This essay examines the forces that shaped New York City into a leading modern metropolis during the early twentieth century, particularly the 1920s and 1930s. It argues that aesthetic values introduced by the skyscraper boom and sociological values brought by diverse immigrant communities fundamentally transformed the city's identity. The paper analyzes competing perspectives from cultural critics including Henry James and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who viewed modernization negatively, and historian Ann Douglas, who emphasized the positive role of architectural innovation and cultural diversity. Through exploration of iconic structures like the Empire State Building and the social impact of immigration, the essay demonstrates how economic upheaval, technological advancement, and demographic change collectively created the modern New York that came to symbolize the American nation.
Women's skirts were unexpectedly getting shorter, while buildings were exponentially getting taller, conquering the New York sky. Stocks' values were plummeting, while planes were soaring high. Bars were closing down, while railways and automobile companies were opening up. The economy went through a severe depression while the artists and architects practiced new means of expression. The beginning of the twentieth century—specially the 1920s and 1930s—was considered an era of change, an era when New York became a leading, modern, industrialized city. New York symbolized the American nation and was considered the center of commerce and culture, attracting travelers from all over the United States and immigrants from abroad.
Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, economic opportunities and cultural reform provided all types of individuals with their desired escape: a writer found something to write about in New York, a musician found a band to play with, an unemployed immigrant found a substantial job, and a painter had a large number of choices for the focus of his or her next art piece. But as Ann Douglas states in the PBS documentary New York, people assumed they did not have to pay for this economic boom. A few years later, when the revenues began to decrease and unemployment began to increase, Wall Street remained in their speculative bubble, denying the fact that the stock market would possibly crash.
According to the PBS documentary New York, on October 23rd, 1929, in less than two hours, almost ten billion American dollars' worth of investments were lost, leaving small investors with absolutely nothing. This crash, however, also helped shape New York by introducing and expressing new values that did not exist before. These values include, but are not limited to, aesthetic values and the introduction of skyscrapers, and sociological values that were introduced with the variety of new immigrants. Both values affected the people by making them feel nostalgic towards the old New York, either positively or negatively.
Flashback to 80 Broadway, New York, in 1889, when the Tower Building was the first thing that caught one's eye and the second skyscraper to take part in "the race for air" (Douglas 436) in the United States—a few years before New York's skyline began to exponentially mount. The race for air that Douglas talks about occurred when the Chrysler Building and the Bank of Manhattan competed for the title of the tallest building in the world. As architectural historian Wayne Attoe distinguishes, "a 'democratic' skyline in which buildings complement one another" differs from "a 'star' skyline, in which buildings compete with each other; in Manhattan, buildings challenged each other directly" (Douglas 436).
The Chrysler-Manhattan competition did not mark the end of the challenge, nor did these buildings remain the tallest, because a few years afterwards, during the peak of the stock market, John J. Raskob announced the introduction of the Empire State Building. The Empire State Building was a symbol of hope to Americans as it continued to grow and soar even during the worst times of the Great Depression. Along with the introduction of skyscrapers came the dispute over whether they represented a positive aesthetic value or a negative one. Douglas compares the skyscrapers to art pieces, explaining: "Skyscraper Manhattan offered the spectator the biggest sculpture, the largest-scale self-portrait…" (Douglas 438). Everything artistic or creative in New York was in some way connected to commerce and money-making.
Such a positive outlook was common, and skyscrapers were often compared to the Tower of Babel, representing the diversity of the languages that existed within the skyscrapers. Henry James, who often opposed the expansion of skyscrapers, agreed with the previous point and in his book New York Revisited describes how "each [skyscraper] was a swarming city in itself" (James 1). Modern skyscrapers reflected American innovation because, for the longest time, Americans had restricted themselves to smaller buildings to avoid climbing stairs and to save money. In the twentieth century, however, skyscrapers proved how American innovators were able to solve both major problems and create enormous elevator-run buildings in a relatively short period of time.
Even though during the first couple of years "the skyscrapers yielded little or no profit" (Douglas 437), Douglas argues that skyscrapers were "the nation's need for self-expression, not its economic imperatives" (Douglas 437), but they later helped American industries in New York to grow and expand, achieving the nation's economic imperatives too. In Douglas's essay "Skyscrapers, Airplanes, and Airmindedness: 'The Necessary Angel'", she also states that "there were links between skyscrapers and the new media" (Douglas 439). The skyscrapers provided artists with a concentration for their work: photographers photographed skyscrapers and painters painted skyscrapers. Published magazines featured these photographs and paintings, triggering their quick dispersion, so people all over knew what New York looked like.
