The Intimate City. Walking in New York by Michael Kimmelman
When I spent my junior year in Paris, I used to walk about the city on Saturdays with my Guide Michelin. It was like having an erudite friend who knew all there was to know about the history and architecture of this magnificent city. “Look up and note the sixteenth-century drainpipe in the form of a gargoyle.” Michael Kimmelman’s book, The Intimate City, offers similar companionship for those exploring another magnificent city, our own New York.
As architectural critic of the Times, Michael got the idea during COVID of taking walks around the city with a succession of “cicerones,” a charming old term for knowledgeable guides. This book originates in those walks. Among his walking companions are Eric Sanderson, who led the Mannahatta Project, which dove into the ecological complexity of the city, the author Suketa Mehta, who brought an immigrant’s perspective to the exploration of Jackson Heights, and the architectural team of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, who have an in depth understanding of Carnegie Hall. (to name a few, really)
Places we race by on our way to a destination snap into clear focus. Turns out that the strange building we have always wondered about has a history and a function. Friends Seminary could base a course on getting to know one of the most vibrant and diverse cities in the world on this richly informative book.
