Grand Central Terminal (New York City, 1903-13) stands at the true heart of Manhattan. Built at the beginning of the twentieth century it represents the ideals and aspirations of a great American city emerging as a world metropolis in the decade before World War I.
Splendid and conspicuous, Grand Central is more than a building; it is not just a civic monument but the central component of an exercise in urban planning which set a new standard for New York and every other great city. Romantic, extravagant and gargantuan as Grand Central seems to late twentieth century sensibilities, it still embodies a practical and progressive vision of urban life which has new relevance in the aftermath of the Modern Movement.
'Architecture In Detail' is a superbly photographed and technically informative series of monographs which embraces a broad spectrum of internationally renowned buildings, drawn predominantly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Each sixty-page volume contains a lucid text by a respected author; a sequence of large-format, high-quality colour and black and white photographs; a comprehensive set of technical drawings and working details; and a complete bibliography and chronology, thus making these books the definitive work on the subject. They are essential purchases for enthusiasts, practitioners and students alike.
