The stars are the ratings by Amazon.com readers (1-5 stars). When Amazon stars are not available, I have often provided personal commentary.

Alone Together: A History of New York's Early Apartments
Cromley/ Cornell University
In the second half of the 19th century, middle-class apartments in Manhattan were a new – and somewhat suspect – architectural form. This book presents a history of the "invention" and popularization of New York apartment houses.

Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn
Morrone / Gibbs Smith
The author, a noted New York lecturer and writer, presents a panoply of architectural tastes, a keen eye, and insightful commentary.

Architectural Guidebook to New York City
Morrone / Gibbs Smith
Contains quality commentary on some 600 Manhattan buildings in the context of their architectural, historical, and cultural settings.

Beaux Arts New York
Lowe / Watson-Guptill
Lively and informative, with 200 quality illustrations

Cast Iron Architecture in New York
Gayle & Gillon / Dover
Quality images and text. Author, Margot Gayle, founded the Friends of Cast Iron Architecture. This is the organization largely responsible for the preservation of the SoHo neighborhood, home of the largest collection of cast-iron fronted buildings in the world.

Changing New York (The Architectural Scene)
Gray / Dover
Author Christopher Gray writes the "Streetscapes" column for the New York Times. In this book, he gathers 190 of the best loved of those columns about New York buildings and the lives of the people connected to them.

Elegant New York
Tauranac / Abbeville Press
A social history and architectural survey, the text and illustrations follow the family fortunes of elite New Yorkers who contributed to the creation of the “Age of Elegance.”

Essential New York
Tauranac / Holt, Rinehart & Winston
Excellent commentary, but the entries are listed by the years of construction. While this method can be useful on one hand, it can be confusing on another.

Glory in Gotham: Manhattan's Houses of Worship
Dunlap & Vecchione / City & Company
A good general resource.

Guide to New York City Landmarks
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission / Wiley & Sons
The official and only complete guide to New York City's landmarks, this book has been updated to include 128 new individual sites and 16 new historic districts. Includes 80 easy-to-read maps and new photographs. Excellent New York reference book. Copy prepared by Andrew Dolkart and Matthew Postal. Recommended as a reference and research text.

Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan
Alpern / Dover
Mini-histories of some of New York’s most luxurious apartment houses with good illustrations and floor plans.

New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism, 1890-1915
Stern, Gilmartin, Massengale / Rizzoli
Quality discussion of New York architecture, from 1890-1915. Excellent illustrations and numerous floor plans.

New York 1930: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars
Stern, Gilmartin, Mellins / Rizzoli
This excellent book focuses on the tumultuous period of the 20s and 30s, when many of the architectural monuments – especially the skyscrapers – that have come to define New York were created. Extremely well researched. An excellent resource.

New York: Culture Capital of the World, 1940-1965
Wallock, ed. / Rizzoli
A skillful assessment of a period of an unparalleled era of creativity activity that marked New York City as the cultural center of the world.

New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial
Stern et al / Monacelli
An impressive (and large) volume that includes a combination of political, social, and artistic commentaries of the day - culled largely from primary sources. Sharp period photographs provide a time machine's experience of the city that was. Recommended for understanding the urban ideals and complexities of that time and era in New York City.

New York, New York : How the Apartment House Transformed the Life of the City (1869-1930)
Hates / Owl
Originally a piece for The New Yorker, this book relates the history of the luxury apartment house in New York and the transition of New York from a city of single-family rowhouses to a metropolis of skyscraper mansions. Addresses New York apartment house history up to 1930.

New York's Architectural Holdouts
Alpern & Durst / Dover
A fascinating compilation of building holdouts and their accompanying (often legendary) tales. This is the stuff of New York City lore!

New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments
Alpern / Dover
Quality commentary and floor plans for many major luxury apartment houses.

New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan's Significant Buildings and Landmarks
Gray & Braley / Abrams
From the Bridge Cafe (New York's oldest surviving bar) to the Revolutionary War-era Morris-Jumel Mansion, Christopher Gray turns the spotlight on 190 obscure and familiar landmarks in this collection of his impressive columns from the New York Times.

Rise of the New York Skyscraper: 1865-1913
Landau & Condit / Yale
This prizewinning book chronicles the history of New York’s first skyscrapers, challenging conventional wisdom that it was in Chicago, not New York, that the skyscraper was born. Excellent period photographs of early high-rises.

Spiritual Havens: A Guide to Spiritual Places in Manhattan
Cook / Herder & Herder
A very useful guide to a range of religious and spiritual sites.

Stanford White's New York
Lowe / Doubleday
Entertaining and informative, with lots of good photographs.