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Skyscraper : The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century / Benjamin Flowers.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2012]Copyright date: ©2010Description: 1 online resource (240 p.) : 51 illusContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780812241846
  • 9780812202601
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 720/.483097471
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION. Narratives of the Built Environment: Architecture, Ideology, and Skyscrapers -- PART I. The Empire State Building: The Setback Skyscraper, the Great Depression, and American Modernism -- 1. Building, Money, and Power -- 2. Setback Skyscrapers and American Architectural Development -- 3. Capital Nightmares -- 4. The Politics of American Architecture in the 1930s -- PART II. The Seagram Building: The Ascension of the International Style and a Somber Monument to Corporate Authority -- 5. Architecture Culture into the 1950s -- 6. Clients and Architect -- 7. Gangland's Grip on Business -- 8. Modern Architecture and Corporate America in the 1950s -- PART III. The World Trade Center: Urban Renewal, Global Capitalism, and Regeneration Through Violence -- 9. Regeneration Through Violence -- 10. The Rhetoric and Reality of Urban Renewal -- 11. Cathedrals of Commerce: Minoru Yamasaki, Skyscraper Design, and the Rise of Postmodernism -- CONCLUSION. Into the Future -- EPILOGUE -- NOTES -- INDEX -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Summary: Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic TitleNowhere in the world is there a greater concentration of significant skyscrapers than in New York City. And though this iconographic American building style has roots in Chicago, New York is where it has grown into such a powerful reflection of American commerce and culture.In Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century, Benjamin Flowers explores the role of culture and ideology in shaping the construction of skyscrapers and the way wealth and power have operated to reshape the urban landscape. Flowers narrates this modern tale by closely examining the creation and reception of three significant sites: the Empire State Building, the Seagram Building, and the World Trade Center. He demonstrates how architects and their clients employed a diverse range of modernist styles to engage with and influence broader cultural themes in American society: immigration, the Cold War, and the rise of American global capitalism.Skyscraper explores the various wider meanings associated with this architectural form as well as contemporary reactions to it across the critical spectrum. Employing a broad array of archival sources, such as corporate records, architects' papers, newspaper ads, and political cartoons, Flowers examines the personal, political, cultural, and economic agendas that motivate architects and their clients to build ever higher. He depicts the American saga of commerce, wealth, and power in the twentieth century through their most visible symbol, the skyscraper.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780812202601

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION. Narratives of the Built Environment: Architecture, Ideology, and Skyscrapers -- PART I. The Empire State Building: The Setback Skyscraper, the Great Depression, and American Modernism -- 1. Building, Money, and Power -- 2. Setback Skyscrapers and American Architectural Development -- 3. Capital Nightmares -- 4. The Politics of American Architecture in the 1930s -- PART II. The Seagram Building: The Ascension of the International Style and a Somber Monument to Corporate Authority -- 5. Architecture Culture into the 1950s -- 6. Clients and Architect -- 7. Gangland's Grip on Business -- 8. Modern Architecture and Corporate America in the 1950s -- PART III. The World Trade Center: Urban Renewal, Global Capitalism, and Regeneration Through Violence -- 9. Regeneration Through Violence -- 10. The Rhetoric and Reality of Urban Renewal -- 11. Cathedrals of Commerce: Minoru Yamasaki, Skyscraper Design, and the Rise of Postmodernism -- CONCLUSION. Into the Future -- EPILOGUE -- NOTES -- INDEX -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic TitleNowhere in the world is there a greater concentration of significant skyscrapers than in New York City. And though this iconographic American building style has roots in Chicago, New York is where it has grown into such a powerful reflection of American commerce and culture.In Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century, Benjamin Flowers explores the role of culture and ideology in shaping the construction of skyscrapers and the way wealth and power have operated to reshape the urban landscape. Flowers narrates this modern tale by closely examining the creation and reception of three significant sites: the Empire State Building, the Seagram Building, and the World Trade Center. He demonstrates how architects and their clients employed a diverse range of modernist styles to engage with and influence broader cultural themes in American society: immigration, the Cold War, and the rise of American global capitalism.Skyscraper explores the various wider meanings associated with this architectural form as well as contemporary reactions to it across the critical spectrum. Employing a broad array of archival sources, such as corporate records, architects' papers, newspaper ads, and political cartoons, Flowers examines the personal, political, cultural, and economic agendas that motivate architects and their clients to build ever higher. He depicts the American saga of commerce, wealth, and power in the twentieth century through their most visible symbol, the skyscraper.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2022)