Full Description
A stunning photographic tour of more than 20 sites — both abandoned and operational — that are emblematic of America's industrial heritage.
American culture and politics are shot through with nostalgia for the country's industrial past, a time when we actually made things — physical things, not patterns of bits and bytes. But what did this past actually look like? Photographer Michael L. Horowitz has travelled throughout the Northeast in search of its remnants, both heritage businesses that have survived to the present and the ruins of decommissioned factories and infrastructure. The spaces he takes us inside range from the intimate to the vast — from the last silk flower workshop in New York's Garment District to Buffalo's looming grain elevators and the Paterson Great Falls Hydroelectric Plant, in operation since 1914. Horowitz photographs these places with the eye not only of a photographer but of someone who has taken the time to understand their workings in detail — an understanding that is extended to the reader through James Holtje's lively and carefully researched text. Cathedrals of Industry will appeal to readers with a variety of interests, including history, architecture, engineering, and urban exploration.
Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction
Raw Materials
1. Klotz Throwing Company, Lonaconing, MD
DEFUNCT
2. Deerskin Tannery, Upstate New York
OPERATIONAL
3. Pulp Mill, Naponach, New York
DEFUNCT
4. Grain Elevators and Mills, Buffalo
SOME MILLS STILL ACTIVE
5. Lackawanna Steel
DEFUNCT
6. Bethlehem Steel
DEFUNCT
Workshops and Factories
7. M&S Schmalberg Silk Flowers, Manhattan
OPERATIONAL
8. Faerman Cash Register Co., Manhattan
CLOSED
9. Brooklyn Seltzer Boys
OPERATIONAL
10. Streit's Lower East Side matzo factory
MOVED UPSTATE
11. Joyva, Brooklyn
OPERATIONAL
12. QRS Music, Buffalo
OPERATIONAL
Infrastructure
13. Colonel Ward Pumping Station, Buffalo
OPERATIONAL (BUT NOT THE GIANT STEAM ENGINE)
14. Buffalo Central Terminal
DEFUNCT (BEING CONVERTED TO A "VENUE")
15. Hoboken Terminal
OPERATIONAL
16. IRT Substation, Manhattan
OPERATIONAL (BUT REFITTED)
17. Paterson Great Falls Hydroelectric Plant
OPERATIONAL (BUT REFITTED)
18. C. R. Huntley Generating Station, Tonawanda, New York
DEFUNCT
19. Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane
DEFUNCT (NOW A HOTEL)
20. West Side Piers, Manhattan
DEFUNCT
