Articles by Solomon Rokowsky

November 2026

Was the MetLife Clocktower Once the World's Tallest Building?

By Solomon Rokowsky

Yes. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tower rose above Madison Square in 1909 and held the world's height record until the Woolworth Building overtook it in 1913. Its 700-fo...

November 2026

The Andrew Carnegie Mansion: A Private House Opens to Design

By Solomon Rokowsky

At Fifth Avenue and 91st Street, Andrew Carnegie built a house that looked more settled than showy. Its brick walls, pale stone trim and enclosed garden suggest a large English cou...

November 2026

The Tenement Museum: A New York Home Worth Saving

By Solomon Rokowsky

New York's grand houses tell us what money could buy. At 97 Orchard Street, the rooms tell us what families managed to do without it. A stove, a sewing machine, a narrow passage an...

November 2026

The Twin Towers: A New York Skyline Remembered

By Solomon Rokowsky

The original World Trade Center, its architecture and daily life, the attacks of September 11, and the responders and people remembered today.

November 2026

Why Was the Original Pennsylvania Station Demolished?

By Solomon Rokowsky

Pennsylvania Station was a pink-granite palace modeled on the Baths of Caracalla, and New York tore it down beginning in 1963. Why it happened, what was lost, and who owns Penn Station today.

November 2026

New York City Hall: The Oldest City Hall in America Still Doing Its Job

By Solomon Rokowsky

City Hall has housed New York's mayor and City Council since 1812, making it the oldest city hall in America still doing its job. Here is its story, and who owns it today.

November 2026

The Waldorf Astoria: How a Park Avenue Palace Became the World's Most Famous Hotel

By Solomon Rokowsky

The Waldorf Astoria rose on Park Avenue in the depths of the Depression and became the world's most famous hotel. Its story, its movie and gangster lore, and who owns it today.

November 2026

Is the Unisphere the Largest Globe in the World?

By Solomon Rokowsky

The Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, is a stationary openwork representation of the Earth in stainless steel, 120 feet across, and it does not turn. Here is how its size compares with the globe that holds the official record, and who owns the Unisphere today.

November 2026

The Brooklyn Museum: From a Wheelbarrow Library to a McKim, Mead & White Palace

By Solomon Rokowsky

The Brooklyn Museum marked its 200th anniversary in 2023, and its home is a McKim, Mead & White palace on Eastern Parkway that is only part of what was planned. Here is how it all happened, and who owns the museum today.

November 2026

The Morgan Library & Museum: J.P. Morgan's Marble Masterpiece on Madison Avenue

By Solomon Rokowsky

J. Pierpont Morgan hired Charles Follen McKim to build a library beside his Madison Avenue home in 1903, and his son opened it to the public in 1924. Here is how the Morgan came to be, and who owns it today.

November 2026

Is the Stonewall Inn Actually a National Monument? Stables, a Speakeasy and a Bar That Changed History

By Solomon Rokowsky

The Stonewall Inn began as two 1840s horse stables on Christopher Street, became a Prohibition speakeasy and a Mafia-run gay bar, and sparked the 1969 uprising. Here is its story, and who owns it today.

November 2026

Bryant Park: A Potter's Field, a Crystal Palace and New York's Most Famous Park Comeback

By Solomon Rokowsky

Bryant Park has been a potter's field, a reservoir, a world's fairground and an open-air drug market before its celebrated 1992 reopening. This is its story, and who owns it today.

November 2026

Brooklyn Botanic Garden: A Century of Cherries, Bonsai and a McKim, Mead & White Landmark

By Solomon Rokowsky

Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened in 1911 on land reserved beside Prospect Park, and grew into 52 acres with a landmark McKim, Mead and White laboratory, a famous cherry esplanade and a Japanese garden. This is its story, and who owns it today.

October 2026