2019/07/31 by Steven Gregory · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Business, Management and Accounting · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Architecture, Design, and Social History #American History and Culture #Urban Agriculture and Sustainability
paper · doi:10.1080/24694452.2019.1625746
openalex publication_date 2019/07/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
This article examines the development of the American Acropolis, a constellation of religious, cultural, and educational institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City. I argue that, beginning in the 1880s, the elites governing these institutions took advantage of geography—specifically, the area’s elevation as a plateau—and their control over the built environment to achieve vertical secession, physically and symbolically, from nearby working-class communities and their associated industries. Over the longue durée, these elites viewed social secession to be conducive to, if not the necessary condition for, cultivating the arts of civilization. I examine the ensuing politics of verticality that accompanied this secession, pitting the institutions of the Acropolis against sectors of the real estate industry, railroad companies, and the ethnically and racially marked populations of neighboring working-class communities. Key Words: American Acropolis, materiality, Morningside Heights, politics of verticality, social hierarchy, social secession.