Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Following on the success of Never Built Los Angeles (Metropolis Books, 2013), authors Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell now turn their eye to New York City. New York towers among world capitals, but the city we know might have reached even more stellar heights, or burrowed into more destructive depths, had the ideas pictured in the minds of its greatest dreamers progressed beyond the drawing board and taken form in stone, steel, and glass. What is wonderfully elegant and grand might easily have been ingloriously grandiose; what is blandly unremarkable, equally, might have become delightfully provocative or humanely inspiring. The ambitious schemes gathered here tell the story of a different skyline and a different sidewalk alike. Nearly 200 ambitious proposals spanning 200 years encompass bridges, skyscrapers, master plans, parks, transit schemes, amusements, airports, plans to fill in rivers and extend Manhattan, and much, much more. Included are alternate visions for such landmarks as Central Park, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, MoMA, the U.N., Grand Central Station and the World Trade Centre site, among many others sites. Fact-filled and entertaining texts, as well as sketches, renderings, prints, and models drawn from archives all across the New York metropolitan region tell stories of a new New York, one that surely would have changed the way we inhabit and move through the city.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The catalogue of an exhibit that will open in April 2017 at New York's Queens Museum, this book offers a journey through time as it illustrates the "power of ideas" to create order within the city or to break free for the future. The volume surveys unbuilt projects--buildings, city plans, expressways, parks, tunnels--in New York (all five boroughs), showing not only the designers' creativity but also the difficulty they have had in realizing their ideas and innovations. The introductory essay portrays the essence of the city as a continually changing and renewing environment. Facelifts such as those proposed by Robert Moses and redevelopment exemplified by the World Trade Center are described as elements of change, and the classic styles are retained in designs for the Grand Central Terminal, for example. The unbuilt ventures presented span from 1811 to 2009, the bulk dating to the second half of the 20th century. In looking at the development of the city, the authors show what the future could have been if the proposals had been built, and it leaves the reader thinking about what the impact of the various projects would have been. A great companion to Tom Miller's Seeking New York: The Stories behind the Historic Architecture of Manhattan--One Building at a Time (2015). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. --Lauren B. Allsopp, University of Oregon