New York Transformed ─ The Architecture of Cross & Cross

The architects Cross & Cross shaped the streetscape and skyline of New York City in the 1920s and 1930s with Upper East Side townhouses and apartment buildings, the RCA Victor Building, and Tiffany’s flagship store on 57th Street.

Working through a period of American history that saw dramatic change, from luxurious apartment buildings during the economic boom of the 1920s, to federal commissions during the Depression, the brothers John and Eliot Cross were masters of their craft. Well-connected society men who also showed remarkable foresight in business, Cross & Cross supported their practice with a partnered real estate firm and played a vital role in residential developments like Sutton Place along the East River.

Cross & Cross oversaw the development of handsome clubs and houses throughout New York City, including the Links Club and the Upper East Side houses of Lewis Spencer Morris and George Whitney. They designed country houses in exclusive residential pockets outside New York—the Southampton estate of Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont; houses on the North Shore of Long Island, and in Greenwich, Connecticut; the childhood home of Sister Parish in Far Hills, New Jersey; and the Shelburne, Vermont home of J. Watson and Electra Webb.

In this first book to collect the achievements of Cross & Cross, Peter Pennoyer and Anne Walker present a comprehensive monograph of the firm’s work, with more than 300 illustrations both historic and new and a catalogue raisonne of their projects.

Peter Pennoyer is the founding partner of Peter Pennoyer Architects, which has produced award-winning projects worldwide in classical and traditional styles. The firm is one of Architectural Digest’s AD 100 list of top architects and designers. He serves as the chairman of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and as a trustee of the Morgan Library & Museum.

Anne Walker is an architectural historian with Peter Pennoyer Architects. She has worked with Pennoyer on three earlier monographs, covering the work of the firms Delano & Aldrich, Warren & Wetmore, and Grosvenor Atterbury.