2 comments about The Preservation of Historic Architecture: The U.S. Government's Official Guidelines for Preserving Historic Homes.

1. Not being familiar with many of the arcane housing construction terms that so many books use, it was refreshing to have a this book go into such detail explaining each area of historic construction touched upon to truly educate interested readers. The only downside being that the book is not a casuaul read - rather it is more of a technical manual.



2. Well writen and full of info for anyone who works in the field or just loves old buildings.

2 comments about The Queen Anne House: America's Victorian Vernacular.

1. Generally, books of this type fall into two categories - either they are dense textbook-like examinations of a particular style of architecture that lack visual appeal, or they are beautifully illustrated with minimal text that amounts to fluff. This book is a triumph in that it combines the best of both. It is at once visually appealing and informative. Both the professional and the layperson will find it useful and enjoyable. What an exciting concept!



2. Really a well done book on one of the great American house styles. The text is highly informative and the images are crisp and well executed. Overall, I was pleased with the houses chosen, some are quite reserved and some are massive and grand. I do wish the author had chosen one of the great Galveston Queen Anne style mansions, instead of the simple quant home chosen to represent Galveston, the city has some spectacular mansions in this style. Though having said that i still highly recommend this wonderful book, if you have a love for Queen Anne, you will not be disappointed, unless you happen to be a Galvestonian.

5 comments about Stone Houses: Traditional Homes of Pennsylvania's Bucks County and Brandywine Valley.

1. This is a very pretty book and very well photographed. The choice of houses, however, left something to be desired and the writeups on the houses themselves were thin and more akin to a puffy decorator magazine than any kind of detailed study. The book also had utterly no floorplan sketches for any of the homes, which is really almost mandatory for an architecture book. Some of the houses selected were not of any particular merit nor were they even old. Most of the write-ups on the various houses had almost nothing to say about the architectural detail and history nor any kind of regional or sub-regional analysis. Some photos were selected obviously because they were "pretty" but had utterly nothing to do with Pennsylvania -- the New England chest on the back cover is a good example. It's a nice book to flip through but don't expect great depth.



2. I found it nice but inadequate, since actually useful information was small part of the lot, from an architectural point of view.



3. I have always thought the stone used on houses in the Philadelphia area was beautiful; it's warm and elegant. This book has crisp images and well researched, interesting text on these wonderful homes. If you have any interest in this subject then I highly recommend this book, you won't be disappointed.



4. This book contains a wonderful pictorial view of stone houses, better than I've ever seen. It includes all forms of construction and gives very informative descriptions of each style. The history related here is invaluable to the reader, as it takes you back in time. The pictures are full color and very articulately done. I found the colors presented in the homes helpful to me in restoring our stone house, built in the 1830's. This book is more than a "coffee table" book, it's a history lesson.



5. Wonderful photos and very interesting and informative text.
   Exceptional detail photos of insides of dwellings. Nice to see my family homes done so well, ie The Pusey house and Primative Hall.

1 comments about Landscapes and Gardens for Historic Buildings: A Handbook for Reproducing and Creating Authentic Landscape Settings: A Handbook for Reproducing and Creating ... for State and Local History Book Series).

1. This is an excellent starting point for the beginner. It builds a proper base in a very practical, hands on way. Favretti is a well-known expert in Southern historic garden circles. He's created historic landscapes himself and comes at his subject with a great deal of experience.

5 comments about Preserving the World's Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis.

1. It is a great survey book of some amazing cities. I tend to agree with what has been written. But just a word of caution, Tung's writing style will start to grate as every chapter ends with somewhat of a flourish. I think it detracts from his obvious love of cities and preservation.



2. In March of 1995 author Anthony M. Tung journeyed to 22 of the world's greatest cities in order to study how architectural preservation had failed and succeeded in some of the most artistically and historically significant urban areas around the globe. Having served for many years as a member of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission, Tung sought to understand how the complex issue of urban conservation was handled around the world and to gather in one book a body of very basic information about this practice.
   
   Until the 20th century, each new stage of architecture and construction referred substantially to previous stages; in Western culture, there was a "direct aesthetic line" connecting the architecture of classical Greece, imperial Rome, the Romanesque period, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Rocco, and all forms of classical revival that followed, with even divergent traditions like French Gothic or English Tudor making use of common architectonic elements. Cities tended to be harmonious, each new generation of buildings blending with older buildings to a great degree.
   
