The announcement during the final years of the nineteenth century that
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Columbia College, St. Luke's
Hospital, Teachers College, and Barnard College would construct new
complexes on Morningside Heights heralded the transformation of this
geographically isolated area into "the Acropolis of New York." Over the
next several decades, these institutions, as well as Union Theological
Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, the Institute of Musical
Art/Julliard School of Music, and Riverside Church created a
neighborhood of spectacular institutional buildings. In this lavishly
illustrated book, Andrew S. Dolkart explores the richly varied
architecture and history of these complexes and of the surrounding
residential neighborhood and thus reveals a fascinating chapter in the
life of New York City.