Scenes from a Slide Lecture: From up in the air down to our blog

From "New York from the Air", by John Tauranac, a view of Central Park.

Yesterday, LW! gathered with friends and neighbors as John Tauranac shared with us a view of New York rarely seen by the average individual: New York from the air.  Images from Mr. Tauranac's book of the same name (photographed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand) raised us up off the sidewalks and into the sky, if only for the evening.  What a treat, to see our city from this new perspective!

Architectural historian Tony Robins welcomed our guests to the Macaulay Honors College (our generous hosts for the evening) and introduced John Tauranac, first, by way of his leadership in designing the 1979 New York City subway map.  As Mr. Robins mused:

"... that brings us to tonight’s talk, and John’s current venture.  Having largely exhausted the possibilities of charting the city’s pathways below ground with his subway maps, and at street level with his bus and block-by-block maps, John had only one way to grow: Upwards.  And so tonight we will sit back while John guides us on an aerial expedition floating above the tops of skyscrapers, as illustrated in his wonderful book, 'New York from the Air.'”

To read Tony Robins' full introduction, click here

And with that, we were airborne!  Throughout the slide lecture, we tweeted some of our favorite images.  Head to our feed now to check them out; a selection are shared here, too.  For copies of "New York from the Air", visit John Tauranac's website.

At the intersection of Court and Livington Streets in Brooklyn, Art Deco stonework
enlivens an apartment building.

Getting closer to our Upper West Side neighborhood, the Symphony House apartment building.

As soon as the Beresford Apartments flicked up onto the screen, our thoughts turned to
2011's inaugural Landmark Feast, for which the handsome building served as inspiring backdrop.

As we tweeted last night, we "cannot escape McKim Meade & White!".  Architects of
Low Library on Columbia University's campus were also the masters behind
the landmark-in-waiting IRT Powerhouse. 
Learn more about efforts to save the IRT Powerhouse here.