Walking Broadway: Thirteen Miles of Architecture and History

’As pleasurable in an easy chair as on foot.’ - Library Journal

’Two ingredients make this title as pleasurable in an easy chair as on foot: the author’s exceptional sense of how to capture the particular personality of a building in words and images and [the] book designer’s skilled composition of typography, color, and image.’ - Library Journal

Walking Broadway encapsulates the architectural history of Manhattan with fourteen walks that guide readers along New York’s most famous street

Walking Broadway offers readers an architectural tour of the entire length of Broadway from Bowling Green to the Harlem River. Through fourteen structured walks the book not only presents the history of New York’s most famous avenue, but also explores its architecture in depth, block by block, building by building.

This is a book about what can be seen and experienced on Broadway today. Buildings are chosen for discussion first and foremost because they are interesting to look at. In a relaxed and engaging style, the author presents the building’s story, explores the reasons why it is there, and explains why it looks the way it does.

Along the way, the reader not only has the chance to discover fascinating and unusual buildings, but also gains a comprehensive understanding of the historic, social, economic, and political forces which shaped Broadway’s growth and character.

Art historian William Hennessey has taught at Vassar College, the University of Kansas, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Michigan and directed the art museums at each of those institutions. From 1997 to 2014 he was director of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Hennessey is the author of catalogues and articles on a variety of art and design topics, including nineteenth-century architecture and twentieth-century industrial design.