LITMIR.BIZ

Meticulously accurate line drawings and fascinating text trace Manhattan's growth from a tiny Dutch outpost to the commercial, financial, and cultural heart of the world. This book explains construction above and below ground, including the excavation of subway lines and the building of bridges and skyscrapers. Hundreds of illustrations reveal intricate details of construction techniques.Author and illustrator Donald A. Mackay traces Manhattan's history from its first wood, stone, and brick houses to its famous modern structures, including the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and the World Trade Center. Along with historical background, he presents clear explanations and illustrations of the skilled labor and methods behind the island's tunnels, bridges, and train lines. Mackay describes who does what at a construction site, the assembly of a tower crane, and the construction of skyscrapers, from the foundations to the floor-by-floor elevations, along with other amazing procedures that are all part of a day's work in building the big city.

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Splendid pictorial record of architectural style strongly influenced by Bauhaus movement. Over 300 illustrations show interiors, exteriors. Details on construction, site, cost, more.

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"I would much rather build than write about building, but when I am not building, I will write about building — or the significance of those buildings I have already built." — Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright built a body of works and drawings to illustrate and explain his work: collections of designs with commentary that temperamentally parallel that work: irascible, radical, powerful and dense, astonishing and simple in its clarity. One of his earliest published works illustrates the parallel, preserving  thought and design at a prophetic moment, shortly before Wright's genius and fame captured two continents and many converts. The Wasmuth portfolio of drawings (named after the original German publisher) is reproduced here from an extremely rare first edition (1910).Wright's polemical preface indicates the importance he attached to the drawings and their publication: «. . . the work illustrated in this volume, with the exception of the work of Louis Sullivan, is the first consistent protest in bricks and mortar against this pitiful waste [academic, inorganic styles]. It is a serious attempt to formulate some industrial and aesthetic ideals that in a quiet, rational way will help to make a lovely thing of an American's home environment. . . .» «Home environment» for Wright was the Midwestern plain; these these drawings, perhaps his earliest experiments in organic design, partake of the Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin prairie with their emphasis on the horizontal («the line of domesticity») and the environmental motif: «A beautiful elm standing near gave the suggestion for the mass of the building,» Wright says of the Winslow house in River Forest, Illinois, a dwelling he cites as the first embodiment of many of his ideas. Elegant full-page architectural drawings and plans show Wright's atelier in Oak Park, Illinois, many homes, cottages, banks, a burial chapel, Unity Church temple, a concrete house designed for Ladies' Home Journal and numerous studies for buildings, treated as problems in design, that were never built.The republication of this rare work gives access again to what has been called «the single most important collection of work published by Frank Lloyd Wright.» Students of American architectural genius will find here the seeds of Wright's greatness.

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From the late nineteenth century to the early 1920s, the Arts and Crafts Movement spread with great popularity across America. With origins in Britain, the Craftsman style was a reaction against the excesses of the Victorian era. Craftsman bungalows were distinguished by their charming simplicity, cozy style, and storybook appeal. The name was derived from a popular magazine called The Craftsman, published by renowned furniture designer Gustav Stickley who sold plans for these homes designed for «beauty, convenience, and comfort.» This fascinating reprint of a rare architectural catalog is filled with photos of actual completed bungalows from the era, built prior to 1919. A mix of Spanish tile, stucco exteriors, wraparound porches, overhanging gables, handcrafted stone, and woodwork added up to many a homeowner's dream. Geared to the climate of the northern and eastern regions, each bungalow is an authentic Craftsman design and features a photo, description, floor plan, and original costs. A fascinating showcase of primary American architecture, Craftsman Bungalows is an indispensable resource for architects, builders, historians, and illustrators.

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Cozy, charming, and distinctly Californian, the bungalow is an enduring architectural icon. Originally designed to survive earthquakes, the low, rambling structures combined grace, beauty, and comfort at minimum cost.Early in the twentieth century, Los Angeles architect Henry Wilson, who called himself «The Bungalow Man,» compiled 112 of the most popular and economic bungalow blueprints of his time in a catalog for would-be homeowners. Complementing each set of prints was an illustration or photograph of the completed house, which most frequently contained two or three bedrooms with closet space, living and dining rooms, a kitchen with pantry, and a bath.An ideal reference for preservationists and restorers, this reprint of Wilson's rare catalog represents a wonderful time capsule and invaluable guide to a popular style of American domestic architecture.

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When the authors, a pair of respected architects, first published this beautiful book in the late Victorian era, they meant it as a wakeup call to the forward-looking homeowners of the time &#8212; inviting them to eschew «the old puritanical hatred of color, which found its natural outcome in white houses with green blinds» and join in the revolutionary trend toward «advanced notions, in which the more positive colors find a chance of expression.» The book helped homeowners to attain this goal through its presentation of full-color illustrations of attractive, up-to-date color schemes for houses, with special attention given to the refined lines of Queen Anne-style homes.<BR>The heart of the book is the section of 20 exquisite color plates &#8212; each reproducing a flawlessly executed architectural drawing that shows the color possibilities for a specific house, and each accompanied by an extensive written description of the colors to be used for exterior walls and trim. An informative introductory section gives a clear explanation of how to mix primary and secondary colors to achieve such popular, mellow tones of the period as olive, russet, citrine, buff, plum, and sage. This authentic source of inspiration and suggestions will be prized by restorationists, architects, home-builders, and lovers of Victoriana.<BR>

