LW! Bookshelf
Great Gift Ideas for LW Members!
Shop LW’s Bookshelf for the best of New York City architecture and history at great ‘Members Only’ prices! Every purchase supports our ongoing preservation work.
See one you want? Snap it up fast! There is only one copy of each book available.
My Preservation Journal
$15
- My Preservation Journal introduces students to the concept of architectural design, its importance in their everyday lives, the story of their neighborhood’s development, and the need to preserve the past for their own future. This interactive study guide engages students in an ongoing dialogue concerning their built environment while developing strong visual and critical thinking skills. In studying and exploring their own surroundings as they were and as they are today, children relate local history to their own world of home, school, and neighborhood. While the material is specific to the Upper West Side, a primary goal of this program is to introduce the general concept of architectural heritage as a “living” visual record of the past.
- PDF; 52 pages.
Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies
by James Sanders
$20
- What to get the film buff in your life!
- Rear Window, Taxi Driver, Big, An Affair to Remember, Ghostbusters – Culluloid Skyline brings to life the fascinating locations – from the 1910s through present day – sets, and techniques used by the Hollywood studios to create NYC on film.
- Packed with photographs and illustrations, this book (by the cowriter, with Ric Burns, of the award-winning PBS series New York: A Documentary History) is the perfect gift for for your favorite film/architecture/ NYC fan!
- Softcover; 496 pages.
New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham's Jazz Age Architecture
by Anthony Robins
$28
- Of all the world’s great cities, perhaps none is so defined by its Art Deco architecture as New York. Lively and informative, New York Art Deco leads readers step-by-step past the monuments of the 1920s and 30s that recast New York as the world’s modern metropolis. Anthony W. Robins, New York’s best-known Art Deco guide, includes an introductory essay describing the Art Deco phenomenon, followed by eleven walking tour itineraries in Manhattan each accompanied by a map designed by legendary New York cartographer John Tauranac and a survey of Deco sites across the four other boroughs. Also included is a photo gallery of sixteen color plates by nationally acclaimed Art Deco photographer Randy Juster.
- In New York Art Deco, Robins has distilled thirty years’ worth of experience into a guidebook for all to enjoy at their own pace.
- Paperback; 273 pages
A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century
by Witold Rybczynski
$20
- “Rybczynski’s passion for his subject and his understanding of Olmsted’s immense complexity and accomplishments make his book a triumphant work.”
- In this New York Times Notable Book, Witold Rybczynski illuminates Frederick Law Olmsted’s role as a major cultural figure at the epicenter of 19th century American history. We know Olmsted through his stunning landscapes, but his contemporaries knew a man of even more extraordinary talents who traveled to China at 21; cofounded The Nation magazine; and was an early voice against slavery. Rybczynski’s understanding of Olmsted’s immense complexity make his book an engaging intellectual adventure.
- Hardcover; 480 pages.
From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship
by David W. Dunlap
$20
- With 899 photographs and 24 maps, this encyclopedia of congregations and religious buildings in Manhattan is an indispensable resource. Entries focus on architectural features: Holy Fathers Russian Orthodox Church is a “Fabergé Easter egg of an architectural treat,” while the Salvation Army headquarters on West 14th Street resembles “a medieval citadel” and the design of the Park East Synagogue is “almost hallucinatory” in its grandiosity. Several New York landmarks warrant page-long historical entries, including Riverside Church, Shearith Israel, Abyssinian Baptist, and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Throughout, the book is filled with fascinating lore and includes interesting mentions of the re-use of old buildings by other denominations or religions.
- Softcover; 400 pages.
Edward Durell Stone: Modernism's Populist Architect
by Mary Anne Hunting
$40
- A self-styled “starchitect”, Stone was a modern architect who rebelled against the bleakness of modernism. “Architecture lovers who believe Romantic Modernism is an oxymoron clearly haven’t read Mary Anne Hunting’s exquisitely written volume on America’s forgotten populist modern architect Edward Durell Stone. . . . Hunting’s approach reveals Stone’s technicolour dream with absolute perfection. This is a volume for the serious architecture lover and those in search of a brilliantly written biography.” (Identity)
- Hardcover; 149 pages; 125 illustrations.
