5 comments about Bungalow Nation.

1. Generously adorned throughout this book are beautiful photographs of classic Bungalow homes from across the nation. I flipped through this book at Borders, in the hopes of getting it at Amazon later, but fell in love with it too much to wait for the cheaper internet price. The cover, of course, is eye-catching, with all the rich fall colors, and that same craftsmanship is consistent throughout the book. Job well done!



2. The bungalow is uniquely suited to the homeowner of today: solidly built of good natural materials, unpretentious, yet capable of modification and expansion; usually set in a pleasant and roomy yard, and big enough for the "typical family of four" to inhabit without getting in one another's faces. For these reasons, many cities have seen a "bungalow boom" that has driven up the price of these cozy houses. If you're thinking about a bungalow but aren't sure you want to invest all that money, this book may help you decide. Chock full of all-color photographs, it shows the variations in style and modification possible to the type, the lovingly created details typically found in it, and the ways in which many bungalow owners have contrived to furnish their homes authentically. With a book or two about Craftsman or Stickley furniture, it should provide you with ideas galore about what's possible to a bungalow. And if you simply enjoy looking at pictures of small, simple, yet well-made American houses, it's a volume you're sure to enjoy. For restorationists, decorators, historians, and architecture buffs, it's a beautiful and indispensable volume.



3. When I bought a 1920's bungalow a year ago, I checked out every arts and crafts and bungalow book I could get my hands on. This one rose to the top. Perhaps I'm a little biased because a good portion of the homes featured in the book are located in the Twin Cities, where I live. But the thing I really like about Bungalow Nation, besides the lovely quality of the photograhps, is that it provides excellent inspiration for the interior decoration of arts and crafts style homes.
   
   If you have a bungalow, or just love the style, you will adore this book.



4. Bungalow Nation is a truly sumptuous and detailed look at American bungalows.With color pictures on every page, this book is a wonderful balance of text and graphics. The author's text and the photographs by Alexander Vertikoff together present a well-rounded introduction to bungalow style through brief looks at over 75 specific examples of bungalow architecture.
   
   In a chapter called "In The Land Of The Bungalow" the book starts with a brief history of the origins and growth of the architectural style and its place in American history. This chapter is followed by brief treatments of specific aspects of bungalow style: the outside, porches, the inside, fireplaces, built-ins, and furnishings.
   
   Then the author and photographer take us to five different cities to look at examples of bungalows in each. Sample bungalows in Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago and Washington DC are highlighted in two to four page spreads. Each house has a description and history of the house and some information on the current owners. This is followed by some photographs of specific features with captions describing each.
   
   The book ends with a bibliography and lists of organizations and architects in each of the five areas highlighted.
   
   This is a lovely book. The bugalows are beautifully photographed. The endpapers are sheet music for the song "In The Land Of the Bungalow" by George F. Devereaux. The cover has a color print of a crewel embroidery of dragonflies. It is a labor of love that is a delight to read and a treat to the eyes. If you love bungalows, this is the book for you.
   
   I got this book because I am planning to remodel the kitchen and bath of my 1930 bungalow and was looking for ways to do so while retaining the original integrity of the house. This book has given me the ideas I need to move forward with confidence.



5. I live in a California Craftsman bungalow and therefore gravitated immediately to this book when I saw it in Builders Booksource in Berkeley, CA. It's absolutely lovely: the story of 75 bungalows in LA, Seattle, Chicago, DC, and Minneapolis. I was surprised that Berkeley wasn't included, but the homes shows epitomize America's love affair with these cozy, well-built structures. Included are features on porches, fireplaces, numerous built-ins, furnishings, landscaping, and interior/exterior decoration. You'll love this book, as I do.

2 comments about Marvelous Old Mansions: and Other Southern Treasures.

1. This is a terrific collection of southern homes.
   
   I work as both a travel agent and a travel writer with a specialty in southern destinations. Specifically I do southern historical destinations, which always leads to touring old homes. I have a collection of books on mansions and estates but this book is one of my most used.
   
   Sylvia does a great job of giving the background of the home as well as current information. Maybe because Ms. Higginbotham is also a fellow southern belle, she does a much better job of covering homes than most other publications. Most other books give NC one listing (the Biltmore Estate) or if were really lucky two (Tryon Place). Sylvia highlights 17 and includes Old Salem which is a historical Moravian village in Winston-Salem.
   
   I constantly use this book as a reference for my work. It perfect for those who want to travel and see these treasures first hand, or for those who simply want to be arm chair travelers.



2. I bought this book thinking it would be more of a coffee table book, fully of glossy pages of photos. It is not that. It is a book that is useful if you plan to visit the South, as it gives detail into addresses, times and admission prices of old plantations. The pages are not glossy, nor in colour. More like an oversized novel.

