Overview

During the rise of New York from the capital of an upstart nation to a global metropolis, the visual language of Greek and Roman antiquity played a formative role in the development of the city's art and architecture. This compilation of essays offers a survey of diverse reinterpretations of classical forms in some of New York's most iconic buildings, public monuments, and civic spaces. Classical New York examines the influence of Greco-Roman thought and design from the Greek Revival of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through the late-nineteenth-century American Renaissance and Beaux Arts period and into the twentieth century's Art Deco. At every juncture, New Yorkers looked to the classical past for knowledge and inspiration in seeking out new ways to cultivate a civic identity, to design their buildings and monuments, and to structure their public and private spaces. Specialists from a range of disciplines-archaeology, architectural history, art history, classics, and history- focus on how classical art and architecture are repurposed to help shape many of New York City's most evocative buildings and works of art. Federal Hall evoked the Parthenon as an architectural and democratic model; the Pantheon served as a model for the creation of Libraries at New York University and Columbia University; Pennsylvania Station derived its form from the Baths of Caracalla; and Atlas and Prometheus of Rockefeller Center recast ancient myths in a new light during the Great Depression. Designed to add breadth and depth to the exchange of ideas about the place and meaning of ancient Greece and Rome in our experience of New York City today, this examination of post-Revolutionary art, politics, and philosophy enriches the conversation about how we shape space-be it civic, religious, academic, theatrical, or domestic-and how we make use of that space and the objects in it.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis ,  Matthew McGowan ,  Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis ,  Matthew McGowan
Publisher:   Fordham University Press
Imprint:   Fordham University Press
ISBN:  

9780823288700

ISBN 10:   0823288706
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   05 May 2020
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface vii List of Figures ix Classical New York Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis and Matthew McGowan | 1 1. The Custom House of 1833–42: A Greek Revival Building in Context | 15 Francis Morrone 2. The Imperial Metropolis | 38 Margaret Malamud 3. Archaeology versus Aesthetics: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Classical Collection in Its Early Years | 63 Elizabeth Bartman 4. The Gould Memorial Library and Hall of Fame: Reinterpreting the Pantheon in the Bronx | 85 Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis 5. “The Expression of Civic Life”: Civic Centers and the City Beautiful in New York City | 114 Jon Ritter 6. The Titans of Rockefeller Center: Prometheus and Atlas | 140 Jared A. Simard 7. Rome Reborn: Old Pennsylvania Station and the Legacy of the Baths of Caracalla | 161 Maryl B. Gensheimer 8. The Roman Bath in New York: Public Bathing, the Pursuit of Pleasure, and Monumental Delight | 182 Allyson McDavid 9. “In Ancient and Permanent Language”: Artful Dialogue in the Latin Inscriptions of New York City | 211 Matthew McGowan Reflections | 235 Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis and Matthew McGowan Glossary | 239 Acknowledgments | 243 Bibliography | 245 List of Contributors | 267 Index

Reviews

...references to the myths, gods, motifs and structures of the ancient world are seemingly everywhere: in courthouses, museums and libraries, in arches and columns, in Latin inscriptions and sculptures. But these classical references aren't just about aesthetics or engineering. They also symbolize the aspirations of a city that saw itself as a capital of learning, culture, and civic life, on par with the finest institutions of the ancient world. * New Books Network * The volume as a whole equips one to come to the places under discussion with a deeper and broader sense of their relation to the Classical past and to the historical context in which they were constructed... The sensitivity of thought and sustained research displayed by the authors of the volume encourages us all to approach other places in a similar spirit and with similar effort. * In Medias Res * Classical New York breaks new ground in the study of local receptions of ancient Greece and Rome. This book will attract attention from classicists interested in reception, architectural historians, local historians, and fans of New York City's architectural heritage. -- Lee T. Pearcy, Bryn Mawr College

Classical New York breaks new ground in the study of local receptions of ancient Greece and Rome. This book will attract attention from classicists interested in reception, architectural historians, local historians, and fans of New York City's architectural heritage. -- Lee T. Pearcy, Bryn Mawr College

Author Information

Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis (Edited By) Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis is Associate Professor of Liberal Studies and Middle Eastern Studies. She is also the Executive Officer of the M.A. Program in Liberal Studies at the Graduate Center, the City University of New York. Matthew McGowan (Edited By) Matthew M. McGowan is Associate Professor and Chair of Classics at Fordham University.

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