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

Cromley, Elizabeth Collins

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801423244 ISBN 13: 9780801423246

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 1990

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.

Reviews

This informative, scholarly study traces the evolution of the New York apartment building as a specific building type from its somewhat disreputable roots in Europe in the mid-19th century to its overwhelming acceptance by the general populace just 50 years later. 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 this new form of housing and how the apartment building of today evolved. This well-illustrated volume should be of interest to social and architectural historians alike.
- H. Ward Jandl, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801423244
• ISBN 13: 9780801423246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272