5 comments about Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark.

1. Well, they didn't, but it's a classic anyway.
   
   This is a terrific book for anyone who wants to learn how great projects are visualized, actualized, and pressed through extremely challenging environmental circumstances. It's a source of inspiration for the dreamers and the practical alike.
   
   If you want to read about architecture and engineering, you get only a small dose here. It's more about the capitalization, visioning and building. But that story is magnetic and wonderful.
   
   Only thing they left out: that it was to this (then half-empty) building that Annhaeuser-Busch delivered the "first" case of legal beer to Al Smith at the end of Prohibition. Smith, the "wet" and the eternal optimist, exemplifies what this building was conceived to be: a vibrant and living testimony to the human spirit.
   
   So, it stands to reason that it survives now as New York's essential symbol.



2. This book is a must read for anyone interested in not only the Empire State Building, but in New York City history of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Who would think that a building completed in 1931 at 1250 feet high would still be the tallest building in NYC in 2007 (of course, we can't forget the tragic loss of the taller WTC Towers). This book covers the quick construction of the ESB, but also covers the politics and history behind the building's location (the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel used to be at the corner of 5th Ave and 34th Street) and the people involved. This is an interesting book about an exciting time where anything seemed possible in one of the world's greatest cities.



3. From the outset, the Empire State Building seemed to have had everything going against it. Although conceived during the 1920s boom years, most of the construction went on during the earliest years of the Depression, thereby putting the idea of high occupancy in the severest doubt. Its location wasn't ideal either. It was three miles north of the Wall Street district and a mile south of the center of the midtown business center. And it was ten blocks south of Grand Central Station and three avenues east of old Pennsylvania Station. The idea of mooring dirigibles was quickly scrapped after failed attempts. And sure enough, although the Empire State Building did get built, the tenants did not come. King Kong did, but he didn't pay rent.

   John Tauranac describes all this and more in his exhaustive book, THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING: THE MAKING OF A LANDMARK. Written in an engaging style, Tauranac's book is as elegant and interesting as the subject itself, while his wit is as colorful as the characters surrounding the Empire State Building's creation. The book covers the idea for the building, Raskob's and Smith's supervision, the monumental task of the construction workers, and, most importantly, the survival of the building to become THE emblem of America's cultural and economic reach while become THE identifying symbol of New York City. The generous amount of photographs add to the understanding and enjoyment of the book. Highly recommended.




4. This is an excellent work that details the history of the Empire State Building. I was a bit surprised to find how much the author managed to pack into my paperback. Everything from skyscraper height restrictions to land leases and modern restructuring of ownership for tax purposes (and all the "interesting" stuff in between). If you buy this book and you're not from New York, do yourself a favor and get a map of the area. So you can follow along in the early chapters.



5. I bought this book shortly after a trip to NYC in 2000, and found it to be an excellent history of one of the Big Apple's architectural jewels, the Empire State Building. It is full of intrigue, history, great anecdotes and one-of-a-kind photographs. If you're a visitor to Manhattan or a local resident, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

4 comments about Private Newport: At Home and In the Garden.

1. Despite the potential of the interesting subject matter, 18 private homes and their gardens, PRIVATE NEWPORT is light on details. Author/flower-arranging judge Bettie Bearden Pardee treats it more like a cocktail party of a book with some name-dropping and a few anecdotal stories. Every property is architecturally significant with some fine furnishings and an interesting history, but do not count on much more than just small talk here. Photographer Mick Hales does a better job of presenting the substantial homes, not the so-called cottages of the Gilded Age but mansions none-the-less. All the photos are color and appear to be taken expressly for the book. In addition to an Introduction and an Index, there is a Forward by Marion Oates Charles. Best for those who already love Newport, one of the lovliest towns in the U.S.



2. .
   This is an exquisite look at Newport Rhode Island by Betty Barden Pardee, a contributing editor to Bon Appetit, who, with her husband is a year-around resident of Newport. Ms. Pardee takes the reader inside the mansions for a private look at the interiors and gardens of this community from a bygone era.
   
   Photographer Mick Hales, whose work has appeared in House and Garden, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, and Town and Country does an extraordinary job capturing the light, mood and character of Newport.
   
   Designers, decorative artists, and landscape designers will especially enjoy these pages.



3. I used to live in Newport and I recognize many of the houses in this book. You will not see these private interiors and gardens any other way. The photography and writing are excellent.



