The Sky's the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan

by Steven Gaines

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145	4	75,235	(3.52)	2

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▾LibraryThing recommendations

Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons by Steven Gaines (1998)
740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building by Michael Gross (2005)
House Lust: America's Obsession With Our Homes by Daniel McGinn (2008)
When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan (2006)
Downtown: My Manhattan by Pete Hamill (2004)

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Showing 4 of 4

Boring (unless you are really into celebrity gossip). (

)

jaygheiser | Jul 29, 2012 |

I picked "The Sky's the Limit" to read because of curiosity about historic New York City apartment buildings. I still don't know a lot about them, other than they have lots of rooms and are situated on certain streets. The exterior photos are good, but I'd rather have seen a few interior shots instead of pictures of the snooty people who live in them. (Read the book and you'll understand that comment.) The gossipy, name-dropping nature of the book made this an interesting read, but looking back, I can't think of a single person who came out looking good. It's a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to NYC apartments. (

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y2pk | Oct 26, 2010 |

I'm not sure what I expected when I read this, but it was a fun read. I'm not too familiar with high-end NYC real estate and some of the information is now dated, but it was a great look in to how the "other half" lives. I especially enjoyed the histories of some of the buildings - i.e. the Ansonia Hotel and how it connects to the Met Opera (

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skinglist | Mar 17, 2010 |

Ah, Manhattan. Where real estate porn appears in all levels of newspaper and where it's perfectly fine to visit someone's home and immediately ask how much rent they pay/how much they spent on the apartment. This book provided a nice gossip-filled look into the market for high end apartments, a bit of history of the development of co-ops and their boards, and some descriptions of neat buildings. In particular, the description of the Ansonia Hotel provides an interesting backdrop for the hotel described in Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser. (

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msjoanna | Mar 24, 2008 |

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Original title

The sky's the limit: passion and property in Manhattan

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People/Characters

Important places

Manhattan, New York, New York, USA

Park Avenue, New York, New York, USA

The Alden, New York, New York, USA

The Alfred, New York, New York, USA

Ansonia Hotel, New York, New York, USA

(show all 23 items)

Important events

Related movies

Central Park West (1995 ∙ IMDb)

Chelsea Girls (1966 ∙ IMDb)

Citizen Kane (1941 ∙ IMDb)

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For Bernard Berkowitz

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0316608513, Hardcover)

Steven Gaines trains his sharp eye on rich people behaving badly. The arena is Manhattan luxury property and the outlandish displays of ego, outrageous behaviour, blood feuds, status hunger and conspicuous consumption that dominate that world. THE SKY'S THE LIMIT reveals the apartment-swapping adventures of many celebrities - from Jerry Seinfeld to Barbra Streisand, from Tommy Hilfiger to Gloria Vanderbilt - whose adventures in promiscuous apartment swapping and renovating are told with typical Gaines verve and style. And Gaines digs much deeper to tell us the fascinating story of how boxes stacked on boxes came to be seen as the ultimate in status for the rich. He explores the development of the cooperative apartment, originally conceived as a way to house the poor. He introduces us to a fascinating, diverse cast of carriage trade brokers, whose most important task is to get their anxious clients past the dreaded co-op board. And he gives us finely etched portraits of a few of the discreet, elderly society ladies who are the real arbiters of who gets into the so-called Good Buildings.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:38:22 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

"Steven Gaines takes us from New York's most expensive condominiums and co-ops to the offices of its most powerful real estate brokers to reveal the outlandish displays of ego, bad behavior, and status hunger that come into play when the best addresses in the city are on the line." "Gaines weaves a gossipy tapestry of brokers, buyers, co-op boards, and eccentric landlords and tells of the apartment hunting and renovating adventures of many celebrities - from Tommy Hilfiger to Donna Karan, from Jerry Seinfeld to Steven Spielberg, from Barbra Streisand to Madonna.""Gaines uncovers the secretive, unwritten rules of co-op boards: why diplomats and pretty divorcees are frowned upon, what not to wear to a board interview, and which of the biggest celebrities and CEOs have been turned away from the elite buildings of Fifth and Park Avenues. He introduces the carriage-trade brokers who never have to advertise for clients and gives us finely etched portraits of a few of the discreet, elderly society ladies who decide who gets into the so-called Good Buildings."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)

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