Unit 1 - Unit 2 - Unit 3 - Unit 4 - Unit 5 - Unit 6

 

TOUR UNIT FOUR

 

Skyscrapers and Greenwich Village: The ãRoaring Twentiesä

 

 

Day

Topic

Day 1

 

Wall Street and the Skyscraper: Architecture of Commercial and Corporate Capital

 

HA, 90-94; 104-105

Willis, Form Follows Finance* p. 19-47 (lotsa pictures...)

Robins, Top This One: The Continuing Saga of the Tallest Building in the World *

 

1) What ãproblemä does the skyscraper solve, technically, economically, culturally? how does it ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ solve these problems?

 

Day 2

 

Fifth Avenue: The Architecture of Prosperity

 

HA, 100-101

Burchell, On the Avenue, Fifth Avenue *

in class slides

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

1) What are the push and pull factors that drive the upward growth of Fifth Avenue?

2) Draw a map/timeline of Fifth Avenueâs upward growth showing where the landmarks are established and when

 

Day 3

 

Shopping for Status: The ÎLadies Mileâ and the Culture of Consumption

 

HA, 102-103

Stainman, Shopping for Status

Harriman, And the Price is Right

begin Wharton stories

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

1) How is shopping a ãdemocratizingä activity? How can it be turned to a means of reinforcing ÊÊÊÊÊ social status?

 

Day 4

 

Edith Wharton and ÎOld New Yorkâ

 

1) How are Edith Whartonâs female characters caught in the same dynamic that Stainman describes in Shopping for Status?

 

Day 5

 

Mass Transit, the Apartment Building and the Segregated City

 

Discuss tour location and choose stops(in groups)

 

HA, 106-107

Clifton Hood, 722 Miles

Elizabeth Hawes, New York, New York*

 

1) How do the ãelä and the apartment building contribute to geographic segregation? What are the forms of segregation that increase at the turn of the century, social, economic, functional?

 

Day 6

 

Form Follows Finance: Wall Street to 1916

 

Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance,pp.Ê 67-90

in-class slides

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

1)How does ãform follow financeä in the case of the skyscaper? How is the skyscraper the product of corporate capital? Real-estate speculation? Architectural trends? Technological advances? What, in the end, really drives the invention and evolution of the New York skyscraper?

 

 

Day 7

 

The Empire State

 

Library research

 

Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance, pp 90-101 *

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York pp 132-144 *

in-class slides

 

1)How is the Empire State Building the quintessential symbol of metropolitan NYC?

 

Day 8

 

Rockefeller Center

 

Classroom and web research and submit quiz questions

 

HA, 142-143

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York pp 178-207

 

Day 9

 

Tour

 

Day 10

 

Quiz, debrief on tour and post contributions on the Gotham map website

 

 

 

OPTIONAL GREENWICH VILLAGE UNIT

 

Greenwich Village- Radicalism and Bohemia, 1919-29

 

 

Day

Topic

Day 1

 

Village Radicalism: the Birth of Bohemia

HA, 134-135

Ware, Greenwich Village , pp3-15

Cirino, Literary New York, pp 35-63

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

1) How does Henry Jamesâ genteel quarter of ãestablished reposeä become the ãbohemiaä of Willa Cather and John Reed?Ê How does ethnic succession contribute to this transformation?ÊÊ

 

Day 2

 

Village Radicalism: Socialism, Feminism and Free Love

 

Ware, Greenwich Village , 235-263

ãGreenwich Village: The Playground of Utopiaä

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

1) What is the connection between bohemianism and the feminism of the 1920s? Between ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ socialism and feminism?

 

Day 3

 

Gay Bohemia

 

Chauncey, Gay New York, 24-44

New York Times 6/29/69

 

1) How does Greenwich Village become a ãhomosexual enclaveä? How is the gay village a ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ different phenomenon than the bohemia of the 1920s?