Kurt C. Schlichting's Books

Waterfront Manhattan

From Henry Hudson to the High Line

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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Waterfront Manhattan

From Henry Hudson to the High Line

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

Nature provided New York with a sheltered harbor but the city with a challenge: to find the necessary capital to build and expand the maritime infrastructure. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the city's government did not have the responsibility or the fiscal resources to develop needed port facilities. To build the infrastructure, the government awarded "water-lots" to private individuals to build wharves and piers, surrendering public control of the waterfront. For over 250 years private enterprise ran the waterfront; the city played a peripheral role. By the end of the Civil War chaos reigned and threatened the port's dominance. In 1870 the city and state created the Department of Docks to exercise public control and rebuild the maritime infrastructure for the new era of steamships and ocean liners. A hundred years later, technological change in the form of the shipping container and jet airplane rendered Manhattan's waterfront obsolete within an incredibly short time span. The maritime use of the shoreline collapsed, mirroring the near death of the city of New York in the 1970s. Ships disappeared and abandoned piers and empty warehouses lined the waterfront. The city slowly and painfully recovered. The empty waterfront allowed visionaries and planners to completely reimagine a shore lined with parkland. Along the new waterfront, luxury housing has transformed the waterfront neighborhoods where the Irish longshoremen once lived. A few remaining piers offer spectacular views of the city's waterways, now a most precious asset. The rebirth has been driven by complex private/public partnerships, with the city of New York playing only a peripheral role. The contentious question of private vs. public control of the waterfront remains a continuing issue in the 21st century"--

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Page Count

257

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421425238

ISBN 13

9781421425238

Grand Central's Engineer

William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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Grand Central's Engineer

William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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292

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JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421403021

ISBN 13

9781421403021

Grand Central Terminal

Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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Grand Central Terminal

Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

“Looks behind the facade to see the hidden engineering marvels . . . will deepen anyone’s appreciation for New York’s most magnificent interior space.” —The New York Times Book Review Winner of the Professional/Scholarly Publishing Award in Architecture from the Association of American Publishers Grand Central Terminal, one of New York City’s preeminent buildings, stands as a magnificent Beaux-Arts monument to America’s Railway Age, and it remains a vital part of city life today. Completed in 1913 after ten years of construction, the terminal became the city’s most important transportation hub, linking long-distance and commuter trains to New York’s network of subways, elevated trains, and streetcars. Its soaring Grand Concourse still offers passengers a majestic gateway to the wonders beyond 42nd Street. In Grand Central Terminal, Kurt C. Schlichting traces the history of this spectacular building, detailing the colorful personalities, bitter conflicts, and Herculean feats of engineering that lie behind its construction. Schlichting begins with Cornelius Vanderbilt—“The Commodore”—whose railroad empire demanded an appropriately palatial passenger terminal in the heart of New York City. Completed in 1871, the first Grand Central was the largest rail facility in the world and yet—cramped and overburdened—soon proved thoroughly inadequate for the needs of this rapidly expanding city. William Wilgus, chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad, conceived of a new Grand Central Terminal, one that would fully meet the needs of the New York Central line. Grand Central became a monument to the creativity and daring of a remarkable age. More than a history of a train station, this book is the story of a city and an age as reflected in a building aptly described as a secular cathedral.

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Page Count

300

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801872960

ISBN 13

9780801872969

Grand Central Terminal

Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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Grand Central Terminal

Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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300

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Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

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ISBN 10

0801872960

ISBN 13

9780801872969

Waterfront Manhattan

From Henry Hudson to the High Line

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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Waterfront Manhattan

