Morningside Heights

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Summary: A HISTORICAL ODE TO A BEAUTIFUL OLD NEIGHBORHOOD
Review: I bought this book because I was born and raised in Morningside Heights. I moved away years ago and now live in another state but I often feel nostalgia for my old and very unique neighborhood. I feel very fortunate to have grown up in the shadow of the Cathedral of St. John The Divine and surrounded by the three great public parks, Central, Morningside, and Riverside. Central Park is famous and Riverside is fairly known but very few outside the area know of the beauty of Morningside Park and Morningside Drive. This book is filled with photos and illustrations and tons of history. I recommend it to students of history of N.Y.C., architecture, and anyone interested in learning about the lesser known areas of New York.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Valentine To A Beautiful Neighborhood
Review: Morningside Heights is one of America's greatest unknown architectural treasures. Most people who didn't go to Columbia University or one of its other institutions of learning don't even know that it exists. But this half-square-mile of Manhattan boasts classic old-fashioned streetscapes, dotted with architectural monuments, that compare to the best Europe has to offer. Mr. Dolkhart's book on how it all got built is comprehensive, flawlessly accurate, well illustrated, and informed by a cultivated urban sensibility from which we all can learn. I am the webmaster of this neighborhood's website.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Valentine To A Beautiful Neighborhood
Review: Morningside Heights is one of America's greatest unknown architectural treasures. Most people who didn't go to Columbia University or one of its other institutions of learning don't even know that it exists. But this half-square-mile of Manhattan boasts classic old-fashioned streetscapes, dotted with architectural monuments, that compare to the best Europe has to offer. Mr. Dolkhart's book on how it all got built is comprehensive, flawlessly accurate, well illustrated, and informed by a cultivated urban sensibility from which we all can learn. I am the webmaster of this neighborhood's website.

Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone interested in N.Y.C. and urban history.
Review: This attractive book, with over 250 historical photographs, tells the story of a unique neighborhood in New York City. Dolkart traces its development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from a rural, undeveloped tract with an insane asylum and an orphanage into the home of some of the nation's most important educational and religious institutions (Columbia, Barnard and Teachers College, Union and Jewish Theological seminaries, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Riverside Church, and the Institute of Music and Art (later Juilliard and now Manhattan School of Music). The architectural history is meticulously documented, tracking the invovement of the major architects of the period in the neighborhood's transformation. The book also explores the involvement of New York's wealthiest families in and the rivalries that drove this neighborhood's development. Dolkart also for the first time documents the growth of Morningside Heights as the first middle-class apartment building neighborhood in New York City. His insights into this process help all those interested New York City and other urban centers in this country in understanding the fascinating ways in which important neighborhoods take shape and influence the future history of their city and the nation. This is a must for all those who love and study New York City, and urban and architectural history and development.

Rating:
Summary: Exhaustive architectural history of major institutions
Review: This book is NOT an architectural survey, per se. It does not attempt to catalogue all the historic or important structures of the neighborhood as, say, an AIA Guide does. Instead, it considers in some detail the architectural history of the neighborhood and its major institutions. We know which ones: Columbia University, Barnard College, Riverside Church, Union Theological Seminary, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and St. Luke's Hospital. As a tool for practicing architects or as a source for architectural historians, this book is about as good as they get. As a piece to enjoy for the general, curious reader it's a bit academic. Photographs are all black and white, and are technical and pragmatic rather than artistic.

One more point: The narrative seems largely absent of knee-jerk political correctness and fadish multi-culturalist rhetoric, which is refreshing. Thus, the author has stopped at nothing in order to maintain the highest academic and scholarly standards in the book. Well done, in that regard.