Skyscrapers, conversely, also had the ability to demolish the city's past by destroying its older buildings, therefore "amputating half of history" (James 2) and not preserving its historical conscience. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Henry James, in their writings The Echoes of the Jazz Age and New York Revisited, respectively, argue that skyscrapers are preventing people from walking around in the streets and reliving a historical era. As James put it: "If it had been the final function of the City to make one feel one's age, so it had done its job well…new landmarks crushing the old quite as violent children stamp on snails and caterpillars" (James 1).
In the beginning of The Echoes of the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald explains how "The present writer already looks back to it with nostalgia" (Fitzgerald 1), and the nostalgia he refers to is not a positive one. He goes on to explain how skyscrapers and modernization in the Lost Generation were "bound to alienate the more intelligent young men from the prevailing order" (Fitzgerald 1). James agrees with Fitzgerald, believing that skyscrapers—the "grossly tall and grossly ugly buildings" (James 2)—don't memorialize people, so now the city cannot talk about their history because it does not reflect any sense of value or purpose.
James also addresses the theological effect of the aesthetic phenomena, noting how "the skyscraper overhands poor old Trinity to the north" (James 1), demonstrating how the contemporary skyscrapers and corporate wealth were considered more important than the Trinity Church and Christian faith, which was previously considered the largest and most important building. Unlike Douglas, who believed that everyone who lived in New York lived an interesting life, Fitzgerald talks about how "a classmate…tumbled 'accidently' from a skyscraper in Philadelphia, another purposely from a skyscraper in New York" (Fitzgerald 7).
Having such a negative view towards the "invented state" (James 1) was not uncommon, because in a way, it was also considered an economic failure. As James states: "The brand new New York doesn't believe in itself: it fails to succeed, even at a cost of millions, in persuading you that it does" (James 4). The PBS documentary New York also talks about how only 30 percent of the Empire State was rented in 1931, and the building began to become profitable twenty years later, in 1950.
People who made it to New York during the early twentieth century came from a variety of different geographical, social, and economical backgrounds, bringing with them a diverse range of new, unfamiliar ideas. The development of transportation and the introduction of airplanes both boosted the number of immigrants in New York, making it easier for them to travel. As Douglas notes, "It is no accident that his poetic awakening occurred in New York at the start of the skyscraper era; buildings attract muses and poets, too" (Douglas 440).
Douglas believes the reason for this increase in immigrants was the increase in modernization, because it was something other states or countries did not have at that time. Foreigners played an important role in New York's economy, as American corporations employed almost all of these newcomers. Socially, immigrants affected the division within New York, as they formed their ethnic communities where they preferred living in the same area. They also took part in all the social changes that were occurring at that time, like the change in dating culture and gender roles, and the hipster phase.
Various contributors to art—whether it was music, photography, or painting—were immigrants who provided New York with an array of styles and helped in the development of its popular culture. African Americans, for example, brought their jazz and blues music with them to Harlem. Authors from all around the world brought their writing talents and began writing novels set in New York and articles about the city. Ethnic communities also started their own ethnic radio stations, having speakers of very little or no English at all. Architects, too, were inspired, and "Manhattan was engaged in revolutionizing its architectural identity" (Douglas 437). All of these mediums of art attracted more and more people, which made it an endless cycle until immigration restriction came later.
Some citizens appreciated the change that came with the immigrants, while others preferred the simple, old New York. As Douglas put it: "Whoever chooses to be an American is choosing, whether he knows it or not, to belong to a country that is part German, part Italian, part English, part African and so on ad infinitum" (Douglas 448).
Along with the introduction of skyscrapers and sociological values came the argument over whether they represented a positive value or a negative one. Like any other issue, there are arguments to prove both. According to James, "The skyscrapers…marked the point where an age had ended" (James 1), because he believed New York did not preserve its older buildings by building newer skyscrapers and deliberately forgetting their past. Fitzgerald agreed with James; he, however, believed that the new social norms—especially the effect of teen culture—were what caused New York to drift away from its original values.
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