4. Private Newport features page after page of gorgeous homes--those that only we mere mortals can only dream about! The photography is spectacular and I love the way the exterior of the homes and their grounds are included, as well as the amazing interiors. This is a great gift for anyone who has visited Newport or who desires to. You won't see these homes on the mansion tour as they are privately owned and not open to the public.

5 comments about Moroccan Interiors.

1. This book features some very interesting residences. Many of the homes featured in this book were actually purchased and fixed up by foreigners to be used as secondary residences, although some live there primarily. There are also some very unusual residences featured in this book.



2. Absolutely georgeous photography and Lovatt-Smith has obviously hiked all across Morocco searching for homes. I was most impressed with the variety of homes, especially the cave homes.
   
   I'm sure there is a great deal of useful information in this book, but I gave it three stars because the print was tiny and itallicized. In places where it was superimpossed over sand, water or some other scenery, it was unreadable. Why didn't an editor catch that?



3. Preservation or desecration of certain architectural styles and decorative heritage goes in and out of fashion the world over. It's not only Morocco that wanted to demolish the old and over-value the new. How much of the beauty and culture of the East has been lost in the name of "progress"? The situation is not simple, however. In the latter part of the 20th century there was an urgent need throughout the Mediterranean for affordable, modern housing for quickly expanding populations and growing economies strapped for cash, skills and resources. Unfortunately aesthetics and the traditions of artisans often got trampled in the rush. Lisa Lovett-Smith's sumptuous Moroccan Interiors reminds us that embracing preservation has so much to offer the present and the future. While she focuses on the homes of the rich, ex-patriate and famous and could therefore be accused of being elitist, she also illuminates the beauty of the simplest of objects that could be found in any home, rich or poor. Lovett-Smith has divided Morocco into regions and cities and celebrated the best of each, appreciating the exquisite, ornate beauty of Islamic art and the colour schemes reflecting the dramatic terrain of the Mediterranean: desert ochre and blistering reds, turquoise, azure, sapphire, gold, saffron and cinnamon to name a few. Lovett-Smith is aware that a picture tells a thousand words and her accompanying text in several languages is brief. The photography is faultless and the lighting of the interiors unobtrusive. This is not just an ornate coffee table book. It is a valuable archive, a celebration of great style and a treasure trove of inspiration for interior architects, artists and designers.



4. I would like to add to my previous reveiw some more practical notes on the contents of the book. The book is seperated into different regions and cities of Morocco and almost all the homes featured are renovations of delightful, but previously run down, Moroccan palaces and estates. In all but one home the owners are Europeans who have settled, or reside much of the year, in Morocco. This is important because, until recently, the Moroccans themselves weren't much interested in preserving thier architectural history, preferring to knock down old buildings and replace them with new ones. Neither were they much interested in preserving thier own style. The Europeans however were devoted to preserving both and created a movement, over time, within the country for Moroccans to begin to do the same. Each home featured reveals the owners deep love for Morocco and for its history. The photographs are lush and beautiful, and the wealth of ideas for interior design and architecture are matched by few books available today.



5. The first time I saw this book I couldn't stop looking at it. I was entirely engrossed with the beauty of the interiors, the use of color, texture and interior architecture in these homes. In a word...MESMERIZED! I should say that the interior design in this book is not my 'style'. It doesn't matter in the least. I have integrated, and plan to integrate, many of the ideas into my own home (Colonial - which couldn't be more different) and have, and will, simply do it in my own way. To add to my point I have shown this book to my mother-in-law who is extremely traditional and conservative in her tastes and she was delighted and inspired. I showed it to my sister, who's taste run to the super modern Italian leather look, and she loved it and plans to use some of the ideas for color in her own home. I showed this to another friend who's tastes are essentially 'the cottage look' (she is very good at it) and she was thrilled with the wealth of ideas she obtained. This book can be used as the ultimate coffee table book or the launching pad for new ideas for decorating your own home. Opening this book is like entering a dream world, where magic and graceful living really do exist.

2 comments about Minka: My Farmhouse in Japan.

1. 
   I loved this book! Rarely have I read a book that combines the richness of Japanese architecture, history and culture with the personal experiences of an American correspondent who simultaneously adopted a Japanese son and eventually gained a 18th century Japanese farmhouse in the process. It is a lively and fascinating account of John Roderick's life over a 50 year period of living in this country that remains an enigma to most foreigners. This is a refreshing look at a bit of Japanese archecture and family life accompanied by a witty, candid, and entertaining writing style. I strongly recommend it!



2. Describing the loving restoration of an 18th century Japanese farmhouse by a well-known AP correspondent, this book also gives intriguing glimpses into Japanese culture of today and yesterday. John Roderick is careful to point out that he could not have accomplished the restoration without the Japanese family who "adopted" him. I found the book hard to put down, so skillfully is it constructed.

