The Architect of New York

by Javier Moro, Peter J. Hearn (Translator)

A transportive work of historical fiction chronicling the life, loves, and larger-than-life successes of Rafael Guastavino, an influential yet largely forgotten Spanish architect of New York’s Gilded Era

Iconoclast. Genius. Womanizer. Architect Rafael Guastavino’s signature vaulted tile ceilings revolutionized Gilded Age New York City. The Oyster Bar in Grand Central, the Prospect Park Boathouse, and the iconic Old City Hall subway stop, number among his masterpieces. But while his works continue to imbue the city with the glamor of a bygone era, the man himself has been largely forgotten. Until now.

Told through the eyes of Guastavino’s son and business partner, Javier Moro’s magnetic prose brings to life the remarkable rags-to-riches journey of this influential immigrant family. Guastavino was a stubborn man, enamored of his own sense of destiny, but he was also a deeply compassionate father, as committed to his family as he was to his work, and equally defined by his successes in the latter realm as by his failures in the former.

Set against historical events including the Chicago World's Fair and the sinking of the Titanic, The Architect of New York is a moving and entertaining father-son story filled with finely developed and deeply researched real-life characters (including figures like Stanford White) that captures the glamor and drama of a bygone era while offering a perrenial glimpse into the human heart.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, 19th Century, Audiobook, New York

352 pages, Hardcover

Published January 6, 2026

About the author

Javier Moro es autor de grandes epopeyas como Senderos de libertad (Planeta/Seix Barral, 1992) que cuenta la lucha por la defensa de la selva amazónica; El pie de Jaipur, (Planeta/Seix Barral, 1995) un conmovedor relato sobre la capacidad de superación del ser humano; Las montañas de Buda (Planeta/Seix Barral, 1998) resultado de dos años de investigación en Tibet, Nepal y la India, que es un testimonio indispensable sobre el drama tibetano. En 2001 ha publicado Era medianoche en Bhopal, la historia de la mayor catástrofe industrial de todos los tiempos, en colaboración con Dominique Lapierre. En 2005, Pasión India (Seix Barral), la vida de la bailarina española que se casó con el Marajá de Kapurthala, libro que ha fascinado a más de un millón de lectores en España y que ha sido traducido a 17 idiomas.
En 2008,El sari rojo, la historia de la familia Nehru a traves de la vida de Sonia Gandhi, libro que ha causado una fuerte polemica en la India y que ha sido recibido con gran exito de critica y lectores en todos los paises donde se ha publicado. Finalmente, "El Imperio Eres Tu", ganadora del Premio Planeta de Novela 2011.

Reviews

[Natalia Weissfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a richly rewarding read, an engrossing biography and a compelling chapter in the history of American architecture. Through the intertwined lives of Rafael Guastavino and his son, Moro brings to light a story that has long remained largely untold.
At the heart of the book is the Guastavinos’ extraordinary mastery of the Catalan vault, a construction technique that combined structural intelligence, speed, economy, and remarkable beauty. Moro explains with clarity and precision how this system of thin tile vaulting revolutionized American building practices at the turn of the twentieth century, making possible fireproof, elegant public spaces in some of the nation’s most iconic buildings. From grand train stations and libraries to universities and churches, the Guastavino vaults became a defining feature of American architecture.
Moro portrays both father and son as complex individuals bound by a shared passion for beauty, craftsmanship, and innovation. Their relationship, marked by admiration, tension, and continuity, gives the narrative emotional depth. The author skillfully situates their personal struggles and ambitions within the context of a rapidly modernizing America, where opportunity and competition coexisted.
The book is also a moving testament to the transformative role of immigrants in shaping the United States. As outsiders, the Guastavinos brought with them not only technical expertise but a distinct architectural sensibility that enriched their adopted country. Moro grounds his narrative in meticulous research and strong documentation.
Clearly, elegantly written, and skillfully translated the book succeeds in making technical subjects accessible while never losing sight of their cultural and artistic significance. It is a celebration of ingenuity, perseverance, and the enduring power of beauty. For anyone interested in architecture, history, or the immigrant experience, this book is a deeply satisfying and enlightening read.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read.