Bridges of Central Park
by Henry Hope Reed, Robert M. McGee, and Esther Mipaas
$10
- Perfect for everyone who loves to wander and rediscover Central Park!
- There were, and are, few who knew Central Park as intimately as Henry Hope Reed, the first person to be named “Curator of Central Park”. Join him on a luxurious amble across the bridges of Central Park – from the graceful Bow Bridge, which sweeps across the Lake, to the tiny Gill Bridge, which hooks over a nearby stream. Most were designed by Calvert Vaux in the early 1860’s and embrace the vibrant color, bold geometry and marvelous detail of the Victorian Gothic period. Entries for each of the 24 bridges contain their history and design and are paired with photographs and drawings by Ronald Rife and Joseph LoGuirato. This book is the perfect companion for a long stroll through the jewel of New York City in any season.
- Softcover; 96 pages.
The New York Public Library: The Architecture and Decoration of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
by Henry Hope Reed and Francis Morrone
$40
- The New York Public Library, one of the nation’s architectural wonders, is possibly our finest classical building. Designed by John Merven Carrere and Thomas Hastings, the library boasts a magnificent exterior, but that is only the beginning. In the interior, one splendid hall follows another, an awesome gallery leads to richly decorated rooms, and stairways are vaulted in marble. From the terrace to the breathtaking Main Reading Room is a triumphal way. In this beautiful volume, featuring color photography by Anne Day, every facet of the building is described, including its inception and construction.
- Hardcover; 250 photographs.
Ten Restaurants That Changed America
by Paul Freedman
$35
- One of the hottest books of the season!
- Combining a historian’s rigor with a foodie’s palate, food historian Paul Freedman (an Upper West Sider!) reveals how the history of our restaurants reflects nothing less than the history of America itself. The story naturally begins with Delmonico’s, charts the rise of our love affair with Italian food through Mamma Leone’s, visits the pinnacle of corporate dining within the NYC Interior Landmark at the (former) Four Seasons restaurant and gives a scintillating history of Schrafft’s—all the while using each restaurant to tell a wider story of race and class, immigration and assimilation. Lavishly designed with more than 100 photographs and images, including original menus.
- Hardcover; 560 pages.
Great Houses of Havana
by Hermes Mallea
$20
- For four hundred years, Havana was the center of Spanish trade in the western hemisphere. With the expansion of the sugar industry, independence from Spain, and North American investment, it became a city of great wealth, great style, and great houses. Hermes Mallea traces the evolution of the Cuban home from the classic, Spanish colonial courtyard house to the “Tropical Modernist” villas of the 1950s—houses reflecting international architecture trends while remaining true to the Cuban tradition.
- Hardcover; 272 pages.
Philip Trager
by Philip Trager
$20
- “This retrospective monograph reveals the genius of a photographer…” –Architect Magazine This overview of the photographs of Philip Trager offers readers full access to one of the 20th century’s most important photographers of architecture and dance, combining work from his previous monographs with unpublished photographs from a wide range of projects. His distinctly personal images of buildings are regarded as landmark works in architectural photography. For this chronicle of Trager’s entire career, essays by distinguished specialists preface each major theme. It includes an extensive interview with the artist, an illustrated section of selected projects and commissions, and a chronology and bibliography.
- Hardcover; 312 pages.
My Preservation Journal
$15
- My Preservation Journal introduces students to the concept of architectural design, its importance in their everyday lives, the story of their neighborhood’s development, and the need to preserve the past for their own future. This interactive study guide engages students in an ongoing dialogue concerning their built environment while developing strong visual and critical thinking skills. In studying and exploring their own surroundings as they were and as they are today, children relate local history to their own world of home, school, and neighborhood. While the material is specific to the Upper West Side, a primary goal of this program is to introduce the general concept of architectural heritage as a “living” visual record of the past.
- PDF; 54 pages.