The Architect of New York

Moro (Passion India) serves up an illuminating portrait of real-life Spanish building engineer Rafael Guastavino and his contributions to the Gilded Age. It’s narrated by Rafaelito, his illegitimate son and eventual business partner, who recounts how Rafael pioneered the construction of interior vaults and domes using a lightweight, fireproof clay tile system. Rafael’s method is a hit in Barcelona, but he’s terrible at business and winds up in crippling debt. Making matters worse, his marriage collapses when his wife finds out about young Rafaelito, whose mother is Rafael’s widowed mistress, Paulina. Rafael then brings Paulina and nine-year-old Rafaelito to Manhattan for a fresh start, but he initially flounders due to a lack of contacts and his poor English, and a frustrated Paulina returns to Spain alone. As a young man, Rafaelito matches his father’s gifts for engineering and drafting, and the pair go on to contribute Rafael’s patented building methods to prestigious projects including the Winter Garden of the Biltmore estate in North Carolina and the dome of Manhattan’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The narrative can feel repetitious given the similarity of the myriad architectural projects, financial upheavals, and personal peccadilloes Rafaelito recounts, but it’s packed with rich architectural and period detail. Readers with an interest in the Gilded Age will appreciate this. (Jan.)