Gotham: Architecture as a reflection of personality

This is Hugh Ferris. His work served as an inspiration for the fictional city of Gotham.

Hugh was a deliniator and architect who never really built any note-worthy buildings but according to a close colleague "influenced a generation of architects more than any other man".

He trained as an architect but early in his career became a exceptional draftsman for others, rather than designing his own work. Often his drawings were published to advertise projects or for competitions, making him well known and a highly sought after draftsman.

"Are not the inhabitants of most of our American cities continually glancing at the rising masses of office or apartment buildings whose thin coating of architectural confectionery disguises, but does not alter, the fact that they were fashioned to meet not so much the human needs of the occupants as the financial appetites of the property owners? Do we not traverse, in our daily walks, districts which are stupid and miscellaneous rather than logical or serene—and move, day long, through an absence of viewpoint, vista, axis, relation or plan? Such an environment silently but relentlessly impresses its qualities upon the human psyche." Hugh Ferriss

Above photos are from the book "Metropolis of Tomorrow".

The depiction of Gotham is unlike that of Metropolis. It is dark and foreboding. Rife with crime, grim, and urban decay. The majority of the action takes place in the evening hours.

Batman Writer Dennis O'neil stated "Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below 14th Street at 11 past midnight on the coldest night in November". Frank Miller (Sin City) says "Metropolis is NY in the daytime, Gotham is NY at night"

The architecture, while depicted by different people through-out the years has bases on various real architectural periods and styles with exaggerated characteristics of Gothic, Art Deco, and Art Nouveau.

While many assume that Gotham is a NY analogue, with the name Gotham actually being a nick-name for NY dating back to the 19th century, some aspects of Gotham are based on Chicago. The history of corruption and organized crime, and the fact that Gotham, like Chicago, has alleyways, which are non-existent in NY.

The history of Batman is much different than that of Superman, where Superman is the mythological god-like being that fell from the heavens and tends to represent everything that is good, Batman is an ordinary man who as a child witnessed his parents murder and now fights crime in the name of revenge. Batman is a dark character and Gotham reflects that.