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MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Justin Davidson

Architecture and Classical-Music Critic, Curbed and New York Magazine
@JDavidsonNYC

Justin Davidson has been New York Magazine’s architecture and classical-music critic since 2007 and was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2002. He is the author of Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York.

  1. street view
    Re-creating a Waldorf Astoria That No One RemembersThe public-facing rooms get a better-than-new, almost uncanny restoration.
  2. street view
    The Right Way to Convert a Church Into a CondoTurning so many disused churches into housing is tricky — and, when it works, spectacular.
  3. street view
    The Elizabeth Street Garden Battle Should Never Have HappenedIt took 13 years to make a deal that was on the table from the beginning.
  4. opera review
    Reverse-Angle Double Vision: The Comet/PoppeaPaired overlapping operas, performed for an audience that’s in the wings instead of the seats.
  5. street view
    The Brooklyn Banks Is Bleak by DesignThe freshly reopened plaza under the Brooklyn Bridge didn’t become a cozy green park — but skaters love it that way.
  6. street view
    Lincoln Center Will Finally Face Its NeighborsAs it aims to be more welcoming, the institution will remove a forbidding wall to open up Damrosch Park.
  7. street view
    The New New New South Street SeaportThe latest owners are betting on immersive spaces and rooftop bars. Will it finally become a real neighborhood?
  8. opera review
    At Antony and Cleopatra, the Music and Dancers Own the ShowI sometimes wished the singers would stop getting in the way of that lovely score.
  9. street view
    Two Striking New Libraries, Inviting in Different WaysA mysterious portal beckons in Far Rockaway; a New Lots one will be more direct.
  10. classical-music review
    The Frick’s New Concert Hall Makes Small Ensembles Sound HugeThe inaugural concert filled the room, and the audience, with intensity.
  11. opera review
    Heads Up: The Met’s Salome Is Spectacular“Bilious harmonies and seething rhythms in an unbroken two-hour spasm of excitement.”
  12. street view
    A Greener, Wilder Central Park Pool and Skating RinkThe Davis Center is a major upgrade to the park’s northern end.
  13. street view
    Public Space Has Become Earbud SpaceWhen Lorde pulls off her headphones in her New York–centric new music video, it’s a reminder that we can too.
  14. street view
    Where Is Our Post-Car City?We need to be building it all right now. Instead, we’re stuck in traffic.
  15. street view
    A Light Touch in the Frick ExpansionAnnabelle Selldorf’s gentle intervention is a relief.
  16. street view
    A Sheet-Music Façade in Washington HeightsA charter music school where the vibe is almost uncannily happy.
  17. street view
    Brick Is BackEven the most prolific builders of glass towers have rediscovered texture, shadow, and drama.
  18. opera review
    At the Met, Moby-Dick Gets Rendered DownJake Heggie’s and Gene Scheer’s opera adaptation goes easy on the meaty conflicts and keeps the stakes curiously low.
  19. media
    Upending Language: The Times and Its Trump Verb of ChoiceAs the paper tries to find measured phrasing to describe his seizure of power, it goes for the same word over and over.
  20. classical-music review
    Conrad Tao at Carnegie Hall: Ten Digits, Plus Some Ones and ZeroesOn the Lumatone, a little gimmicky; on the Steinway, a master.
  21. rendering judgment
    Manhattan’s Future Jail Looks a Lot Like a Corporate HQCubicles you really don’t want to inhabit.
  22. street view
    Daniel Libeskind Tries His Hand at Affordable HousingThe Atrium, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, is a fine proof-of-concept, but does it scale?
  23. classical-music review
    Half-Bach’d: Alisa Weilerstein’s Cello MashupsNewly commissioned works interwoven with the Bach cello suites don’t add up to a greater whole.
  24. los angeles wildfires
    Rebuilding After FireIt’s not enough to fireproof a single home. How can a community raise its odds of survival?
