The Architect of New York

A Novel

By: Javier Moro, Peter J. Hearn - translator

Narrated by: Robert Fass

A transportive work of historical fiction chronicling the life, loves, and iconic successes of Rafael Guastavino, the influential yet largely forgotten Spanish architect of New York’s Gilded Era

Iconoclast. Genius. Womanizer. Architect Rafael Guastavino’s signature vaulted tile ceilings revolutionized Gilded Age New York City. The Oyster Bar in Grand Central, the Prospect Park Boathouse, and the iconic Old City Hall subway station number among his masterpieces. But while his works continue to imbue the city with the glamour of a bygone era, the man himself has been largely forgotten.

Told through the eyes of Guastavino’s son and business partner, Rafael Jr., Javier Moro’s magnetic prose brings to life the remarkable rags-to-riches journey of this influential immigrant family. Guastavino was a stubborn man, enamored of his own sense of destiny, but he was also a deeply compassionate father, as committed to his family as he was to his work, and equally defined by his successes in the latter realm as by his failures in the former.

Set against historical events including the Chicago World's Fair and the sinking of the Titanic, The Architect of New York is a moving and entertaining father-son story filled with finely developed and deeply researched real-life characters (including such figures as Stanford White and Daniel Burnham) that captures the romance and drama while offering a timeless glimpse into the human heart.

©2025 by Javier Moro. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2025 by Javier Moro & Peter J. Hearn.

Critic reviews

“The audio version of this intermittently interesting fictionalized biography demands a lot of narrator Robert Fass: scrupulous attention to pacing, to diction, and to the emotions of various bewildered Guastavino children and heartbroken and/or furious wives and lovers—plus accents ranging from that of architect Stanford White to the Spanish and Catalan voices of the subject’s Barcelona youth.… Fass’s performance is impeccable.”—Kirkus Audiobook Reviews

"The Architect of New York is a page turner that reveals the secrets of a turbulent family life and the conflicts father and son—both extremely talented, inseparable companions, yet rivals—had to face in order to survive in the gilded age."—Antonio Banderas

"For fans of architecture and old New York, Javier Moro's new novel is a veritable wonder cabinet of lore about the Spanish architect behind some of the soaring masterpieces of the Gilded Age. For everyone else, throughout this trove is a second treasure: the complicated, evocative story of what it means to be the son of a genius."—Maria Hummel, author of Goldenseal