Anna Kodé

I'm a features reporter for The New York Times, where I cover the built environment, culture and why people want Jeff Bezos to eat the Mona Lisa. I’m drawn to stories that are hidden in plain sight and allow us to re-examine a subject we thought we already knew.

I'm also an adjunct professor at NYU and the author of Unseen Places, a forthcoming book about observation.

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Reporting

• • The Quintessential Urban Design of ‘Sesame Street’


• • A Real Estate Queen and the Secret She Couldn’t Keep Hidden


• • The Politics of Brutalism


• • Not Just a Fence: The Story of a Stainless Steel Status Symbol


• • A Tap-to-Pay Society is Leaving These New Yorkers Behind


• • The Fight to Save the Style of Postwar Optimism


• • Columbia University Locked Its Campus and Unleashed a Contentious Debate


• • The American Dream Without a House? Believe It


• • Barbie, Her House and the American Dream


• • The Chrysler Building, the Jewel of the Manhattan Skyline, Loses Its Luster


• • Yoko Ono and the Dakota


• • A Beauty Treatment Promised to Zap Fat. For Some, It Brought Disfigurement.


• • America, the Bland


• • Joan Didion’s Life in Objects


• • Beard Crusader

Personal Essays

• • Stop Ignoring All the Mundane Miracles in Your Life


• • My First Second Watch


• • The Art and Ritual of Rangoli

Video

• • The Urban Design of Sesame Street


• • The Evolution of New York City Benches


• • How Columbia Touched Off a Debate Over Public Space


• • What Bodegas Mean for New York


• • The Ups and Downs of an N.Y.C. Landmark


• • A Futuristic Style of Architecture Is Endangered


• • This Town of Spiritualists Believes Death Does Not Exist

Press and Awards

• • National Association of Real Estate Editors, Best Architecture Story: Silver Award 2025


• • National Association of Real Estate Editors, Best Architecture Story: Silver Award 2024


• • National Association of Real Estate Editors, Best Architecture Story: Silver Award 2023


• • Deadline Club, Feature Reporting Finalist 2024


• • Good Morning America


• • 99% Invisible


• • WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show

Appearances and Readings

• • A Spotlight on Asian American Culture Today, The Times Center


• • Cocktails & Conversation, Center for Architecture


• • Modern House Day Tour & Symposium, The New Canaan Historical Society


• • Lactose Intolerant Reading Series, Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore


• • Substack 'Hate Reads', The River

© Anna Kodé