   In the 20th century however, many age-old aesthetic traditions were abruptly discarded by a modern, new, jarring architecture, built often at vastly different scales than older buildings, of completely different materials, built with new methods, buildings that were consciously designed to have a complete lack of relationship with the previous continuum of form. In Cairo for instance skylines once dominated by domes and minarets of mosques are now ruled by looming massive hotels. Massive gray residential slabs now dominate the remaining parts of historic Moscow. In some cases, as in New York, new buildings were built over and around preserved historic buildings, making them appear toy-like and ridiculous. Further, these buildings of alien scale and design often hopelessly fractured any urban architectural harmony, often forever, as what was destroyed can either never be replaced or only replaced at great financial, legal, political, and economic cost.
   
   Older cities of handcrafted buildings, made of natural materials from the immediate environment of the city, reflecting the historical values and physical characteristics of unique urban cultures Tung wrote now constitute a "finite resource from a closed period of human cultural evolution." Much of the unique architecture of the world's great cities - ancient Roman ruins, the cross-cultural traditions of Singaporean pernanakan architecture, buildings that show a great "specialness of place" - is still in danger in many places of being replaced by a global monoculture, of older unique buildings being replaced by comparatively poorly constructed structures that are generic in design and that differ little in response to local environmental and social surroundings.
   
   Why were older buildings replaced? War certainly plays a factor as might be expected, though by and large Tung feels that city residents themselves are responsible for building replacement. Sometimes older handcrafted buildings are replaced for what were laudable reasons, such as slum clearance, attempts to give the poor a better quality of life, though often irreplaceable but fixable buildings were demolished rather than rehabilitated. Some cities, such as Vienna, Charleston, and Amsterdam (which are detailed at length), bucked this trend, either saving old buildings or constructing new public housing with a conscious effort to maintain local architectural traditions. More often than not though making money was the goal; speculative real estate and construction in the name of progress fractured urban landscapes, as out of scale skyscrapers thrust into the London skyline and ugly hotels of poor artistry were erected in Cairo.
   
   Sometimes destruction or replacement of older handcrafted buildings seemed nearly unavoidable; Kyoto for instance, largely spared bombing in World War II, for centuries a city with buildings comprised of shoji (sliding walls of light wood frames covered by translucent paper) and tatami (rectilinear straw mats of standardized dimensions that covered the floors), were rapidly being replaced post-war by modern Western buildings that could more easily accommodate such innovations as modern plumbing and electricity. Tung related how this "culture of destruction" is being reversed, efforts in this regard aided by uniquely Asian views of preservation (often times ancient buildings are wood and are partially or wholly rebuilt periodically, the emphasis often in China and Japan on preserving the original form not as in Europe or America the original material) and permanence (Japanese buildings were traditionally built to withstand natural disasters and wars by being flexible and if destroyed by being easily rebuilt).
   
   Sometimes architectural preservation - or destruction - was dictated not by war or by progress but by ideology. The Third Reich demolished the landmarks of Warsaw as a punitive action against the Poles, Nazi architects purposely identifying key Warsaw buildings and purposefully destroying them (additionally many were destroyed in actual combat). As an act of defiance, Polish architects risked their lives (and quite a few perished for their efforts) to document this heritage before it was destroyed, hiding plans and documents during the Nazi occupation and then completely rebuilding the city as an act of remembrance.
   
   Tung recounted many successes in his book as well as failures. What are the common denominators in successful preservation? Clearly economic underdevelopment causes decay and destruction of historic assets. In a detailed chapter on Cairo, Tung discussed how the city's massive problems posed by skyrocketing population growth, extensive poverty, and an endemic culture of illegal settlement and corrupt, byzantine bureaucracy have caused residents to perceive conservation as a lesser priority and have created unique environmental challenges to the city's priceless Muslim architecture thanks to air pollution and a rising water table. Citizens of cities have to have in addition to the means of preserving the city a will to do so; while many of the historic districts of New York were listed and are protected thanks to the efforts of the residents of those areas, Venice, despite widespread international support, is decaying as fewer and fewer Venetians actually live in the historic city, not only affecting city politics and budgets as residents of the historic city lose clout to those outside the historic city but by simply not being present to provide such upkeep.



3. this book is a wonderful read. it should be a mandatory read for all city planners/architects. there is so much we can learn from the successes and failure of other cities' efforts in preserving their heritage.

   for most people, it's still a great treat coz' the stories of how these great evolves are just mesmerizing. the tale of the reconstruction of warsaw is a moving moment of human history. and the decaying of ancient cairo is tragic and upsetting. the author manages to tell these stories in a context relevant to all of us, as a city dweller or a visitor in a globalized world. he also makes us aware of the complex underlying forces behind the metamorphosis of these urban fabrics.

   i am looking forward to visiting or revisiting these great cities after reading this book. and i am eagerly waiting for a sequel that uncovers the stories of other great cities like prague, kathmandu, bangkok, shanghai, new delhi, sydney, buenos aires, havana, istanbul, barcelona...