  25. opera review
    An Aida That Tries to Apologize for Itself“Michael Mayer’s new staging for the Met had me wondering how soon someone would roll the stone slab back and let my people go home.”
  26. street view
    Imagining a City of WoodMass timber could revolutionize construction, if only New York would embrace it. We commissioned four projects to show what it can do.
  27. street view
    Architecture Is an Act of Vengeance in The BrutalistThe film uses the field as a metaphor within a metaphor about trauma and mediocrity. The result is murk.
  28. chapters
    Can Architects Build for Rebuilding?Good planning for the future means thinking about a structure’s long-term flexibility before it goes up.
  29. street view
    The Met’s Contemporary-Art Wing Will Be Elegant and TameA first look at Frida Escobedo’s forthcoming addition.
  30. street view
    Disney’s New Downtown Headquarters Is All New YorkThere’s nothing goofy about it.
  31. institutions
    The Philharmonic’s New CEO Will Be Matias TarnopolskyHe’s moving up from Philadelphia, where he’s run the orchestra for six years.
  32. gift guide
    The Best New Books to Give Architecture and Design EnthusiastsFrom a Shigeru Ban monograph to a book of national-parks maps, a selection of the year’s best books for design lovers.
  33. street view
    The History of the Modern Office in One BuildingThe old MetLife complex on Madison Square, once a hive of paper-pushing clerks, gains a tall addition that’s all light and air.
  34. street view
    Cooper Stock 9-year-old killed crossing street
    The Upper West Side’s Zone of Pedestrian DeathThe area around 96th Street is dangerous. And it’s hardly the worst in town.
  35. street view
    Cross Your Fingers for the Whitney’s Breuer BuildingThe interior’s not landmarked, and Herzog & de Meuron are going in to renovate.
  36. classical-music review
    Maria Dueñas’s New York Recital Debut Was SpectacularIt’s probably the last time the violinist won’t perform in a big room.
  37. street view
    The Vessel, Newly Closed-In, Is Open AgainSafer, surely, but still as dumb an attraction as ever.
  38. chapters
    Why Do Concert Halls Still Matter?An antique architectural form that continues to resonate.
  39. music review
    A Dudamel Preview: Plenty of Razzle, Short on DazzleAt Carnegie Hall, showy interpretations that rarely broke through to a deeper level.
  40. street view
    The Two Paul RudolphsThe Met’s retrospective reveals the architect’s vision and optimism — and his supreme arrogance.
  41. street view
    Buffalo Is Doing Preservation (Mostly) RightGiving its slow recovery a boost by spending money on its past.
  42. opera review
    Moral Complexity at the Met: Jeanine Tesori’s GroundedOur theater and music critics discuss the new opera about drone warfare and the people who wage it.
  43. the rehearsal
    Emily D’Angelo Will Sing for 100 Minutes StraightShe opens the Met season with Jeanine Tesori’s opera Grounded.
  44. street view
    Larry Silverstein Outlasted EveryoneThere’s a lot of see-I-was-right-ness in his new memoir about rebuilding the World Trade Center — and often he was.
  45. the rehearsal
    Opera Singer Anthony Roth Costanzo Can Do It AllThe countertenor is mounting a one-person adaptation of The Marriage of Figaro at Little Island this fall.
  46. fall preview 2024
    30 Classical-Music Performances We Can’t Wait to Hear This FallEnough to make you reassess classical music’s lineage.
  47. street view
    The End of Our Decrepit Streetery EraNew rules may have scared away many restaurants, but this may be the beginning of better outdoor dining.
  48. classical music
    The New York Philharmonic’s CEO Has Quit ‘Effective Immediately’As an investigation into two suspended musicians proceeds.
  49. street view
    What Did Brooklyn Bridge Park Get So Right?Nearly 20 years after we broke ground, it’s more impressive than ever.
  50. street view
    Inside the Bizarre Architectural Mind of Frederick KieslerSpinning wraparound bookshelves, continually evolving half-underground houses: A show at the Jewish Museum celebrates an eccentric visionary.
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