentary and provocative opinions make delightful armchair reading, but it will be hard to resist putting the guide in your pocket and strolling through the city to appreciate its splendid streets, neighborhoods, buildings, parks, bridges, and other sights that Goldberger describes in such arresting detail. From the World Trade Center ("so utterly banal as to be unworthy of the headquarters of a bank in Omaha") to the Woolworth Building ("the Mozart of skyscrapers, a lyrical tower that weds Gothic ornament to exquisite massing and scale"), from the Chrysler Building ("there is something that makes that odd silvery tower glimmer in the sun and bring a smile to our lips") to the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park, which Goldberger considers "the two greatest works of architecture in New York," The City Observed brings New York to vivid life. This guide, which is the first in an outstanding new series on the architecture of major American cities, has excellent street maps and original photos, and will be indispensable for everyone who wants to know the city. 

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