Book Review: *Chronicles of Old New York* by James Roman

Chronicles of Old New York: Exploring Manhattan’s Landmark Neighborhoods by James Roman

Back-of-the-book blurb:  The history of New York City is written in its streets; uncover it through the true stories of the visionaries, risk-takers, dreamers, and schemers who built Manhattan. Witness life during the earliest days of the city, when Greenwich Village was a bucolic suburb and disease was a fact of daily life. Explore the dark side of town, from the slums of Five Points to Harlems Prohibition-era speakeasies. Then see it all for yourself with guided walking tours of each of Manhattans historic neighborhoods, illustrated with color photographs and period maps.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  Chronicles of Old New York is a fun guide for travels of the mind and body; I enjoyed it from my armchair, and will pop it in a bag to supplement a traditional tour book on my next trip to the Big Apple.

This handy guide highlights the history and architecture of various Manhattan neighborhoods.  From its earliest days (“George Washington Slept Here”), to the current day (a detailed walking tour of the financial district in lower Manhattan covers the ongoing construction in the area of the former World Trade Center); it is peppered with anecdotes, trivia, historic photos, and maps.

Some of the interesting tidbits that caught my eye:

• The first co-op building in the city was created at 34 Gramercy Park in the 1880s, complete with three new-fangled Otis elevators – operated by shifting giant tanks of water in the basement and on the rooftop.  Luxury apartment living became more desirable than townhouse living, and within 30 years, forty thousand apartment houses were built.  Gramery Park is the only private park in Manhattan, btw.
• The Washington Mews carriage houses (owned by NYU) have a history as carriage houses (!), art studios of the Ashcan School in the early 1900s, and luxury homes today.  The Ashcan School was given the moniker when several artists, under the patronage of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, displayed their work literally in the alley of MacDougal Alley.
• The cast iron architecture of the mid-1800s revolutionized structural engineering.  Well over 100 examples of these facades can be found in the National Historic Landmark-designated areas of SoHo and TriBeCa.
• Chelsea, west of Fifth Avenue between 14th and 34th Streets, was once the farmland of Clement C. Moore.  Yes, he of A Visit from St. Nicholas fame! 

The book contains nine walking tours of various districts.  They are well laid out, with a quick overview, start and end points, expected duration, subway information, and reference to more detailed information in the previous chapters.  Each site is enumerated with a brief description and sidebar photo.  A detailed map marked with the corresponding addresses completes the tour.

A word about the look and feel of the book itself, aside from content:  Chronicles of Old New York is about the size of a trade paperback, small enough to tuck in a bag and not regret the extra weight.  The front and back cover are scored near the spine, to eliminate wrinkling, and the pages are a soft buff which nicely compliments the sepia-toned historic photos and drawings.

Museyon is a new-to-me publisher whose blog helps me feel a little more in the loop!  Their books are “a curated guide to your obsessions” and include Art + Travel, Music + Travel, and Film + Travel.  A City Style “guide to global fashion capitals” will be published next month.  I hope to see Museyon expand the Chronicles of New York into a series covering other cities worldwide.  In the meantime, I’ll be diving into the North America/South America edition of Film + Travel.

FTC disclosure:  review copy provided by the publisher.