Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Introduction..................................................................................................2
Chapter I : Famous cities from ,, The Big Apple ......................................4
I.1 Most popular attractions................................................................4
I.2 Most popular streets.....................................................................10
I.3 Famous parks and squares...........................................................13
Chapter II : The history of New York City................................................17
II.1 New York City in the 18th century.............................................18
II.2 New York City in the 19th century.............................................18
II.3 New York City in the 20th century..............................................19
II.4 New York City in the new millennium.......................................20
Precise......................................................................................................21
Bibliography...............................................................................................22
Introduction
days. The skyscraper towered over the neighborhood with its height of 381 meters
(1250 ft). As the Empire State Building was one of the last skyscrapers built before
the Great Depression hit the real estate market, it wouldn't be topped until 1972,
when the twin World Trade Towers dethroned the Empire State Building as the
world's tallest building. The Empire State Building is built on a full city block.
Much of it was
occupied by the
Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, which opened
in November 1897 as
the city's largest hotel
with 1050 rooms. It
was one the most
prestigious in New
York and attracted an
upper-class clientele.
The Empire State
Building was designed
by William Frederick Lamb of the architectural firm of Shreve, Lamb, and
Harmon.
Statue of Liberty
The statue was designed by a young French sculptor, Frdric-Auguste
Bartholdi, who was striving to build a statue like the great Colossus that once stood
at the Greek island Rhodes. The statue's face was modeled after his mother's and
the story goes that the body was modeled after a prostitute. The crown of Lady
Liberty, as the statue is often affectionately called, has seven spikes, symbolizing
the Seven Seas across which liberty should be spread. In her left hand she holds a
tablet with the Declaration of Independence and in her right hand a torch,
symbolizing Enlightenment. The Statue of Liberty is 46,5 meters (151ft) tall and
together with the pedestal it reaches a height of 93 meters (305ft).The Statue of
Liberty was constructed in Paris, France. It took nine years before it was completed
in 1884 after which it was sent to the USA in 214 crates. It is
a colossal neoclassical sculpture and it is located on Liberty Island in the middle
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Chrysler Building
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the race for the world's tallest
building started in earnest with several developers in New York vying for the coveted
title. The Chrysler Building was the first building to top the tallest structure, then
the Eiffel Tower in Paris. For Walter P. Chrysler, from the car manufacturer, building
the tallest building in the world was a status symbol. The Chrysler Building was in a
race with the Bank of Manhattan (now40 Wall Street) for obtaining the title of tallest
building in the world. It looked like the Bank of Manhattan would win the race, with
an expected height of 282 meters (927ft) to around 230 meters for the Chrysler
Building. But the spire of the Chrysler Building was constructed in secret inside the
tower. Just one week after the Bank of Manhattan had topped out, the spire of the
Chrysler Building was put in place, making it 318 meters (1045ft) tall, thus beating
the Bank of Manhattan as the tallest building in the world. It would not keep this title
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New York City has been called the world's principal financial center. Other notable
buildings include the columned Federal Hall, originally built to house City Hall and
its offices. Equally as notable is the ornate40 Wall Street, once home to the Bank of
Manhattan .One of the Financial District's most famous symbols is the 'Charging
Bull' Statue (The bull represents a bull market, a constantly rising market).
Fifth Avenue
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New York's Fifth Avenue is best known as an unrivaled shopping street. Almost any
upscale retailer has a prestigious store located at this street. However not all of Fifth
Avenue is shopping - centre. Along Central Park Fifth Avenue becomes a more
residential street with a large number of interesting museums. Fifth Avenue starts just
north of Washington Square and goes all the way north up to 143rd street in Harlem.
It is one of the world's most expensive streets, especially the area between 49th and
59th street where some of the most prestigious stores can be found. The "most
expensive street in the world" moniker changes depending on currency fluctuations
and local economic conditions from year to year. For several years starting in the
mid-1990s, the shopping district between 49th and 57th Streets was ranked as having
the world's most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis. In 2008,
Forbes magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the
world. Some of the most coveted real estate on Fifth Avenue are the penthouses
perched atop the buildings. The American Planning Association (APA) compiled a
list of 2012 Great Places in America and declared Fifth Avenue to be one of the
greatest streets to visit in America. This historic street is home to extraordinary
museums, businesses and stores, parks, luxury apartments, and historical landmarks
that are reminiscent of its history and vision for the future. There are enough overthe-top shopping opportunities on Fifth Avenue to satisfy everyone's taste. Women
will love browsing and buying at stores like the famous Saks Fifth Avenue, BergdorfGoodman, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Emanuel Ungaro, Gucci, Ferragamo, and Versace.
