Alone Together: A History of New York's Early Apartments - Softcover

Cromley, Elizabeth Collins

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801486130 ISBN 13: 9780801486135

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Twentieth-century New York is now famous as the city of "cliff dwellers," but in the second half of the nineteenth century, middle-class apartments in Manhattan were a new―and somewhat suspect―architectural form. Alone Together presents a history of the "invention" of New York apartment houses.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Collins Cromley is Professor of Architectural History at Northeastern University and the coauthor of Invitation to Vernacular Architecture.

Review:

"After the Civil War, New York City developed an architectural form new to North America―a building designed as a multiple dwelling for middle-class families. The author chronicles the technological and the social evolution of the apartment house. . . . Along the way, she describes the domestic manners of New Yorkers of every class, from tenement-dwellers to the inhabitants of luxury apartments, and their rising expectations (indoor plumbing, for example) over a period of fifty years."―The New Yorker

"Cromley has done a superb job of describing the initial resistance to collective living, how architects attempted to solve the problem of domestic privacy, and how apartment living revolutionized traditional housekeeping activities. Particularly fascinating are her insights into how families adapted to the new form of housing and how the apartment building of today evolved."―Library Journal

"Cromley explores in words, vintage photographs and architects' drawings the evolution of the Big Apple's apartment blocks. . . . More than just architectural history, this is a glimpse at the evolution of American urban culture."―Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0801486130
• ISBN 13: 9780801486135
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272