JOHN FREEMAN GILL is a native New Yorker and former reporter for the New York Times City section. His work has been anthologized in two New York Times books and has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, New York magazine, The New York Observer, The International Herald Tribune, the New York Times Op-Ed page, The New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. He has written more than 180 articles for the Times, including 30 cover features and cover columns for various sections. He was formerly the architecture and real estate editor of Avenue magazine, for which he wrote “Edifice Complex,” a monthly column exploring the biographies of historic New York City buildings and their occupants.