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New York Then and Now® (2019): The revised edition for photography fans, featuring sites such as Wall Street, Times Square and more
Pairing classic archive photos with their modern viewpoint, New York Then and Now shows the dramatic changes that have transformed the city in 150 years. The latest version of Pavilion Books’ top-selling North American title, New York Then and Now , has been revised and updated for 2019. Photographed by one of the city’s leading architectural photographers, Evan Joseph, the book shows the ever-changing nature of the city’s streetscapes. Using vintage photos from the 19th century up until the 1950s, striking contrasts can be seen in the buildings and sidewalks of Wall Street, Greenwich Village, Union Square, Madison Square, Times Square, and the Upper East and West Sides. In addition to the archival and contemporary photos, the book is packed with historical information. Together, they tell fascinating stories about the buildings that have come, gone, or stayed in place, remarkably transformed or thankfully preserved. Sites Ellis Island, Governors Island, Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, U.S. Custom House, Bowling Green, Federal Hall, Broad Street, Wall Street, Singer Building, World Trade Center, Woolworth Building, City Hall, Park Row, Brooklyn Bridge, Mulberry Street Market, Hudson River Piers, the High Line, Washington Square Arch, Cooper Union, Fifth Avenue, the Flatiron Building, Metropolitan Life Buiilding, Madison Avenue, Macy's, Penn Station, Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Radio City, Plaza Hotel, Central Park, Columbus Circle, Shea Stadium and much more.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 19, 2025
A Changing City In Photographs
Reading this photographic history of New York City brought to mind the lively city and the urbane young man captured in a much-covered 1965 song "The Boy from New York City". I am no longer young, was never urbane, and never lived in New York. But of the three, I love and identify with New York City and almost made it my home many years ago. I have visited only a handful of times since adulthood but read about and imagine the city a good deal.
"New York: Then and Now" is a photographic history of Manhattan. Originally published in 2007, the book has been republished in a new edition. I have the compact, paperback edition, but the book is also available as a large hardcover. The book juxtaposes photographs of a particular location from the city's past with photographs of the identical location in contemporary New York. Photographer Simon Clay took the current photographs. The author, Marcia Reiss, has written many books about New York City and its history, including "Central Park: Then and Now" and "Brooklyn: Then and Now" for this series. In addition to the photographs, Reiss wrote a short Introduction to the book and detailed textual commentary on each of the pictures.
The book is fascinating in its selection of photos and in its text and made me love the city all the more. September 11, 2001, plays a large role in the book. Reiss uses the events of that day as a watershed in a city which had already reinvented itself many times and would need to reinvent itself yet again. The process of change is constant in New York City. Reiss emphasizes how many former commercial or industrial parts of the city, together with some residential areas, have changed in character and become the sites of large scale residential communities.
The book begins with photographs of the Statue of Liberty in 1890 and today and then proceeds roughly from lower Manhattan to work northward. The book includes photographs of many places, buildings, bridges, and monuments which have come to define the city such as Battery Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings, the old Penn Station, Hester Street, Central Park, Washington Square, Trinity Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Harlem, and much more. The book also includes, of course, photgraphs of the World Trade Center. The annotations are brief but describe the changing scenes and some of the history.
The recent photographs are in color while the earlier photos are in black-and-white. They range from the 1870's until shortly before the contemporary photos. I was more interested in the photographs of the earlier city, with the active harbor, ships, frequently smaller buildings and lower skylines, teeming streets, streetcars and old automobiles, trains, and a vibrant, forward-looking sense of life. The pairing of "then" and "now" photographs of the same location shows how the city has changed but in some cases also shows a constancy.
Besides the song I mentioned, the book reminded me of writers such as Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, and Alfred Kazin who walked the streets of New York during their widely separated lifetimes and wrote memorably about the city. I was reminded of my own visits to the city and walking through some of its special places. The spirit of the city may be captured through imagination and reading, in addition to physical presence.
Many photographic books of New York City, its people and its places are readily available and have become well-known. The history of the city offered in this book of 144 pages is necessarily brief. Many of the individual places discussed deserve and have received volumes of their own. "New York: Then and Now" captures in its brief scope something of the vigor, dynamism, and size of New York City and of its capacity to change and to inspire.