4. For close to three decades, I've tried to understand why some cities preserve their historic and architectural fabric, while others destroy theirs. I now have a much better understanding about the political, social, and economic dynamics underlying preservation, or the lack thereof. Moreover, the author articulated some basics that no previous book ever did. Like, what is holding up all those building in Venice? And why did Warsaw, almost alone among cities ravaged in WWII, rebuild its historic fabric? The author not only answered my Warsaw question, but moved me to near tears in the process. (Why isn't this heroic story being made into a movie?) In short, buy this fascinating, informative book!



5. What makes a city great? How do you preserve a great city? Why do you preserve a great city? Who can preserve a great city? As you finish this well crafted review by Anthony Tung of the evolving fate of 20 famous cities from around the earth, you feel the answers to these questions are within your grasp. A great city is a living manifestation of the society that built it over the centuries. It can be preserved by the dedicated and enlightened effort of those who live in it. Only they can develop it in a way that recognizes the changes of time without giving up their cultural heritage. Great cities are the architectural fabric of civilization, showing how it evolved in various parts of the world as societies developed within a particular regional environment. Its residents, if they can maintain their culture and heritage in the face of change can preserve it, supported by benevolent assistance from others when needed.

   This book makes clear that there are also common threats of destruction each of these amazing cities must face. Beyond the ravages of time, which can clearly be overcome in a stable situation, three become apparent in reading the stories of these great cities. They are destruction from war or by conquering invaders; deterioration as the original builders move out and are replaced by those who are poorer, less educated and ironically often subjugated by the original builders; and destruction to make way for more modern and impersonal buildings and infrastructure based on the influence of modern global society.

   I wish to thank the author for the journey he shared with me. When he was writing about those cities I have visited, such as Paris, London, New York or Mexico City, he captured the essence of their heritage in a way that rang true to my experience. When discussing the state of those I would like to see; Beijing, Kyoto, Cairo or Athens for example, his descriptions were again lucid and highly credible. They made me want to visit the city and try to comprehend its past and its fate for myself. Written in a style that makes you feel you are in these great cities vicariously, this book not only makes you want to visit them, but also to do your part to help preserve the heritage of the city that you call home.

3 comments about The American Townhouse.

1. The Townhouse is a classic American urban building style. This volume follows the history of the American Townhouse from its Colonial roots on the Eastern Seaboard to the style's highpoint in the Row Houses and Brownstones of the late Nineteenth Century. Featured in this book are twenty five beautifully photographed homes. The chapters chronicle the styles evolution from the Colonial and Federal periods to the Greek Revival, Italianate, Brownstone and Queen Anne periods.
   
   For those interested in the history of the style, the first two chapters do an excellent job of placing the Townhouse in its proper historical context. However, the heart of the book are the photographs of the twenty five Townhouses. Most of these homes have been restored and are now museums. Rader Kurazj is a skilled architectural photographer and there are many wonderful photographs of both building facades and interiors. This book is recommended for all those interested in learning more about an important American architectural style.



2. super photos great for design ideas and research... also helpful in historic renovation projects...



3. This is a very well put together book, the text is well researched and the images are crisp. It's very interesting to see all the different architectural styles. These houses are all furnished beautifully and the photographs really capture the details and craftmanship of these amazing townhouses. When you visit Boston or New York you can't help but be enchanted at the rows and rows of these houses, whether it's New York's Upper East Side or Greenwich Village or Boston's Beacon Hill. The houses in this book are from all over the country, from Savannah to San Francisco and each one is at least as interesting as the last. If you have any interest in townhouses or beautiful books in general, then I believe you will enjoy this book.

3 comments about Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex (Roger Fullington Series in Architecture).

1. Very informative, and enjoyable, for those who grew up going to the Metropolitan, Loew's, and the Majestic, like I did. Wonderful memories!



2. ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE DELICIOUS BOOKS FOR THE TRUE THEATRE/CINEMA COLLECTOR/AFFICIANDO. WELL WRITTEN AND EASY READING. WORTH THE PURCHASE.



3. Welling has done a great service in preserving memories of the Cinema and the architecture of its theaters. The book focuses on Houston, Texas as it travels from the silent movie houses, through the golden age, megaplex, and on to the home theater. If you ever lived in Houston, you will find many memories among its pages. If you spent your formative years elsewhere, you may find that your home town shares this history.

No comments about The Victorian House Book: A Practical Guide to Home Repair and Decoration.

2 comments about A Richer Heritage: Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century.

1. The book arrived just on time and it was as great as they describe it. I would choose this seller anytime.



2. This was a recommended book for my thesis class. I have not finished it yet, but it seems an appropriate book for those in their Master's program for Historic Preservation.

1 comments about Keeping Time: The History and Theory of Preservation in America.

1. Very good review of preservation in the United States. An easy read.