Men can check out Bergdorf Men, the NBA Store as well as the famous Apple Store.
Fifth Avenue is not just a shopping street. Along Central Park, which borders Fifth
Avenue, the street becomes more residential. Here you'll find palatial homes, grand
churches and other historic buildings. You'll also come across numerous museums. In
fact, there are so many of them that the area between 82nd and 104th Streets is
known as the 'Museum Mile'. During the 19th and early 20 century many wealthy
industrials settled here along Fifth Avenue. They built fabulous mansions with views
of Central Park. Many of these magnificent buildings are now home to museums.
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building was called Longacre square, but was soon renamed Times Square. The name
is now used for the area between 40th and 53rd street and 6th and 9th avenue. Times
Square, iconified as "The Crossroads of the World", "The Center of the Universe" and
the "The Great White Way", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater
District, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections and a major center of the
world's entertainment industry. According
to Travel + Leisure magazine's October
2011 survey, Times Square is the world's
most visited tourist attraction, hosting over
39 million visitors annually. Approximately
330,000 people pass through Times Square
daily, many of whom are either tourists or
people working in the area. Many people
come to Times Square for the ambiance and
the billboards spectacle, but there are also many restaurants and shops - well over 100
- in the area including some crowd-pullers such as the Disney Store and a large
Toys"R"Us. But Times Square is best known for its entertainment, and plenty of
visitors come here to attend a Broadway show. Times Square is also home to MTV's
headquarters.
The first native New Yorkers were the Lenape, an Algonquin people who
hunted, fished and farmed in the area between the Delaware and Hudson rivers.
Europeans began to explore the region at the beginning of the 16th centuryamong
the first was Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian who sailed up and down the Atlantic
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coast in search of a route to Asiabut none settled there until 1624. That year, the
Dutch West India Company sent some 30 families to live and work in a tiny
settlement on Nutten Island (todays Governors Island) that they called New
Amsterdam. In 1626, the settlements governor general, Peter Minuit, purchased the
much larger Manhattan Island from the natives for 60 guilders in trade goods such as
tools, farming equipment, cloth and wampum (shell beads). Fewer than 300 people
lived in New Amsterdam when the settlement moved to Manhattan. But it grew
quickly, and in 1760 the city (now called New York City; population 18,000)
surpassed Boston to become the second-largest city in the American colonies. Fifty
years later, with a population 202,589, it became the largest city in the Western
hemisphere. Today, more than 8 million people live in the citys five boroughs.
was the trading capital of the nation. As the city grew, it made other infrastructural
improvements. In 1811, the Commissioners Plan established an orderly grid of
streets and avenues for the undeveloped parts of Manhattan north of Houston Street.
In 1837, construction began on the Croton Aqueduct, which provided clean water for
the citys growing population. Eight years after that, the city established its first
municipal agency: the New York City Police Department.
Meanwhile, increasing number of immigrants, first from Germany and
Ireland during the 1840s and 50s and then from Southern and Eastern Europe,
changed the face of the city. They settled in distinct ethnic neighborhoods, started
businesses, joined trade unions and political organizations and built churches and
social clubs. For example, the predominantly Irish-American Democratic club known
as Tammany Hall became the citys most powerful political machine by trading
favors such as jobs, services and other kinds of aid for votes.
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Precise
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First of all I would like to speak a little bit about the reason for my
choice. Since I was a little child I liked the metropolises and their specific
atmosphere. And why I chose the city of New York among all the cities around the
world? The answer is very simple, nowhere in this world cant find the authentic
American lifestyle like in New York City. Of course each city or country has its
specific particularities more or less beautiful but from my point of view the city of
New York is one of the most beautiful and influential metropolis of the world.
My project is structured in two main chapters which are divided in three
respective four subsections. The first chapter includes the most popular attractions of
the city and the second one presents the history of it starting from the 18th century.
Before the chapters, a little introduction of New York is the start of my project.
In conclusion I can say that while I was searching for information
necessary to my work I was pleased I had the chance to read and learn about some
historical events that were crucial to the American nation and also a little about the
culture of their state. In my opinion this project was beneficial, culturally speaking,
for me.
Bibliography
Eisenstadt, Peter, ed. (2005). The Encyclopedia of New York State.
Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press;
Brodhead, John Romeyn. History of the State of New York. New
York City: Harper & Brothers, 1874;
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