Robin Friedman
Reading this photographic history of New York City brought to mind the lively city and the urbane young man captured in a much-covered 1965 song "The Boy from New York City". I am no longer young, was never urbane, and never lived in New York. But of the three, I love and identify with New York City and almost made it my home many years ago. I have visited only a handful of times since adulthood but read about and imagine the city a good deal.
"New York: Then and Now" is a photographic history of Manhattan. Originally published in 2007, the book has been republished in a new edition. I have the compact, paperback edition, but the book is also available as a large hardcover. The book juxtaposes photographs of a particular location from the city's past with photographs of the identical location in contemporary New York. Photographer Simon Clay took the current photographs. The author, Marcia Reiss, has written many books about New York City and its history, including "Central Park: Then and Now" and "Brooklyn: Then and Now" for this series. In addition to the photographs, Reiss wrote a short Introduction to the book and detailed textual commentary on each of the pictures.
The book is fascinating in its selection of photos and in its text and made me love the city all the more. September 11, 2001, plays a large role in the book. Reiss uses the events of that day as a watershed in a city which had already reinvented itself many times and would need to reinvent itself yet again. The process of change is constant in New York City. Reiss emphasizes how many former commercial or industrial parts of the city, together with some residential areas, have changed in character and become the sites of large scale residential communities.
The book begins with photographs of the Statue of Liberty in 1890 and today and then proceeds roughly from lower Manhattan to work northward. The book includes photographs of many places, buildings, bridges, and monuments which have come to define the city such as Battery Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings, the old Penn Station, Hester Street, Central Park, Washington Square, Trinity Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Harlem, and much more. The book also includes, of course, photgraphs of the World Trade Center. The annotations are brief but describe the changing scenes and some of the history.
The recent photographs are in color while the earlier photos are in black-and-white. They range from the 1870's until shortly before the contemporary photos. I was more interested in the photographs of the earlier city, with the active harbor, ships, frequently smaller buildings and lower skylines, teeming streets, streetcars and old automobiles, trains, and a vibrant, forward-looking sense of life. The pairing of "then" and "now" photographs of the same location shows how the city has changed but in some cases also shows a constancy.
Besides the song I mentioned, the book reminded me of writers such as Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, and Alfred Kazin who walked the streets of New York during their widely separated lifetimes and wrote memorably about the city. I was reminded of my own visits to the city and walking through some of its special places. The spirit of the city may be captured through imagination and reading, in addition to physical presence.
Many photographic books of New York City, its people and its places are readily available and have become well-known. The history of the city offered in this book of 144 pages is necessarily brief. Many of the individual places discussed deserve and have received volumes of their own. "New York: Then and Now" captures in its brief scope something of the vigor, dynamism, and size of New York City and of its capacity to change and to inspire.
Robin Friedman
June 19, 2025
A small album of photographs showing about seventy well known Manhattan sites, and how these places looked in the late nineteen century. Each photograph provided with description of its original status and its development over the years. Many fascinating observations of so many changes in this wonderful place.
Read
August 6, 2011An excellent book containing around 70 pairs of “then and now” photographs of all of the famous, as well as some of the less famous, places in New York City. To be more precise, the area covered does not go beyond the bounds of Manhattan itself, but it is very comprehensively covered.
Each photograph is accompanied by an interesting caption, detailing what can be seen and, in many case, useful anecdotes surrounding the buildings shown, written by someone who has an excellent knowledge of the history of New York, as befits Miss Reiss, who is involved in New York City government and its continuing waterfront development. For someone who has been to New York recently, it was very easy for me to identify the exact locations, but very useful to those less knowledgeable, each picture is also accompanied by a general view title, so that, for example, the viewer knows which direction the photographer is facing.
Indicative of just how fast New York is developing, although the earlier pictures often show New York’s famed skyscrapers, often by the time of the current photograph, a generation of buildings has come and gone, and perhaps a future edition of the same book might have to show several “then” pictures to give the reader a greater idea of just how much change, and how recently, has taken place.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book – it is not just a book of pictures but also a summarised history of the City – and recommend it to not only those who have been to the Big Apple, but as an appetiser for the wonderful place that is New York City!
