A Block in Time: A NYC History at the Corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Third Street
"A Block in Time is ostensibly about a very small plot of land, but it's the most comprehensive and fascinating book I've ever read about New York City history. Bird takes the city's ugly, wild past and weaves it into the modern landscape in such a unique and thrilling way. Everyone should be required to read this book before being allowed to move to New York." — Julia Wertz, author of Tenements, Towers & Trash
"Just as some writers have captured the history and character of a country or era by focusing on a single day, Christiane Bird has captured the hurly-burly sweep of the city's history and its quirky, resilient character by zooming in on a single block. It is a work of prodigious research and zestful writing that is a must for any aficionado of the great cities." — Joseph Berger, author of The World in a City
"Christiane Bird vividly captures four centuries in microcosm by focusing on Madison Square's metamorphosis from the vice-infested Tenderloin and Theater District to the Flatiron and Silicon Alley. Her biography of the block, inspired by Columbia historian Ken Jackson's urban history course, percolated for twenty-five years. It was worth the wait." — Sam Roberts, author of A History of New York in 27 Buildings
"Introducing readers to a remarkable cast of characters, Christiane Bird traces the extraordinary story of a single New York City neighborhood from the Age of Discovery to our own era of hypergentrification. More than a microhistory, A Block in Time offers a splendid portrait of the personalities and architecture, the fevered dreams and erratic energy that shaped a nation." —David S. Brown, author of The Last American Aristocrat
"Enriched by Bird's brisk character sketches and copious research, this is an entertaining and eye-opening snapshot of New York history." — Publishers Weekly
"A lively account packed with memorable NYC characters . . . Students of an ever-changing Gotham will take pleasure in Bird's well-researched narrative." — Kirkus Reviews
Except from Chapter Thirteen: "Is She a Lady or Is She Not?"
Tongues had started wagging as soon as Mrs. Paran Stevens, née Marietta Reed, first stepped foot in New York in 1860, and for three decades, they never stopped. She said she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Lowell, Massachusetts, but everyone knew her father was nothing more than a common grocer. She said she had met her husband, the manager and leasee of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in the home of a school friend in Boston, but everyone knew she had once worked as a chambermaid in one of his hotels and perhaps as a Lowell factory girl as well. Just look at the way she dressed—all those flamboyant boas and overly brocaded dresses. Just look at the way she decorated—all those overgrown vases and mediocre works of art. And, most of all, just listen to the way she talked—loudly, impatiently, and with too many pushy ideas and strident opinions. Her Sunday night musicales were a sacrilege, and the way she had ingratiated herself with the Prince of Wales when he was in town… Really, it was simply too much to bear!
In reality, Marietta Reed was who she said she was: the daughter of Ransom Reed, a respected, well-established Lowell merchant who had sent all seven of his children to the best of schools. Marietta had grown up in a bourgeois household and, as "one of the most beautiful belles of Lowell," had had plenty of suitors. She had met her husband Paran Stevens, three decades older than she, in 1850 when she was just 19 while visiting a friend who was also a friend of his daughter. A widower with a kind face, black curly hair, and long fuzzy sideburns, he managed the best luxury hotels in Boston. He was immediately charmed by the vivacious, beautiful young woman, and she was impressed by his courtly manners, success, and wealth. The two wed and settled in Boston, where they had two children, a daughter and a son, and Marietta tried, but failed, to fit into society. She was not welcomed by the city's older matrons, perhaps because of her youth, perhaps because of her outspoken nature.