Q&A with Architect and Writer Fran Leadon
Throughout the month of April, Grand Central Library will be delivering local New York history programs to our New York Public Library community. But you do not have to reside or work in Midtown to enjoy them! On April 28th we will host Fran Leadon, architect and coauthor of the fifth edition of the AIA Guide to New York City, to discuss his latest book Broadway:A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles. Fran took a moment to answer some of our questions on this work and why it is important to New Yorkers. Be sure to check out his reading recommendations toward the end!
Join the conversation at Grand Central Library
Reserve your spot for the April 28th author talk with GREGORYSTALL@NYPL.ORG
What will you discuss at your upcoming NYPL talk?
My book Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles
Broadway focuses on the actual road of Broadway, which is not as documented as one might think. Why are there so few books about this particular subject?
I have no idea. I was surprised there are so few. David Dunlap wrote a good one in 1990, which focuses on Broadway's architecture. My book is more of a social history.
Your book seems almost to engage in a literary synesthesia, where the reader almost feels the terrain you are writing about. How did you approach the writing of this project?
The structure is geographical, which seemed like the only way to write a history of a street. I tried a chronological structure at first, but it was confusing because I had to constantly remind the reader where they were. Since I chose a geographical structure, the book goes forward and back in time, but that was relatively easy to manage.
Could you discuss your research methods and the various special collections, especially at the NYPL, you used to incorporate into your final work?
I used the NYPL for manuscript diaries, out-of-print books, surveying records, and fire insurance maps. At the New-York Historical Society I found diaries and city directories. I went to the Municipal Archives for tax assessment records and some manuscript documents. Online I used the Library of Congress historical newspaper database and occasionally Legacy.com for census records. And I used bookstores, especially Bookcourt (now closed, sadly), Freebird Books, and Argosy Books.
Your book successfully condenses around 400 years of New York history into 528 pages. That's less than 2 pages for each year! What was your process for deciding what would go into the book and what could be left out?
Because the book is geographical, the sections in downtown Manhattan had so many layers of history I had to leave out entire chapters. I tried to cut out chapters that covered things I would cover elsewhere. So, for example, I cut out the chapter on the Woolworth Building from Mile 1 because I had a chapter on the Flatiron Building in Mile 4. I figured I didn't need entire chapters about multiple skyscrapers. In the northern parts, where there are fewer layers of history, I didn't cut out anything, plus the chapters got shorter. With fewer obvious stories in the northern parts, I was able to pick and choose. So I included a chapter on Audubon, a chapter on Edgar Allan Poe, a chapter on George Grey Barnard. The northern parts of the book are more about individual people, and less about society in general.
Is Broadway something you hope to revisit in the future, either as an updated or extended version? Would you consider further exploring culturally-rich areas like Park Avenue or 42nd Street?
What would need updating? No, I'm not planning to write about Broadway again, and I doubt I would write another history of a street. I don't want to become “that guy who writes those books about streets.”
How do you think this book helps readers understand New York, for both natives and non-natives?
I've received letters from native New Yorkers telling me that their memories agreed with my descriptions of their neighborhoods, which is great to hear. And I've heard from people who haven't been to New York but are planning to hike up Broadway with my book along for the ride. That's also neat. I got letters from people all over the country, which supports my idea that this isn't just a book for locals. But there is a lot in it that even locals don't know about.
What books on New York and New York culture do you consider essential, and why?
Wow! So many…Let's see… Joseph Mitchell's various collections of his New Yorker essays, The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Lydia Maria Child's Letters from New York, and Jeff Kisseloff's You Must Remember This. Why: Mitchell because of his observational skills, Strong and Child for their vivid eyewitness accounts of nineteenth-century New York, and Kisseloff for the irreplaceable oral histories he conducted during the 1980s.
In general, what overlooked or under-appreciated books, pieces of music, or films would you encourage NYPL users to explore?
Books: Robert Albion's The Rise of New York Port, Marion Morrow Sweetser's The Sun in a Golden Cup, RichardHenry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast, Helen Worden's Round Manhattan's Rim.
Music: Anything by Judee Sill
Films: Ben Hecht's Angels Over Broadway