This weaves Historical Fiction with the real life tales of this amazing architect, who was clearly way ahead of his time in his field. He also taught his sons the ways of his work/world, so that they would never have to worry about working…which was remarkable!

On the flip side…. He was also quite the Don Juan… in that he was married, and yet having affairs left and right…
And, having children pretty much all over the place. (Yes, I’m exaggerating… but not by much!). I give a lot of credit to the women he was with… Not sure I’d ever put up with any of it!

That being said, this brings you through time… literally.
And reveals all the ‘marks’ he made and left… including many right here in NY and NYC! Parks, subway stations and so much more during the beautiful Gilded Era…

He was a brilliant architect, and I cannot honestly say that I knew of his name before reading this book.

So, kudos to his son, as well as the translator, who brought this book to life!

4 bold, bright stars for me! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

#TheArchitectOfNewYork by @JavierMoro and narrated beautfully by @RobertFass.

THIS ONE IS NOT BEING RELEASED UNTIL JANUARY 6TH... SO PLEASE KEEP YOUR EYES 👀 OPEN FOR ITS RELEASE Next Month!!!

Thanks so much to #NetGalley, #BrilliancePublishing and #BrillianceAudio for an ALC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

They called him “the architect of New York” in his New York Times obituary dated February 2, 1908. And he was. Or rather, THEY were. The title in the obituary, at the time it was written, referred to the elder Guastavino, Rafael Guastavino Moreno, but even then it could have referred to either Rafael Guastavino, the father or the son he named for himself and trained to be his protegee, his right-hand man, and his shadow.

As told in this fictionalized biography/autobiography, not even the two Rafaels Guastavino could tell where the one ended and the other began. And by the end of this story, it’s clear that, as much as he might have wanted to stand apart from his father as a young man, once his beloved father was gone he wished he’d never been forced to discover where that line was drawn.

The story reads as if it was intended to be a biography of the older Guastavino. But that biography is written as if from the perspective of the younger, and he tells his own story just as much – if not at points a bit more – than he does his father’s. After all, he knows his own story better AND remembers what he thought and felt as the events he witnessed actually happened.

His father was often a closed book, partly because this story begins when the younger Guastavino, called Rafaelito to distinguish him from the larger-than-life persona of his father, was merely nine years old. A boy, recently immigrated to the United States, with his parents and his older sisters, in the midst of his family tearing itself apart due to stresses that he was, at the time, too young to understand.

But also, and more prominently as Rafaelito’s story continues and he grows in maturity and understanding, because the bits of his father’s life in their native Spain that his father reluctantly reveals over the years contains a great deal of truly messy embarrassments and outright scandals, and the father doesn’t want to tarnish the worship in his son’s eyes.

As much as Guastavino senior had been at the (first) height of his career as an architect and builder when he fled Spain for America on borrowed – and possibly swindled – money, as a human being he was a bit of a louse. More than a bit when it came to his relationships with women.

Part of Rafaelito’s growing up included the discovery that his mother was not his father’s wife, that older his sisters were his half-sisters AND that he had older half-brothers (sons of his father’s first and at the time legal wife) that he’d never met, that the woman in New York City who loved him like a mother couldn’t legally marry his father, and that dear old dad cheated on her, too, repeatedly.

Senior also sent the family – however untraditionally it was constituted – into desperate financial straits over and over again because he could not manage money to save either his soul or whatever building company he was operating at the time.

He always meant well, but he didn’t always do well – at least not personally. Professionally, Guastavino senior was a bit of a dreamer – but he was often right and always visionary. His ability to execute those visions, when he was forced to rely on others outside himself, was hampered by his inability to see the way the world really worked.

But his buildings assuredly did – beautifully so – and in many cases, still do.

The elder Guastavino’s story is a compelling one. It’s a riches to rags to riches to rags to riches story told from the perspective of a person who knew him intimately, shared his life, his work, his profession and his company – and loved him much too much to have anything like an unbiased opinion on anything to do with the man he saw as larger than life until long after the end of it.

That their identities became so intertwined that the many, many buildings they created or helped to create, including parts of Vanderbilt’s famous Biltmore Estate, the Boston Public Library, the Spanish Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and several glorious and iconic New York City Subway Stations are now often credited to the company they shared rather than either of them individually.

