Masterpiece Iconic Houses


Book Description

This title presents an up-to-the-minute collection of residential work from much-lauded practitioners, proving that architecture can always be re-imagined.




The Robie House of Frank Lloyd Wright


Book Description

The Robie House in Chicago is one of the world's most famous houses, a masterpiece from the end of Frank Lloyd Wright's early period and a classic example of the Prairie House. This book is intended as a companion for the visitor to the house, but it also probes beneath the surface to see how the design took shape in the mind of the architect. Wright's own writings, rare working drawings from the period, and previously unpublished photographs of the house in construction help the reader look over the shoulder of the architect at work. Beautiful new photographs of the Robie House and related Wright houses have been specially taken to illustrate the author's points, and a bibliography on Wright is provided.




Sunnylands


Book Description

With its pastel green and yellow interior, its dazzling collection of Impressionist paintings, and long, low sofas that look like vintage Cadillac convertibles, Sunnylands was a Versailles for the Space Age. In Palm Springs, the mecca of midcentury modern architecture, this immaculately preserved estate is considered the undisputed masterpiece, envisioned by A. Quincy Jones, one of California's most important architects; and furnished by California's great decorator-to-the-stars, William Haines. Built by media moguls, art collectors, and diplomats Walter and Lenore Annenberg, Sunnylands became a seat of power, where politicians, movie stars, and corporate leaders could meet, relax, reflect, make deals, and run the world - all with nobody watching. For four decades, an invitation to New Year's at Sunnylands was the ultimate social prize. Exquisitely illustrated and with a foreword by Architectural Digest contributor Michael Smith, Sunnylands is a must-have for every fan of midcentury design.




Modern in the Middle


Book Description

The first survey of the classic twentieth-century houses that defined American Midwestern modernism. Famed as the birthplace of that icon of twentieth-century architecture, the skyscraper, Chicago also cultivated a more humble but no less consequential form of modernism--the private residence. Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-75 explores the substantial yet overlooked role that Chicago and its suburbs played in the development of the modern single-family house in the twentieth century. In a city often associated with the outsize reputations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the examples discussed in this generously illustrated book expand and enrich the story of the region's built environment. Authors Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino survey dozens of influential houses by architects whose contributions are ripe for reappraisal, such as Paul Schweikher, Harry Weese, Keck & Keck, and William Pereira. From the bold, early example of the "Battledeck House" by Henry Dubin (1930) to John Vinci and Lawrence Kenny's gem the Freeark House (1975), the generation-spanning residences discussed here reveal how these architects contended with climate and natural setting while negotiating the dominant influences of Wright and Mies. They also reveal how residential clients--typically middle-class professionals, progressive in their thinking--helped to trailblaze modern architecture in America. Though reflecting different approaches to site, space, structure, and materials, the examples in Modern in the Middle reveal an abundance of astonishing houses that have never been collected into one study--until now.




The Iconic House


Book Description

"The Iconic House features one hundred of the most important and influential architect-designed houses in the world."--Inside cover.




Broken Glass


Book Description

"In 1945, Edith Farnsworth asked the German architect Mies van der Rohe, already renowned for his avant-garde buildings, to design a weekend home for her outside of Chicago. Edith was a woman ahead of her time--unmarried, she was a distinguished medical researcher, whose discoveries put her in contention for the Nobel Prize, as well as an accomplished violinist, translator, and poet. The two quickly began an intimate relationship, spending weekends together, sharing interests in transcendental philosophy, Catholic mysticism, wine-soaked picnics, and architecture. Their collaboration would produce one of the most important works of architecture of all time, a blindingly original house made up almost entirely of glass and steel. But the minimalist marvel, built in 1951, was plagued by cost over-runs and a sudden chilling of the two friends' mutual affection. Though the building became world-famous, Farnsworth found it impossible to live in the transparent house, and she began a public campaign against him, cheered on by Frank Lloyd Wright. Mies, in turn, sued her for unpaid monies. The ensuing trial covered not just the missing funds and the structural weaknesses of the home, but turned into a trial of modernist art and architecture itself. Interweaving personal drama and cultural history, Alex Beam presents a stylish, enthralling tapestry of a tale, illuminating the fascinating history behind one of the twentieth-century's most beautiful and significant architectural projects"--




Alexander Girard, Architect


Book Description

Showcases the bold, innovative, and colorful architectural designs of Alexander Girard. During the midcentury period, Michigan attracted visionary architects, designers, and theorists, including Alexander Girard. While much has been written about Girard's vibrantly colored and patterned textiles for Herman Miller, the story of his Detroit period (1937–53)—encompassing interior and industrial design, exhibition curation, and residential architecture—has not been told. Alexander Girard, Architect: Creating Midcentury Modern Masterpiecesby Deborah Lubera Kawsky is the first comprehensive study of Girard's exceptional architectural projects, specifically those concentrated in the ultra-traditional Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. One exciting element of the book is the rediscovery of another Girard masterpiece—the only surviving house designed entirely by Girard, and former residence to Mr. and Mrs. John McLucas. Restored in consultation with iconic midcentury designer Ruth Adler Schnee, the McLucas house represents the culmination of Girard's Detroit design work at midcentury. Stunning color photographs capture the unique design elements—including the boldly colored glazed brick walls of the atrium—reminiscent of Girard's role as color consultant for the GM Tech Center. Original Girard drawings for the building plan, interior spaces, and custom-designed furniture document the mind of a modernist master at work and are made available to the public for the first time in this beautiful book. Alexander Girard, Architectis a beautiful, informative book suited for enthusiasts of Alexander Girard, the midcentury modern aesthetic, and Detroit history, art, and architecture.




Alan I W Frank House


Book Description

The first book to feature this modernist masterpiece, one of Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer's most important residential commissions. Offering a rare opportunity to explore the largest and most luxurious house designed by Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, and Marcel Breuer, leading architect and furniture designer of the twentieth century, this beautifully designed volume celebrates the Alan I W Frank House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Built in 1939-40, the house embodies the Bauhaus "total work of art" philosophy, with Gropius and Breuer having designed every aspect of the building and its site. Illustrations including new and archival images and the architects' plans and sketches highlight an exquisite balance of proportions and colors. Accompanying essays place this house firmly within the American modernist canon just as the Bauhaus celebrates its one-hundreth anniversary in 2019.




Historic Houses of the Hudson River Valley, 1663-1915


Book Description

Overlooking the majestic Hudson River, the Hudson Valley has long been a favored place to live. Historic Houses of the Hudson River Valley is a sumptuous presentation of 33 houses in the region, ranging from the earliest Dutch cottages still extant to the grand Gothic and Italianate revival, stately Georgian, Federal, and beaux-arts country homes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.




Ornament is Crime


Book Description

An unprecedented homage to modernist architecture from the 1920s up to the present day Ornament Is Crime is a celebration and a thought-provoking reappraisal of modernist architecture. The book proposes that modernism need no longer be confined by traditional definitions, and can be seen in both the iconic works of the modernist canon by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius, as well as in the work of some of the best contemporary architects of the twenty-first century. This book is a visual manifesto and a celebration of the most important architectural movement in modern history.