5 comments about Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C..

1. This is an insightful book that sheds the spotlight on the planning of our infant nation's capitol city. The central planner in this was the French born Pierre Charles L'Enfant. Berg traces L'Enfant's early years in Paris, his artistic training there, to his joining in the American War for Independence, to his appointment as chief planner for the new federal capitol city on the Potomoc River.
   
   I found the story of his background in France most interesting as we learn of L'Enfant's father's artistic employment in the service of King Louis XV (I believe), to various other aspects of French life at that time period. The son was groomed to follow in his father's footsteps until the war in America shifted Pierre Charles's plans.
   
   Like many in this country, L'Enfant grew to admire George Washington, head of the Continental Army. Berg develops Washington as a sort of father figure to L'Enfant, if only in L'Enfant's mind. We learn of his war service and experiences and his acquaintences with other notables such as Baron Von Steuben and Alexander Hamilton. Through these acquaintences forged in the trials of war would L'Enfant find employment in various architectural and plannining projects after ther war.
   
   The most notable of these assignments was his role as chief planner for a new federal city designated as City of Washington in the District of Columbia. Throughout this venture, Berg shows L'Enfant to be a visionary who envisioned this city to become what it is today. Another fascinating aside to this planning was L'Enfant's consideration of the concept of the national government and the role of the states. A good example of this was evidenced in his plan for diagonal avenues and squares to be named for the individual states.
   
   Through his nearly year long employment in this role we learn of the roles played by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the city commissioners, and some of the wealthier land owners in the city L'Enfant would contend with. Through these interactions did problems emerge. L'Enfant seemed to be the type who wanted complete control over the project, making exception for his revered Washington's approbation. L'Enfant's personality traits could make him less than endearing to those he had to work with and would play a part in his removal as planner in 1792.
   
   Many realized his talents, but his foibles were also in abundance. His removal left him embittered as he watched changes to his plans for the layout of the city and the removal of his name from these plans. These and other factors can be understood as causing a certain amount of wounded pride. What followed was a sad story of a man whose services to his adopted country had nevertheless rendered him in a state of near abject poverty. He became dependent on the care of others, some of whom would cause him grief, while others like the Digges family would show more solictude for this aging man.
   
   It would be over a century before others would give credit to L'Enfant's work, certainly a deserved, if delayed reward. His body was even removed and brought to lay in state in the capitol building before being taken to Arlington Cemetery. There were several topics of interest brought to light in this book whether tied directly or indirectly to L'Enfant, such as the contoversy over how large and what type of city Washington should be. This can be juxtoposed against the competing ideologies of the adherents of Washington and those of Jefferson. Washington (and L'Enfant) having a more nationalistic view of America, while Jefferson and his adherents having a more limited vision of government. Jefferson did not envision a necessarily grand federal city.
   
   I felt the reader didn't really get to know L'Enfant all that well in this book, for various reasons, but his vision for a grand federal city certainly did come to pass, if not in his lifetime, most certainly today.



2. Most people today would not know of the controversy and opposition to the Statue of Liberty, and the efforts and struggles it took to make a suitable platform for it. Similarly, the full story of L'Enfant's contributions to the original design of Washington, DC, was lost for almost a century before being restored. The US Government was very small in 1791, when work was started on the new capital's design, and one of the more interesting aspects of this historical narrative is the small cast of characters involved. The focus of this book is on these various individuals and how they impacted the evolution of the capital over time. Not surprisingly, all of the human traits, good and bad, march through the story with what seems a preponderance of greed, selfishness and small mindedness. It is interesting that the individuals who restored L'Enfant's reputation and works, and were not from the capital city.



3. Berg has written a fabulous book of popular history, full of intriguing anecdotes and fascinating glimpses of G. Washington, T. Jefferson, and J. Monroe, among others. Perhaps by favorite aspect of "Avenues" is the hissy-fit relationship between L'enfant (architect of DC) and Jefferson, a builder in his own right who despised L'enfant for his petulance, arrogance, and bullheadedness. (At least two of these qualities can be attributed to Jeff, as well.)
   
   I've been visiting DC since I was a boy, but often, as children, we give little thought to something's creation. It just exists. But "Avenues" opens a window into the past that I'm still thinking about. In the beginning, there was L'enfant. Without him (and Rick Olmstead, who carried the torch), DC would be a drastically different city. Bravo to Scott Berg, and thank you!