So, in the process of telling his father’s story, a labor of love for a man now old enough to look back and see a bit more of his father’s truth, Rafael Guastavino, Jr. also does a heartfelt and heart wrenching job of telling his own.

Escape/Reality Rating A: To quote Mark Twain, one of the elder Guastavino’s contemporaries, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” The story that Rafaelito tells in The Architect of New York is so wild that it seems over the top at many points – and yet it’s all based on the known facts of the man’s life and the work that he – and his son – left behind all over New York City, most of the Eastern Seaboard and all the way across the country.

Which is why this is both an Escape and a Reality rating. As a reader/listener (mostly listener), I certainly escaped into this story. As someone fascinated with history, that the bones of this story are both true and not well known made for a delightful voyage of discovery. The Guastavino designs remain gorgeous examples of New York City’s Gilded Age and Art Deco periods, with their sweeping vaulted ceilings and glorious ceramic tilework.

At the same time, because this is a fictionalized version of a real life it’s difficult to separate what happened from how it’s being told. I both don’t want to critique the man’s actual life – but I also do because his personal life was, to put it in 21st century terms, a hot mess. One of his own making, at that. While he didn’t actually marry all of the women involved, he did also kind of bypass bigamy on the way to trigamy – just not in a legal sense which would have gotten him in even more hot water than he was already in up to his neck.

By telling the story through Rafaelito it allows the author to put a bit of gauze over the lens of objectivity, and also puts the focus more on the work they did together. It turns the story of a truly wild life into a story about the relationship between fathers and sons, the relationship between the immigrant generation and the more formally educated second generation, and, in a business sense, the relationship between the hard driven founding generation and the softer, more privileged generation that comes after them. Those stories, those relationships, are universal and are beautifully explored here.

Rafaelito’s later-in-life reflections on just how much he STILL misses his father, on how much he regrets their frequent arguments, how heartbreakingly often he wishes he could go back in time and tell his father how much he loved him just once more, will bring tears to the eyes of anyone with a heart – especially those who lost their own fathers before they had a chance to realize everything they would miss.

The Architect of New York is a beautiful, absorbing LOT of a story. The audio, read by Robert Fass, was also very well done. Something in the narrator’s voice allowed me to sink right into the story, and that was just right as the story is more than dramatic enough to the point that too much vocal embellishment would take away from it.

In the end, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, both for its story and for its peek into the Gilded Age and turn of 20th century America, as well as for its tale of love and independence and fathers and sons. If you enjoy stories of fascinating characters with big dreams, even bigger accomplishments, and feet of clay up to the knees, it’s a compelling journey from beginning to end.

One final note; Throughout my absorption in this book, as I listened to the narrator there was a song running through my head. The song, which has reached earworm status and I can’t get it out, is “Leader of the Band” by Dan Fogelberg. Because, the story in that song, the story of Fogelberg’s love for his own father and appreciation of his legacy, may refer to a different shared profession but is very much the same story. A story about a son whose life “has been a poor attempt to imitate the man” and feels as though he’s “just a living legacy” to the father he loved and worshiped.

Originally published at Reading Reality

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

****
Thank you to NetGalley and Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press for the e-ARC!

Originally published by Javier Moror in Spanish as "A prueba de fuego" in 2020, this new English language version comes via translator, Peter J. Hearn.

This work is technically historical fiction, as it is a biography of the real-life architect and builder, Rafael Guastavino (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_...), as told in an imaginary memoir style by his son Rafael. Spanning the decades from 1870s through the 1930s , but mostly focused on the era pre-dating WWI.

As both an architectural/public works and New York City aficionado, I found the book engaging and enjoyable, and was surprised I had never hear of Guastavino before. However, while it's title states it's a "novel" it reads much more like a memoir or biography, so reader beware.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one.

I’ll start by saying this is a lengthy book. I listened to it on audio while juggling other things, and even then it felt long, but not in a bad way. It’s the kind of book that takes its time because it has a lot to say, and honestly, I was interested the entire way through.

What stood out most to me is how much this story makes you wish this figure was more commonly talked about in history classes. He was foundational to so much of what we associate with New York architecture, yet most people (myself included) don’t really know his story. Having someone bring him back into the spotlight through historical fiction felt meaningful and well done.