Each photograph is accompanied by an interesting caption, detailing what can be seen and, in many case, useful anecdotes surrounding the buildings shown, written by someone who has an excellent knowledge of the history of New York, as befits Miss Reiss, who is involved in New York City government and its continuing waterfront development. For someone who has been to New York recently, it was very easy for me to identify the exact locations, but very useful to those less knowledgeable, each picture is also accompanied by a general view title, so that, for example, the viewer knows which direction the photographer is facing.
Indicative of just how fast New York is developing, although the earlier pictures often show New York’s famed skyscrapers, often by the time of the current photograph, a generation of buildings has come and gone, and perhaps a future edition of the same book might have to show several “then” pictures to give the reader a greater idea of just how much change, and how recently, has taken place.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book – it is not just a book of pictures but also a summarised history of the City – and recommend it to not only those who have been to the Big Apple, but as an appetiser for the wonderful place that is New York City!
August 31, 2019
A very interesting historical insight into the development of NYC across the years. I liked the parallel between the past and present day cityscapes, showing how the urban landscape changed since the beginning of the 20th century. I enjoyed learning more about some of the buildings and landmarks that we visited during our trip to the US exactly one year ago, and about many others as well.
January 28, 2023
An excellent coffee table book with pictures of NYC from long ago and more recently on facing pages. The book starts at the tip of Manhattan and moves up to Harlem and the end of Central Park. The captions are brief but very informative. I read the revised version from 2005 that took into account the destruction of the World Trade Center. Well done.
July 19, 2024
New York Then and Now. It’s fantastic to compare the antique photographs of old New York to today. I was mesmerized seeing how not only the places changed, but the people also. I am sure some of the babies in the ancient photos are long since passed away. It makes me wonder how their lives turned out.
November 22, 2017
I started reading this book while in New York in January 2016 and finally finished it. A wonderful set of photos, stories, and histories of New York’s famous buildings, sky scrappers, parks, and areas. Showcasing photos from c1900 and contrasting them to modern photos.
January 8, 2023
This was the only thing I purchased in NYC. I love bringing home books from places I visit as it helps me learn more about them. I loved reading about the history of several landmarks I visited and this will be a great coffee table book in our home.
March 5, 2017
Love these "Then and Now" books of great places.
January 23, 2020
Very interesting. I love photograhy, I would have prefered if the shooting angles were the same as the ancent B&W picts/
July 25, 2021
I had read this book because I received it as a gift. I liked reading this book because I learned how New York City has changed. I thought the book was pretty good. It is okay but not a favorite.
June 25, 2023
Fotos e descrições de alguns dos lugares mais emblemáticos da Big Apple.
January 8, 2024
Bought this while in New York, loved to read all this to learn more about the city’s history! Nice to see places and buildings I’ve visited
February 12, 2025
Очень интересно смотреть на знакомые места! Но издание 2019 года уже старовато, с тех пор многое произошло.
October 22, 2025
Another year around the sun, another year absorbing photo books under the influence
March 21, 2020
A very pleasant read, made me feel like I am visiting NYC :) (it helps if you know the buildings/locations mentioned)
December 31, 2012
Na última viagem a NY em um dos dias na Borders não consegui deixar a fantástica edição de New Yor Then and Now na prateleira, comprei no ato. A obra de Marcia Reiss é uma coletânea dos principais pontos da cidade, comparando fotos do passado com imagens do presente, sensacional. O texto é muito bom e trás curiosidades dos locais mais famosos da Big Apple.
Description
In just the few years since the first edition of New York Then and Now,the city has undergone important changes. The most dramatic was the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Since the loss of the twin towers, the island of Manhattan has continued to transform itself, with the renewal of entire neighborhoods, from industrial complexes to residential centers. This newly updated edition highlights the development of the New York s lavish hotels, palatial department stores, skyscrapers, and condominiums, featuring historic photographs side-by-side with images of the modern cityscape
From the Publisher:
Since New Amsterdam became New York in 1664, constant change and development has been its driving force. Today, it is America’s densest urban environment and most vital city, boasting one of the most recognizable skylines in the world. New York Then & Now places today’s post 9/11 cityscape within the context of history, reflecting the changing and enduring aspects of life in the Big Apple. Remarkable past-and-present photographs showcase Manhattan’s development and the amazing architecture that defines the city. See side-by-side images of the lavish Waldorf-Astoria, Radio City Music Hall, Union Square, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Penn Station, Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building. The Twin Towers, part of the World Trade Center, redefined the Manhattan skyline when they opened in 1976. After the tragedies of 9/11, the skyline is defined as much by their absence. New York continues to be one of the most popular destinations in the world-everyone who has experienced the energy and magic of the Big Apple will want this compact edition of New York Then & Now. It’s the perfect souvenir or gift!