4. GRAND AVENUES depicts the genius of Pierre Charles L'Enfant and his artistry in designing the capital city of the United States. Rich with biographical, political and historical detail, Scott W. Berg has included 25 black-and-white illustrations that will intrigue Washingtonians, city planners, history buffs and architects. In 1790, Thomas Jefferson commissioned L'Enfant to "provide aid in the form of drawings of the particular grounds most likely to be approved for the site of the federal towns and buildings."
   
   Having served as a Continental Army officer under George Washington and designed Federal Hall in New York City, L'Enfant was immediately entranced with this project. Originally from Paris, he loved breathtaking views and a variety of buildings and space within a metropolitan city. "This first recorded evidence of L'Enfant's inclination toward city planning occurred in December, 1784, when he wrote at some length to George Washington outlining his scheme to establish a peacetime corps of engineers." Prior to his arrival in Washington, L'Enfant also worked on projects in Trenton, New Jersey, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
   
   Jefferson and L'Enfant held completely different viewpoints on the way that Washington, D.C. should be laid out. As L'Enfant continued to evaluate Jenkins Hill as the perfect location for a congressional building, he writes, "From these heights every grand building would rear with a majestic aspect of the country all around and might be advantageously seen from twenty miles off." L'Enfant was proposing that the District of Columbia be designed on an expanded scale, with vistas, rises and boulevards. One major problem arose when George Washington suggested selling lots in the best areas of D.C. as delineated by L'Enfant's plans.
   
   "L'Enfant now was arguing for a fundamentally public city --- in opposition to the motivations behind almost every other American public city --- in opposition to the motivations behind almost every other American place --- and to that end he was committed to the development of the public areas before the sale of the private." One problem was that houses were erected that did not fit with the public buildings in close proximity. In one case, L'Enfant actually tore down the completed home of a very influential Washingtonian, who had built it too close to a major public office building.
   
   L'Enfant had organized a plan to access the Potomac River, allowing materials and supplies to arrive swiftly by water to the construction sites. "Every step in L'Enfant's chronology of construction was destined to reduce waste and conserve time, materials, and money." He wrote a significant memo to Washington, requesting that the project be completed as quickly as possible, using a million dollars, and suggesting that the oversight committee of commissioners be eliminated. Unsuccessful in his attempts to drive the project to immediate action, L'Enfant failed. Subsequently, Jefferson heralded Andrew Ellicott and assisted him in preparing a drawing to replace L'Enfant's plans.
   
   Pierre Charles L'Enfant died in debt, unpaid for his work on America's capital city. "It is sometimes called the City of Magnificent Distances, but it might with greater propriety be termed the City of Magnificent Intentions."
   
   --- Reviewed by Marge Fletcher



5. This is an interesing story of how the basic plan for Washington, D. C. was formed. Pierre L'Enfant, a major in the Revolutionary Army worked with George Washington himself in the original design. L'Enfant was the graduate of excellent design schools in Paris, and he had been trained by his father. He had to fight off the influence of Thomas Jefferson the opponent of Washington and Hamilton in this project. His tenure on the project was short. Politics and land speculation was what really drove the process, little changed from today. A brilliant and far-seeing man who after this brief tenure died pretty much alone and unheralded. His work and his place in history was resurected about 1900. A well written and interesting account that meshes well with other biographical works of the era.

No comments about An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape.

3 comments about The Sea Ranch.

1. Both books were shipped quickly and were received in perfect condition. The Sea Ranch has been a summer vacation destination of our family's since 1980 and this book has already become a family favorite.



2. Go north of San Francisco along the coast for a hundred miles or so. Buy 4,000 acres of timber and grazing land. You'll find that you have quite a setting for a housing development. Add rules that say how the house must fit into the land and the scenery and you have quite a housing development in quite a setting. Beginning in 1963 this is just what happened. And over the resulting 40 years quite a stunning set of houses has been built there.
   
   This book is a photographic and descriptive journey though several of these houses, each of which were designed to fit into that exact landscape. It's also the story of the building of this "super development." The story is told with 200 color illustrations, 170 black and white spread over some 304 pages.
   
   Each of the houses described suit their place. This is not to say that they are alike, but that they all just seem to fit. It would be a spectacular place to live.



3. Essays by Donald Canty and Lawrence Halprin accompany beautiful black and white and color shots of California's architectural wonders of the coast which comprise the exclusive Sea Ranch community of homes. Ecologically inspired planning and innovative architectural dreams and designs went into the formation of the California's Sea Ranch community, which sprawls across several thousand acres of land. This could easily have been a picture presentation alone, but the fine house-by-house considerations of design, plan, and history makes it much more, and The Sea Ranch will be revered by architectural reference collections in art libraries.

No comments about Gothic Arches, Latin Crosses: Anti-Catholicism and American Church Designs in the Nineteenth Century.