Has New York Lost Its Ability To Build Great Buildings?

New York has lost its reputation as a place that great architecture can be built. “Between about 1890 and 1960, New York was an architectural powerhouse, a laboratory for architects who couldn’t dream of achieving anything on that kind of scale anywhere else. From early Gothic skyscrapers like the Woolworth Building (1913) through the Art Deco of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings (1930 and 1931) up to the Seagram Building (1958) and the smooth corporate Modernism of Fifth Avenue, architects who wanted to build big looked to New York. But… it is extraordinary that in the world’s greatest and richest city, almost nothing (excepting a few good retail interiors) of international significance or interest has been built in New York since the appearance of unfortunate postmodern skyscrapers at the end of 1970s.”