Higher : A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City

From Publishers Weekly The 1920s "race" to build the world's tallest building has been extensively chronicled. A former literary agent and former St. Martin's editor, Bascomb centers his narrative on two architects, William Van Alen and Craig Severance, who schemed to outdo each other in the race to pierce New York City's skies with, respectively, the Manhattan Company Building at 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building on East 42nd Street-only to be beaten by a third team hired to construct the Empire State Building (at Fifth Avenue and 34th). While this story is most often told as a sentimental paean to "progress" rather than a bitter corporate feud, Bascomb gives his tale a fresh sense of capitalist drama in his evocation of the nascent worlds of skyscraper engineering, architecture and construction-and real estate speculation with returns projected at 10%. He imbues the former three with some terrific detail (including a 22-item list of how many trades, including mail chute installers and asbestos insulators, it took to build a skyscraper) that gives context to the players and incidental characters, including the five Starrett brothers (builders raised in Lawrence, Kans., who built 40 Wall Street), General Motors' financier John Jacob Raskob (the man behind the ESB), Walter Chrysler, New Yorker reviewer "T-Square," former governor Al Smith and many others. The occasionally intrusive cliches (the Starrett brothers "had building in their blood"), hyperbole (the '20s were "a decade gone mad") and familiar generalizations (the U.S. "finally came into its own" in that same decade) are excusable in a debut book, especially one chronicling an obsession with height and speed. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Though the desire to spike the landscape with ever-higher structures dates back millennia, skyscraper one-upmanship accelerated in the twentieth century. And while it continues today, never was the race so neck-and-neck as at the end of the Roaring Twenties in New York. Architect William Van Alen, commissioned by Walter Chrysler, found himself in direct competition with partner-turned-rival Craig Severance, architect for the Manhattan Company Building (now the Trump Building). Though the Chrysler was begun first, the Manhattan moved faster, and both groups soon were secretly revising plans--with construction underway. With its cloud-piercing spire, the Chrysler won the height race (although the Manhattan claimed the highest usable floor). The real winner was a late entrant: the Empire State Building. Bascomb's book is nicely rounded, exploring the finances and logistics of skyscraper building, from acquiring the land to riveting the steel; the benefits and drawbacks of height; and the personalities of the builders--all as he ratchets up the tension of the race. \*Keir Graff\* \*Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved\* The Roaring Twenties in New York was a time of exuberant ambition, free-flowing optimism, an explosion of artistic expression in the age of Prohibition. New York was the city that embodied the spirit and strength of a newly powerful America. In 1924, in the vibrant heart of Manhattan, a fierce rivalry was born. Two architects, William Van Alen and Craig Severance (former friends and successful partners, but now bitter adversaries), set out to imprint their individual marks on the greatest canvas in the world--the rapidly evolving skyline of New York City. Each man desired to build the city’s tallest building, or ‘skyscraper.’ Each would stop at nothing to outdo his rival. Van Alen was a creative genius who envisioned a bold, contemporary building that would move beyond the tired architecture of the previous century. By a stroke of good fortune he found a larger-than-life patron in automobile magnate Walter Chrysler, and they set out to build the legendary Chrysler building. Severance, by comparison, was a brilliant businessman, and he tapped his circle of downtown, old-money investors to begin construction on the Manhattan Company Building at 40 Wall Street. From ground-breaking to bricklaying, Van Alen and Severance fought a cunning duel of wills. Each man was forced to revamp his architectural design in an attempt to push higher, to overcome his rival in mid-construction, as the structures rose, floor by floor, in record time. Yet just as the battle was underway, a third party entered the arena and announced plans to build an even larger building. This project would be overseen by one of Chrysler’s principal rivals--a representative of the General Motors group--and the building ultimately became known as The Empire State Building. Infused with narrative thrills and perfectly rendered historical and engineering detail, Higher brings to life a sensational episode in American history. Author Neal Bascomb interweaves characters such as Al Smith and Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, leading up to an astonishing climax that illustrates one of the most ingenious (and secret) architectural achievements of all time. A History Of The Competitive Constructions Of The Chrysler Building, The Manhattan Company Building, And The Empire State Building Describes The Fierce Rivalries Of Their Architects And The Individuals Who Supported Or Thwarted Their Efforts. A Hunch, Then A Demand -- The Architect-artist -- A Proud And Soaring Thing -- The Organization Man -- Make The Land Pay -- An American Invention -- The Poet In Overalls -- To Scrape The Sky -- Equivalent To War -- A Three-way Race -- Oxygen To The Fire -- Call It A Vertex -- A Monument To The Future -- The Prize Of The Race -- The Butterfly And Its Cocoon -- Crash -- Pharaoh Against Pharaoh -- Aladdin's Genii And Paper Fights -- The Chase Into The Sky -- Excelsior -- Spirit--not Steel And Stone. Neal Bascomb. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [325]-342). New York City in the Roaring Twenties, a battle between America's most creative and most ambitious archtitects, the race to build the world's tallest skyscraper. In 1924, in the vibrant heart of Manhattan, a fierce rivalry was born. Two architects, William Van Alen and Craig Severance (former friends and successful partners, but now bitter adversaries), set out to imprint their individual marks on the greatest canvas in the world -- the rapidly evolving skyline of New York City. Each man desired to build the city's tallest building. Each would stop at nothing to outdo his rival. - Jacket flap. Prologue : The soaring Twenties Part one. A hunch, then a demand The architect-artist A proud and soaring thing The organization man Make the land pay An American invention The poet in overalls To scrape the sky Equivalent to war A three-way race Interlude : Oxygen to the fire Part two. Call it a "Vertex" A monument to the future The prize of the race The butterfly and its cocoon Crash Pharaoh against Pharaoh Aladdin's Genii and paper fights The chase into the sky Excelsior Epilogue : Spirit--not steel and stone A history of the competitive constructions of The Chrysler Building, the Manhattan Company Building, and the Empire State Building describes the fierce rivalries of their architects and the individuals who supported or thwarted their efforts, including Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt. The lobster shift returned home from a long night of pouring drinks, driving taxis, scrubbing floors, or walking the beat on the mad city streets.