Joe McKendry, Lynne Sagalyn, Tim Tompkins - One Times Square - Architectural Explorations in Books

Date and Time
October 24, 2012
Event Details

FREE - Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Author/Illustrator Joe McKendry discusses the techniques used in creating the historically accurate paintings from his latest book One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World. Joining him is Lynne Sagalyn, Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School and Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance. Together they discuss the physical changes that have transformed Times Square over its 100+ year history, as well as the enduring traditions that have kept it remarkably similar to its earliest days as a  A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World. © 2012 Joe McKendryFrom the book One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World. © 2012 Joe McKendrygathering place for public celebration along the glamorous “Great White Way”. A small exhibition of original illustrations and sketches from the book is on display during the event.

One Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendryOne Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendry

More than any other public space in New York City, Times Square is the place where Americans have gathered, in good times and in bad, to catch up on the latest news, to mark historic occasions, or just to meet a few friends. From the Stock Market crash in 1929 -- when the building's iconic "Zipper" provided up-to-the-minute information -- to the celebrations marking the end of the Second World War, to annual New Year's Eve festivities with the iconic descending lighted ball, the square and its tower have been an integral part of our history. The book One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World explores the story of this fascinating intersection, starting when Broadway was a mere dirt path known as Bloomingdale Road, through the district's decades of postwar decay, to its renewal as a glittering tourist-friendly media mecca. McKendry's meticulous, lush watercolors take readers behind the famous Camel billboard to find out how it blew smoke rings over the square for 25 years, to the top of the Times Tower to see how the New Year's ball has made its descent for over 100 years, and onto construction sites as buildings grow up around One Times Square to dwarf what once ranked among the tallest buildings in the world.

Copies of the book are available for purchase and signing at the event.  

One Times Square © 2011 Joe McKendryOne Times Square © 2011 Joe McKendryJoe McKendry is a painter and illustrator whose work has appeared in publications worldwide, including The New York Times, the London Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and TIME Magazine. His books, Beneath the Streets of Boston: Building America’s First Subway (David R. Godine, 2005) and One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World (David R. Godine, 2012), chronicle the history of their subjects in a way that is accessible to both children and adults. A native of Maynard, MA, McKendry teaches painting and illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. 

One Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendryOne Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendry

Lynne B. Sagalyn is the Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School and director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate and the MBA Real Estate Program. She has published extensively on a broad range of issues in the fields of real estate and urban development, and is widely known for her research on public/private partnerships. She is the author of Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon (MIT Press, 2001) and essays on the politics of rebuilding the World Trade Center site. She received her Ph.D. from MIT.

One Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendryOne Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendryTim Tompkins has been the President of the Times Square Alliance since 2002. The Alliance is a business improvement district that works to improve and promote Times Square - cultivating the creativity, energy and edge that have made the area an icon of entertainment, culture and urban life for over a century. Prior to coming to the Alliance, he was the Founder and Director of Partnerships for Parks, which works to support New York City’s neighborhood parks. He has worked at New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, The New York City Charter Revision Commission, and was briefly the Nationals Editor at the Mexico City News, an English language newspaper in Mexico. He has an undergraduate degree from Yale and an M.B.A. from Wharton, and currently teaches a class on Urban Economic Development at the NYU Wagner School. When he is not spending time in the most urban and unnatural place on the planet, he enjoys being in New York City’s natural areas, Including its parks and waterways. Reflecting two of his passions – sailing and yoga – he is a coast guard-licensed captain and a registered yoga teacher.

One Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendryOne Times Square © 2012 Joe McKendry

In its fourth year Architectural Explorations in Books, initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni, is a series of engaging programs delving into the critical role that architecture publications play in the understanding of contemporary urban developments and structures. The events feature book presentations and discussions by acclaimed architects, critics, curators, designers, photographers and writers.