From Henry Hudson to the High Line

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

“Rich in historical, sociological, and economic detail . . . a new way to look at the ascendancy and growth of America’s most important city.” —Civil Engineering With its maritime links across the oceans, along the Atlantic coast, and inland to the Midwest and New England, Manhattan became a global city and home to the world’s busiest port. It was a world of docks, ships, tugboats, and ferries, filled with cargo and freight, a place where millions of immigrants entered the Promised Land. In Waterfront Manhattan, Kurt C. Schlichting tells the story of the Manhattan waterfront as a struggle between public and private control of New York’s priceless asset. From colonial times until after the Civil War, the city ceded control of the waterfront to private interests, excluding the public entirely and sparking a battle between shipping companies, the railroads, and ferries for access to the waterfront. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the City of New York regained control of the waterfront, but a whirlwind of forces beyond the control of either public or private interests—technological change in the form of the shipping container and the jet airplane—devastated the city’s maritime world. The city slowly and painfully recovered. Visionaries reimagined the waterfront, and today the island is almost completely surrounded by parkland, the world of piers and longshoremen gone, replaced by luxury housing and tourist attractions. Waterfront Manhattan is “an impressive narrative which is sure to shed light on this underappreciated aspect of New York City history” (Global Maritime History). “An important book. There is much to ponder on the future of New York City’s harbor.” —Journal of American History

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353

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421425246

ISBN 13

9781421425245

Grand Central's Engineer

William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

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Grand Central's Engineer

William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan

By: Kurt C. Schlichting

Few people have had as profound an impact on the history of New York City as William J. Wilgus. As chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad, Wilgus conceived the Grand Central Terminal, the city’s magnificent monument to America’s Railway Age. Kurt C. Schlichting here examines the remarkable career of this innovator, revealing how his tireless work moving people and goods over and under Manhattan Island’s surrounding waterways forever changed New York’s bustling transportation system. After his herculean efforts on behalf of Grand Central, the most complicated construction project in New York’s history, Wilgus turned to solving the city’s transportation quandary: Manhattan—the financial, commercial, and cultural hub of the United States in the twentieth century—was separated from the mainland by two major rivers to the west and east, a deep-water estuary to the south, and the Harlem River to the north. Wilgus believed that railroads and mass transportation provided the answer to New York City’s complicated geography. His ingenious ideas included a freight subway linking rail facilities in New Jersey with manufacturers and shippers in Manhattan, a freight and passenger tunnel connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, and a belt railway interconnecting sixteen private railroads serving the metropolitan area. Schlichting’s deep passion for Wilgus and his engineering achievements are evident in the pages of this fascinating work. Wilgus was a true pioneer, and Schlichting ensures that his brilliant contributions to New York City’s transportation system will not be forgotten. Praise for Schlichting's Grand Central Terminal "Grand Central Terminal is celebrated for its Beaux-Arts style, but Kurt C. Schlichting looks behind the facade to see the hidden engineering marvels."—New York Times Book Review "His study peels away our contemporary expectations and experiences and reveals the layers of history and acts of men that served as the foundation for this great structure."—H-Urban, H-Net Review "The most detailed account yet of one of the most important events in the history of 20th-century architecture, railroad development, and city building."—Choice "In his detailed accounts of the fiscal, stylistic, and engineering decisions that went into the creation of . . . Grand Central Terminal, Schlichting clearly shows both how energetic and talented all of the people involved were and how dramatically they altered this central portion of New York City."—Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians "Ably tells the story of the New York rail system's most active and visible symbol: the architectural and engineering masterpiece, with its grand public concourse, in the heart of Midtown."—New Scientist

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292

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421406950

ISBN 13

9781421406954

Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

By: Kurt Vonnegut

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Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

By: Kurt Vonnegut

Gathers interviews with Vonnegut from each period of his career and offers a brief profile of his life and accomplishments.

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Publisher

Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published Date

ISBN 10

0878053581

ISBN 13

9780878053582

Book's by Kurt C. Schlichting

Waterfront Manhattan

Waterfront Manhattan

Grand Central's Engineer

Grand Central's Engineer

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal

Waterfront Manhattan

Waterfront Manhattan

Grand Central's Engineer

Grand Central's Engineer

Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

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