 Gone are the Walking Tour Maps
The delicious 3rd Edition had wonderful step by step Walking Tour Guide Maps of selectd areas decribed in the Guide. The highlighted places of interest along the way. This Fifth Edition makes narrative text references to these Walking Tour Guides, specifically naming each Tour,such as West Village "Walking Tour A, B, C, or D" but the actual maps are omitted from the this Edition.
To add insult to injury, the tours are different than the ones in the Third Edition. (I do not have the Fourth, so I do not know what the OUP did there.)
I think that the least that OUP should do would be to send the omitted Walking Tour maps to those that have bought and will be this Fifth Ed.
The problem overall is that notwithstanding the above, this is the only book of its kind and is indispensible to anyone with a serious interst in New York City.
 A top pick for arts and New York history libraries alike!
The fifth updated edition of AIA Guide to New York City is a dual pick for both architecture and travel collections It covers each borough of New York City nearly block by block, providing a fine and detailed record of New York's architecture. It's both an encyclopedia and a visitor's documentation of New York's architectural wonders, pairing small black and white photos with addresses and histories. A top pick for arts and New York history libraries alike!
 AIA guide to New York
I have purchased earlier editions of this book for many years and consider it an important part of my library. My husband and I both refer to it whenever we're interested in a particular part of the city.
A wonderfully descriptive, accurate guide to the Big Apple
What an amazing book!! Of course it is impressive for the sheer breadth of entries--like no other book on my shelf, thumbing through it feels like holding the entire city of New York in my hands. As a long-time resident of the city, as the years pass it becomes easy to overlook the marvels all around. This has been especially true of my current neighborhood, the Upper East Side, or, more specifically, Bed Pan Alley, as the NYT dubbed the far-east sixties for its abundance of medical facilities. Apparently a great place to have a heart attack and not much else. But the fifth edition of the AIA guide gives me a whole new appreciation for the architectural and design gems right outside our door--even including my local pharmacy's sign (no not the Duane Reade), which I've always loved! Great to have its importance verified by such a thoughtful expert as Mr. Leadon-- I happened to catch his interview on the Leonard Lopate show on NPR and was very impressed. I hope he writes a long-form narrative about New York one day, I thoroughly enjoyed the writing throughout and found the entries on my neighborhood to be right on the money. Highly recommended for locals and visitors alike.
For New Yorkers willing to look up and gawk
As a NYC resident of more than 25 years who has broken the spines of both the third and fourth editions of the AIA Guide to New York City, I think the latest edition is a must-have item for any New Yorker with an ounce of curiosity about the buildings and history of the five boroughs. During the decade since the last edition, the cityscape of NYC has been changing at a frenzied pace--at least until the housing bubble popped and the luxury condo boom crashed. This new edition revisits the old, updates the transformed, and point out the new in concise paragraphs of historical fact and pithy architectural criticism. I may not always agree with the authors' opinions but I do appreciate their dry, witty style. The fifth edition has also improved the quality of the maps and the photographs enormously, and I really enjoy the addition of the "necrology" sections--paeans to buildings that are no longer there.
New Yorkers--buy this book and look up! You'll never look at your city the same way.
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