A new home for the New York Review of Books

Publishers Noted: in which our publisher reviews the building of another publisher.

In May of 2021, author Amanda Lees posted a photo that quickly went viral on Twitter. It was an inside look at the office of the New York Review of Books, at 435 Hudson Street in the West Village: “If someone ever criticizes your tidiness, show them this.” A small flotilla of Macintosh computers sails across a heaving sea of books. Coffee mugs, marked up drafts, and even a wine bottle all bob in the waves. It is not a tidy office.

This fall, the publication moved into a new home: 207 East 32nd Street. A drawing of the new building graces a new tote bag and the cover of its ninety-six-page, sixtieth anniversary issue. Built in 1902 to be a clubhouse for a branch of Tammany Hall, the building reads as a generously proportioned town house, with an elaborate elevation facing south toward 32nd Street. The architect, Robert Lyons, wanted to make it look Parisian by rusticating the base, putting two ornamental balconies on the front, and placing two large mansard windows on the top floor. Th…