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For home restorers, preservationists, architectural historians or anyone interested in American domestic architecture of the 1920s, this unabridged republication of a rare plan book from that era will be an invaluable resource. Published by the Loizeaux building-supply and lumber companies of New Jersey in 1927, it includes illustrations and floor plans for 134 houses in many styles &#8212; New England Colonial, Dutch Colonial, Gothic or half-timber, Modern English, Italian, Spanish Mission, and more.Ranging in price from less than $4,000 to over $13,000, these homes offer a fascinating cross section of the most popular building styles in America over 60 years ago. For each home, the catalog provides an illustration of the exterior, complete floor plans with dimensions, costs and a brief description of the features and advantages of the house. Helpful commentary is often included: «The living room should offer an invitation to relax mentally and physically. Comfortable chairs, shaded lights, and soft-tone hangings, draperies and walls will help create the homelike, restful atmosphere so desirable in a living room. For the decoration of the living room walls, tans, medium brown, warm gray, old blue, gray, green and other soft colors are excellent.»In addition to complete plans, the catalog also includes plumbing and bathroom fixtures, wiring, closet fixtures, tiling, heaters, and other necessities. The result is an authentic reference guide for a wide range of homes still extant in American cities and towns. For anyone seeking to buy or restore one of these houses, the Loizeaux plan book represents an unparalleled resource containing original plans, detailed descriptions, dimensions and prices.

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"Vignola codified the rules of classical architecture for the Italian Renaissance . . . Ware codified Vignola for the American Renaissance." &#8212; John Barrington Bayley, from the Introductory Notes to <I>The American Vignola<BR></I>From 1890 to 1940, Americans designed and built classical architecture on an extraordinary scale. During this American Renaissance were built countless libraries, museums, universities, courthouses, capitol buildings and other structures, both public and private, rich with domes, pediments, colonnades, and other classical features. «We built with unparalleled grandeur,» architect and scholar John Barrington Bayley observes, «and our architecture led the world.» <BR>More than any other document of the period, <I>The American Vignola</I> laid the groundwork for this grand resurgence in&nbsp;American architecture. Its author, William R. Ware, founded America's first school of architecture at M.I.T. in 1865, and sixteen years later, the School of Architecture at Columbia University. He became America's leading teacher of the art of designing classical architecture. <I>The American Vignola</I> is his textbook on that art. <BR>As the Renaissance architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola helped to recover the lost laws of classical architecture that made possible the architectural wonders of the Italian Renaissance, Ware helped lay the groundwork for the wonders of the American Renaissance. <I>The American Vignola </I>contains tables of the Tuscan, Ionic, Doric, Corinthian, and Composite Orders; measured drawings of the great monuments of the ancient, Renaissance, and baroque periods; and guides for drawing and establishing geometrical relations. Especially important are its detailed practical instructions for designing classical arches and vaults, roofs and domes, doors and windows, walls and ceilings, steps and staircases, and more. Over 300 illustrations illuminate the text, including 37 full-page plates and 267 smaller figures. Introductory notes by Mr. Bayley and architectural expert Henry Hope Reed set Mr. Ware's great achievement in perspective.<BR>

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About 1912, a renaissance of interest in early American architecture occurred that claimed the attention of a broad cross-section of the culture. It was demonstrated not only by being a popular topic in books and magazines, but also by the public's passion for collecting American antique furniture, and by students and architects traveling through different regions of the nation and photographing the most notable architectural examples. In the 1930s, the classic constructions from this earlier time mingled with the new materials and efficient designs, and the great American country house was born. This treasury showcases some of the finest American country houses produced during that unusually fruitful period. Culled from many of the best architectural firms of the time, the volume includes numerous detailed floor plans, lively sketches, and breathtaking photographs of exteriors and interiors. From simple cottages to functional family homes to sprawling estates, a wide variety of styles is represented. Celebrating the stately form, quiet technique, and balance and simplicity that is at the heart of every well-built American country house, anyone interested in history, art, and architecture will find in this collection an inspiring vision.

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There is scarcely a New England town which does not contain houses, church spires, or ornamental interior details derived from the Late Colonial architectural designs of Asher Benjamin (1773&#8211;1845). Benjamin disseminated his ideas chiefly through his publications, of which this book is the most important.Books such as The American Builder's Companion were written for local carpenters to be used as manuals and guides. They made it possible for small-town carpenters, who were already skilled in rudimentary carpentry and house construction, to give their buildings sophistication and style. There were instructions for raising and supporting several types of roofs, constructing winding stairs, spacing fluting evenly on columns, modeling and mounting friezes, etc. Carpenters were thus able to plan, build, and decorate complex, ornate structures.The American Builder's Companion includes rules and definitions of practical geometry and discussion of methods for drawing basic shapes and cutting them out of solids. There are designs for interior ornament &#8212; patterns for decorative cornices, moldings, banisters, stucco ceiling ornaments, mantels, etc., as well as designs for doorways and windows. Benjamin also deals with problematic structural elements, and finally provides full plans and elevations for private houses, wooden churches, and a court house.Important as one of the single, major disseminators of a style which became almost ubiquitous in the Northeast, Benjamin's book also contains a rich store of evidence on problems and achievements of early American builders. Direct references to tools, materials, common practices and processes, and unconscious indication of taste and aesthetic values of the time will be invaluable to students of architecture, experts in restoration, and readers interested in American history and culture. New introduction by William Morgan. 70 plates.

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