The blend of fact and fiction works really well here. You can clearly tell that a lot of research went into the real historical details, while the fictional elements help humanize the story and keep it engaging. It never felt dry or overly academic, which I really appreciated.

This year I’ve been intentionally trying to branch out more into historical fiction, memoirs, and nonfiction, and this felt like a solid entry point for that goal. It gave me history without feeling like homework.

Overall, this was a very interesting, immersive read, and I’m genuinely glad I picked it up. I’d strongly recommend it if you enjoy historical fiction that actually teaches you something while still telling a compelling story. Thank Netgally and Brilliance publishing for the ARC.

[Reeca Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iconoclast. Genius. Womanizer. Architect Rafael Guastavino’s signature vaulted tile ceilings revolutionized Gilded Age New York City. The Oyster Bar in Grand Central, the Prospect Park Boathouse, and the iconic Old City Hall subway station number among his masterpieces. But while his works continue to imbue the city with the glamour of a bygone era, the man himself has been largely forgotten.

This is a bit slow and drawn out. I did enjoy learning about the history surrounding the architecture and the creations by Rafael Guastavino. He was truly a genius. Plus, he was a bit of a scoundrel as well, especially where women were concerned. I had a hard time keeping up with all his women and children. He was also terrible with his money. I bet he lost multiple fortunes due to mismanagement.

This is told through the voice of one his sons. This made this a unique narration. It shows their relationship and how it changed through the years.

This is narrated by Robert Fass. He did a good job with the Spanish accents.

Need a good history of architecture in NYC…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until this book, I never knew a Spanish architect was responsible for many of the iconic Gilded Age buildings New York City was known for. Rafael Guastavino emerges from the shades of time in this excellently written and narrated (I listened to the book through approval by NetGalley and the publisher, Brilliance Publishing/Audio) book. I was simply captivated by his story.

Translated from the Spanish, Guastavino’s story is told by his son, Rafael, Jr. Theirs is a rags to riches story that is strangely mystifying but absolutely absorbing. His father emerges as a daring but stubborn man whose sense of self worth allows him to dream big and crash big - this man doesn’t do anything is half strides. But Rafael is also a compassionate and loving father as is evident in the story. While a lady’s man (he’d not survive in today’s world), he also created things in building that are still used today. I think that’s what intrigued me the misty.

Don’t let this book slip by you especially if you enjoy historical fiction about people who made great contributions but have been lost in time. This is one of those books. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Erica Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded down. This audiobook of historical fiction is more like a history lesson than fiction. The style is highly academic, with a lot of showing vs. telling. That made it hard for me to connect with the story in a meaningful way. The architect at the center of this story, Rafael Guastavino, was a bit of a scoundrel in his relationships with women. He was equally messy in his finances and our narrator, his son, basically gives us a very dry, slow-moving account of New York's architectural history, which drags on a bit and becomes fairly repetitive. I think architecture buffs and fans of NY's Gilded Age will enjoy this one much more than I did.

Thanks for NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for the advance listening copy.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Javier Moro's novel about the extraordinary life of Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino, I found myself even more captivated by Moro's remarkable talent and skills in bringing real-life stories to vivid life. His ability to immerse readers in the historical moments and places where these events unfolded is nothing short of exceptional. This novel is an absolute must-read!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many architectural gems can be attributed to this Italian immigrant and his natural talent. The reader will learn a lot about architecture and building design. But this story is also about one man's talent and drive and his relationship with his son.

[Meighan Corbett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was maybe a tad long, but a great story. And as a NYer, I have been to or seen many of these places. Really a good read which gives you insight to an era of great prosperity as well as recession.

[Liz Yunes · Rating 5 out of 5]

De esos libros que lees su historia y la vives en el presente . Libro leído antes y después de mi último viaje a NY 🗽 me fascinó la historia de los Guastavino

[Keri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think you can live in NYC and not know the vaulted tile works of Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino; and so I was excited to learn about his life.  While I did find the historical aspects of the novel interesting, this read too much like a nonfiction book for me and so it was not as fun as a historical fiction novel generally is to read.  I never felt like I could get lost in the world and so while I learned a lot it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.  I am glad I had this one on audio because I prefer these types of books read to me by a good narrator, which this had.

3.5 stars