1 comments about Garden Houses and Privies: Authentic Details for Design and Restoration.

1. Excellent collection of privies constructed from 1700 to 1875. The author has done his research and while the detailed drawings are the main focus, the text is interesting. I wish there were more of it as the subject is a bit off the beaten path. The book is a great resource for homeowners, architects or builders really interested in incorporating accurate historical elements in residential construction.

1 comments about Traditional Details: For Building Restoration, Renovation, and Rehabilitation : From the 1932-1951 Editions of Architectural Graphic Standards.

1. If you are a designer, or a student of design, and your teachers recommend that you obtain Architectural Standards, well don't bother. This gathers all the best details from the Standards, and makes them available in a comprehensive paperback. (That is portable in a backpack, and considerably lighter than the Standards, as well as much cheaper, and that's the bottom line, isn't it?) Full of information about the size and shape of everything from a writing desk to a city bus, this work is essential to make accurate designs for the stage. This work leaves out all the less used info in the Standards, and if you are an absolute purist, (Or an architect,) then Architectural stndards is what you want, but for the rest of us, who don't need to know the specifics, but are hung up on the details, then this is an indispensable resource.

3 comments about Aztec Templo Mayor.

1. I used this book as one of the historical references for my novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God" which tell the complete story of the Conquest of the Mexica. The author's research has produced magnificent artwork of long-destroyed Mexican pyramids, temples and other structures in and around the Templo Mayor. The artwork looks and is modern and I suspect that the actual structures, although wonderful, weren't quite as scenic. Weathering and aging would be factors.
   
   Also, a time-traveller to Tenochtitlan would have noticed things impossible to capture on paper. When the wind shifted there would have been the odors of blood, dismembered corpses and dissolution--mixed, no doubt, with the scent of the numerous flowers growing within and immediately outside of the temple precinct.
   
   Also, I noticed a slight disagreement with the description provided by the old conquistador, Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Castillo noted the presence of two temples on the flat top of the precinct's primary pyramid. Serrato-Combe's work agrees with this. One of these temples was to Tlaloc. Again Serrato-Combe and Diaz are in agreement. The second temple, according to Diaz, had effigies of both Huitzilopotchli and Tezcatlipoca. Serrato-Combe indicates that this was specifically the temple of Huitzilopotchtli. I suspect S-C is right and that Diaz' recollection of events many years earlier may have been muddled. Nevertheless, in my novels I go along with Diaz' descriptions, primarily because his descriptions are so graphic and were, no doubt, partly the products of the terror that any European would have felt when examining these blood-soaked but magnificent structures.
   
   RB



2. reading from the author all the illustrations are computer generated based on oral and verbal manuscripts and on the actual foundations left behind...

   i found the plaza's and home layouts to be of great interest... also his recreation of the ball court is good...

   author also touches on the design of the temples... based on what manuscripts we have and the surviving structures...

   the chapter on the templo mayor was great... but was hoping it could of been more detailed... author leaves alot of room for possibilities

   definitely worth the purchase... if interested in the design of possible configurations of our capital




3. If you have ever been interested in ancient civilizations, and have wondered where/how they lived... this book is for you. The pictures in this book are fabulous and bring you into the lives of this ancient civilization.
   I would recommend this for anyone both for it's visual beauty and historical content!

No comments about Boston's "Changeful Times": Origins of Preservation and Planning in America (Creating the North American Landscape).

No comments about Building on UNAM: Design with Historic Architecture--Columbia GSAPP Joint Studio, 2004.

5 comments about Deco LAndmarks: Art Deco Gems of Los Angeles.

1. A must own book on the Los Angeles Art Deco era. Fantastic pictures and descriptions of buildings past and present in Los Angeles. You can really tell the author did his homework on this one! Buy it.



2. As a current member of 3 Art Deco Socities (NY, LA and Chicago)and owner of at least 30 books on Art Deco, this book told me nothing new or enlightning. I am not in any way a Deco authority, but it would be nice to read (and see) something new about LA. Most photos are a rehash of already printed material and many need additional shots to explain the architecture. For example: the Wiltern Theatre. The interior is 1000% more fantastic than the one exterior photo used. The Wiltern is one of the best examples of theatre deco ever designed.
   
   But, for those that have never set foot in LA, this book may suffice their deco urge.



3. If you're "into" this sort of thing--and you enjoy marveling at Deco Architecture and sculptural designs--L.A.'s treasures add up to the next most bountiful trove of this type offered by the Three Deco Capitals of the U.S. (the Big Apple and ChiTown lead the way). But clearly the City where the aesthetic entered our collective consciousness by way of its movie product and its film set designs is the obvious place to look. LA's major growth occurred during the heyday of Deco and so much of its urban conceptualization was permeated by that design sense. This author is very informative regarding the artists and designers that created LA's "gems." So it provides an interesting read as well as enthralling eye-candy.



4. This book is a must for lovers of Art Deco architecture (which I am)and for lovers of Los Angeles (which I also am)and for those who are tired of east coast critics who decry Los Angeles as being void of architecture. To say that is so far from the truth and this book illustrates it perfectly.



5. Arnold Schwartzman has taken all the photos in this lovely book and as he says in the introduction he decided to focus mostly on detail rather than a whole building. A wise choice because so much of what he covers is not exactly at eye level. Just flick through the pages and be amazed at the amount of exterior Deco delights still standing and hopefully now preserved.
   
   Hundreds of photos are arranged in these four chapters, Tile & Terrazzo, Glass & Neon, Stone & Plaster and Metal & Wood and as Schwartzman took them the color and compositions have a pleasant evenness throughout the pages and this certainly makes all the detail sparkle.
   
   I particularly liked the chapter on stone and plaster with dozens of photos showing just how creative some stonemasons were decades ago, just look pages 122-123 and see six stunning interpretations of the American Eagle.
   
   If you live in Los Angles this super book will be a useful checklist of what to see (the captions all give the street address) for others, like me, it is a good visual record of the best Art Deco gems in LA.
   
   2007 UPDATE: Schwartzman has published a similar book about Art Deco in London (ISBN 1845132432) lots of photos especially of exterior detailing not really visible from the ground.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
   
   
   
   
   

No comments about Gracious Beaufort: Lost Photographs from the Historic American Buildings Survey.

No comments about Historic Floors (Conservation & Museology).

1 comments about Cape May Point: Three Walking Tours Of Historic Cottages.

1. A wonderful guide for enjoying the beauty of this special town on the Jersey Shore. Known for its bird and butterfly migration, Cape May Point also offers it's history, ecological beauty and its ability to take one back 100 years in New Jersey Shore American History. The author who is a resident of the "Point" is a proud keeper of the towns special history.

No comments about Geometry in Architecture: Texas Buildings Yesterday and Today.