The Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900-40

Winner of the 2001 Spiro Kostof Book Award from the Society of Architectural Historians.

"It'll be a great place if they ever finish it," O. Henry wrote about New York City. This laconic remark captures the relentlessly transitory character of New York, and it points toward Max Page's synthetic perspective. Against the prevailing motif of a naturally expanding metropolis, Page argues that the early-twentieth-century city was dominated by the politics of destruction and rebuilding that became the hallmark of modern urbanism.

The oxymoron "creative destruction" suggests the tensions that are at the heart of urban life: between stability and change, between particular places and undifferentiated spaces, between market forces and planning controls, and between the "natural" and "unnatural" in city growth. Page investigates these cultural counterweights through case studies of Manhattan's development, with depictions ranging from private real estate development along Fifth Avenue to Jacob Riis's slum clearance efforts on the Lower East Side, from the elimination of street trees to the efforts to save City Hall from demolition.

In these examples some New Yorkers celebrate planning by destruction or marvel at the domestication of the natural environment, while others decry the devastation of their homes and lament the passing of the city's architectural heritage. A central question in each case is the role of the past in the shaping of collective memory—which buildings are preserved? which trees are cut down? which fragments are enshrined in museums? Contrary to the popular sense of New York as an ahistorical city, the past—as recalled by powerful citizens—was, in fact, at the heart of defining how the city would be built.

Beautifully illustrated and written in clear, engaging prose, The Creative Destruction of Manhattan offers a new way of viewing the development of the American city.

"An excellent, multifaceted analysis of the process of urban development-not the inevitability of development but the choices individuals, organizations, and developers made that transformed Manhattan. The politics of place was, Max Page convincingly argues, an ongoing battle to define and thereby control the evolving shape of the city."—David Schuyler, author of Apostle of Taste: Andrew Jackson Downing 1815-1852

"Max Page transcends the usual dichotomy between those who glorify destruction for the sake of change and those who would avoid both at all cost. The sizeable borderland between architecture and preservation reveals new dimensions about science and history, innovation and memory, the cities that have been, and those yet to come."—Gwendolyn Wright, author of The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism

"A sober, humane explanation of how and why New York City became a place of continuous rebuilding. . . . For real or armchair New Yorkers, the whole package is a treat."—Kirkus Reviews

In 1904, Henry James noted that New York was "crowned not only with no history, but with no credible possibility of time for history." The image of Manhattan as an urban center so much on the move that it exists only in the present and future has become enshrined in the popular imagination. In eight engrossing, interconnected essays, Page, who teaches history at Yale, traces Manhattan's constant reinvention, often at the expense of preserving a concrete past. Describing this process as "creative destruction"Aa phrase first used by economist Joseph Schumpeter to characterize the process of capitalismAPage delineates the complex historical circumstances, economics, social conditions and personalities that have produced crucial changes in Manhattan's cityscape. Focusing on specific events and projectsAincluding the evolution of Fifth Avenue as an elite residential and commercial boulevard between 1824 and 1924; the destruction of Mulberry Bend, "the wickedest of American slums," in the late 1880s; and the constant battle to promote the planting and growth of trees on the islandAPage's study teases out such important issues as how social class has been defined in the city and the conflict between nature and urbanization. Carefully setting his miniature portraits of Manhattan history within a vivid panorama, Page raises pivotal questions concerning the role of cities in shaping the framework of everyday life and the broader sweep of history and nationhood. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A sober, humane explanation of how and why New York City became a place of continuous rebuilding. Neither lamenting the end of Old New York or positing one big bad root cause, historian Page (History/Georgia State Univ., Yale) instead explores ``the cultural meanings attached to the fundamental process of urbanization'' that he calls ``creative destruction''a process that established itself during the first third of the century. In character- and narrative-driven chapters, he highlights several elements of city planningslum clearance, tree planting and removal, and historical preservationand illustrates how they were tools for the powerful to define the city. Real estate developers were central in developing Fifth Avenue as the valuable ``spine of Gotham''; reformers like Jacob Riis fought for the wholesale removal of the ``leprous'' slums of the Lower East Side; the elites battled to preserve the structures they felt defined the true city amidst unprecedented change. Page reiterates throughout that even when government officials and social reformers clashed, they shared the same goal: ``To protect and perpetuate the best buildings and architectural values of the past.'' Concluding the survey are two chapters on how collective memory is attempted in art. Among the varied views are collector I.N. Phelps Stokes's massive but lifeless set of illustrations, The Iconography of Manhattan Island; Virginia Lee Burton's 1942 paean to threatened pastoral life, The Little House; and photography of the early 20th century (by Strand, Abbott, and others), which redefined New York in terms of movement rather than permanence. Readers wondering how the city can be captured in a single Stieglitz photo or why East Side tenement demolition faced widespread criticism will find answers as part of the larger truth of how capitalism, culture, and art shape collective memory. For real or armchair New Yorkers, the whole package is a treat. (Over 70 b&w photographs and illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Within the framework of the transitory character of New York City, Page (history, Yale) argues that the early 20th-century city was dominated by the politics of destruction and rebuilding that became the hallmark of modern urbanism. The oxymoron "creative destruction" suggests the tensions between stability and change, market forces and planning controls that are at the heart of urban life. Page investigates these cultural counterweights with case studies of Manhattan's development, ranging from private real estate development along Fifth Avenue and early slum clearance efforts on the Lower East Side. A central question is the role of the past in the shaping of collective memory. Clearly written and well illustrated, this work is recommended for New York City collections of academic libraries and urban studies collections.AHarry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.