Books in the Washington Mews series

Seven of the eight short stories in this collection were originally published in Collier's magazine. The eighth story, Dreamt Last Night, was published in Redbook magazine.

As the definitive resource on the architectural history of New York City, The Landmarks of New York documents and illustrates the 1,352 individual landmarks and 135 historic districts that have been accorded landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission since its establishment in 1965. Arranged chronologically by date of construction, the book offers a sequential overview of the cityΓÇÖs architectural history and richness, presenting a broad range of styles and building types: colonial farmhouses, Gilded Age mansions, churches, schools, libraries, museums, and the great twentieth-century skyscrapers that are recognized throughout the world. That so many of these structures have endured is due, in large measure, to the efforts of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and hundreds of private sector preservation organizations, large and small. Since the commission was established, New York City has become the leader of the preservation movement in the United States, with more buildings and districts designated and protected than in any other city. The Landmarks of New York includes such iconic structures as Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Carnegie Hall, as well as those that may be less well known but are of significant historical and architectural value: the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, the oldest structure in New York City; the Bowne House in Queens, the birthplace of American religious freedom; the Watchtower in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem; the New York Botanical Garden in The Bronx; and Sailors Snug Harbor on Staten Island. The sixth edition adds 106 new individual landmarks, two special addenda on the hotly-contested ΓÇ£back-logΓÇ¥ and resultant 30 pending designations, over 150 new photographs, and new historic district maps.

A new facsimile edition of a classic work on New York¿s architectural masterpiece¿Central Park Central Park receives millions of visitors every year, tourists and locals alike. A Description of the New York Central Park, published in 1869, is recognized today as the most important book about the park to appear during its early years. The lively, often wry, text was written by Clarence C. Cook, a distinguished Victorian art critic, while the illustrations were drawn by the popular Albert Fitch Bellows. The author and artist examine many sites in the park that survive to this day as well as features that have vanished over time. In a new Introduction, Maureen Meister reveals how the book came about. In the mid-1860s, the park¿s designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, were battling to defend their plan. Of greatest concern was a proposal to build ornate entrances, suggestive of French imperialism. If realized, the gates would have undermined the park¿s natural and democratic image. At the same time, the park was threatened by a proliferation of monuments. Meister tells how Olmsted and Vaux advised Cook on what he wrote, and she has found evidence to suggest that they initiated the book¿s publication. This book is their book. While the original volume offers much to delight the modern reader, Meister¿s Introduction sheds light on how the book served a greater purpose. It was published to champion Olmsted and Vaux and to advocate for their vision¿a dream for a magnificent public park that has come to be regarded as New York City¿s achievement and a model for the nation.