Description
In just the few years since the first edition of New York Then and Now,the city has undergone important changes. The most dramatic was the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Since the loss of the twin towers, the island of Manhattan has continued to transform itself, with the renewal of entire neighborhoods, from industrial complexes to residential centers. This newly updated edition highlights the development of the New York s lavish hotels, palatial department stores, skyscrapers, and condominiums, featuring historic photographs side-by-side with images of the modern cityscape
From the Publisher:
Since New Amsterdam became New York in 1664, constant change and development has been its driving force. Today, it is America’s densest urban environment and most vital city, boasting one of the most recognizable skylines in the world. New York Then & Now places today’s post 9/11 cityscape within the context of history, reflecting the changing and enduring aspects of life in the Big Apple. Remarkable past-and-present photographs showcase Manhattan’s development and the amazing architecture that defines the city. See side-by-side images of the lavish Waldorf-Astoria, Radio City Music Hall, Union Square, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Penn Station, Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building. The Twin Towers, part of the World Trade Center, redefined the Manhattan skyline when they opened in 1976. After the tragedies of 9/11, the skyline is defined as much by their absence. New York continues to be one of the most popular destinations in the world-everyone who has experienced the energy and magic of the Big Apple will want this compact edition of New York Then & Now. It’s the perfect souvenir or gift!
August 9, 2016
Just came back from a family vacation in Manhattan and this book was the perfect souvenir. It is primarily focused on the famous / historical architectural landmarks in the city, and places them side by side with photos taken usually a century or so earlier to compare and contrast how much the city has changed. There are short descriptive captions next to each photo detailing items of interest (primarily architectural and social, but often placing them in historical context as well). I particularly enjoy examining the old photos for the glimpses they provide into the late 19th and early 20th c. urban American. For instance, you can see the change taking place as we moved from horses and carriages to the automobile just by looking closely at the streets. This is a great coffee table book for those interested in New York (Manhattan) architecture and history, particularly if you are already familiar with the city.
June 25, 2019
Although only a small book, there is some amazing old / new photographs and stories about key pieces exes of architecture and structure within New York.
After being there many times. I am still fascinated by the depth of architecture styles that exist in this bustling city and how some structure and locations have stood the test of time, due to the investment of locals who care about the history and preservation of New York and those amazing times of the past.
I haven’t been to all the places noted in this book, but it gives me a list to look at the next time I visit.
Places like the World Trade Centre/One World Tower, Clinton Castle, Battery Park and Wall Street continue to grab my interest every time I travel to New York.
After being there many times. I am still fascinated by the depth of architecture styles that exist in this bustling city and how some structure and locations have stood the test of time, due to the investment of locals who care about the history and preservation of New York and those amazing times of the past.
I haven’t been to all the places noted in this book, but it gives me a list to look at the next time I visit.
Places like the World Trade Centre/One World Tower, Clinton Castle, Battery Park and Wall Street continue to grab my interest every time I travel to New York.
June 17, 2018
It's a beautiful book. If you have been to New York City and like understanding how things have changed with time, this is a recommended read. The photos subtly help one understand the history of the city, especially the last 150 years.
October 16, 2010
Really well-done. It was amazing to see the evolution of the world's greatest city on a block-by-block basis. Although I have to admit to being homesick now.
September 5, 2012
Fun photo book that compares the vintage photograph of a street scene or landmark with its modern-day counterpart. Each photo contains fun NYC trivia within the text.
March 26, 2013
A wonderful look at how New York City has changed over the decades.
October 11, 2014
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you: http://www.indiebound.org
April 26, 2015
Great "then and now" photos of well-known New York locations with interesting and concise descriptions. A fun read for anyone who has been to and enjoys New York City.
August 27, 2016
Love it. Photos are spectacular. This was my Strand Book Store purchase on my most recent trip to New York--I wanted something from the New York section, and this book is perfect.
August 13, 2019
Photography book of New York containing iconic landmarks showing how the city has changed over time.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews