1 comments about Building with Lime: A Practical Introduction.

1. An unassuming cover and title do not come close to revealing the riches within. This book embodies a passion rarely found in how-to-manuals that belies the author's awareness that he is archiving an artform that has been nearly lost to us. Very well-organized, easy to read and thorough, this should be the bible of building and sculpting with lime.
   
   The introduction alone will change the way you see concrete (i.e. portland cement) forever. If you are even remotely concerned with a healthy and sustainable future for our cities, this book is a must-have.

5 comments about Living in the Key West Style Anywhere.

1. Excellent book on Keys house design. Looking to emulate this style as I remodel my Florida west coast home, and this book has given me lots of ideas to work with.



2. I expected the book to be about lifestyle not house design. It seem typical for what has become of Key West - overbuilt, with a narrow view on style. Key West style to me is an internal thing, not how a house looks or is furnished! I returned this product.



3. I have been to Key West several times and love it. This book brings back memories of my trips. The pictures are gorgeous and the reading includes historical information - very enjoyable to read. The back section includes home plans of various styles of Key West homes. My only complaint is I wish the pictures that correspond with the home plans were actually pictures like the rest of the book (they are renderings).



4. An excellent book. Wonderful pictures; easy to understand layout and design information and lots of extra information about things local .
   This can be a easy to follow guide to designing a house for anyplace as well as for those who want to learn more about Key West (whether you live here or not).
   Great as a gift for those relatives and friends who live where it is cold!! (or at least not in Key West!)



5. This is a very unique look at Key West's house's and neighborhoods. Key West Style really educated me on the the interior archicture, floor plans and history. the book will be useful for anyone want information about Key West or considering remodeling a home to incorporat some of the charming features.

1 comments about Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art).

1. When we lived in England, we were constantly visiting old homes, stately mansions, and castles, and were always impressed by how deep the history went, especially in the oldest, darkest oak-paneled rooms. If those panels could talk, what a rich history going back perhaps six centuries they might tell, of what had happened in those rooms, what agreements signed, what assignations made, and so on. Some of those elaborate decorations were Jacobean, others were what might be called Jacobethan. I am only now learning that plenty were Jacobogus. John Harris is an architectural historian who let me in on this sordid secret (and the new word), in _Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages_ (Yale University Press), a documentation of a part of the antique and interior decorating worlds that does not otherwise get much attention. It's a story of centuries, money, and more than a little chicanery, and Harris has covered one room and one desecration after another. It is obvious that he has done copious research, and some of the text is mere listing of owners, rooms, and prices, as if he wanted to make sure that all the data got in. The patterns of the trade, and of deception within it, are fascinating, and the large-format, glossy book has hundreds of photographs well aligned with the text.
   
   Much of Harris's book concentrates on the movements of rooms and room parts over the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but the trade had gone on long before that. Paneling was easily removed, easily reinstalled, and easily shuffled to fit into rooms of various sizes. Interior wooden paneling over walls had the same job as tapestries, to help insulate the room and keep drafts out. There were fashions in carving paneling, with some of the oldest being carved to look as if it had folds of linen on it. Thereafter, more fanciful decoration took over in the Renaissance. The French versions, called _boiseries_, were flat, broad panels with raised floral or geometric decoration around the edges, often gilt. Fashions change, and when paneling was taken off, it might be used again for a servant's room or an attic, or it might be put in storage. It could then be pulled out decades or centuries later for the express purpose of giving a room an antiquarian look. Paneling and other wooden parts were often installed in American museums, and some such rooms are careful and get Harris's praise, but other museums seemed to go gaga over rooms without a sense of curatorial judgement. Some museums joined in a spending spree for entire rooms, thereupon finding them too entire to install in entirety, or install at all. Many of them stayed crated up, and some simply became lost (there are many rooms here that no one knows where they are).
   
   The presence who enters these pages more than any single individual is William Randolph Hearst. "So prolific was he as a magpie accumulator of salvages that it is difficult to evaluate his discrimination when the vast scale of his acquisition is considered. `Collecting' implies acquisition with a collection in mind, but so mind-blowing was the scale of his purchases, so diverse and unequal the quality, so grotesque the utter lack of self-discipline, that his motivation, beyond the lust of acquisition, is baffling." A compulsive buyer, he was lucky to have the services of his architect Julia Morgan, who incorporated much of it happily in San Simeon. Hearst gathered much more than he could ever use, or even ever unpack, and in 1941 it was catalogued for sale. Harris reproduces the nine pages having to do with "buildings and parts", and if you needed twelfth century Romanesque portals or a fifteenth century Venetian door knocker, you should have been at that sale. Harris's chapter on "The Great Accumulator" winds up this comprehensive tour of a specialized and peculiar topic. His lists of accumulations become entertaining as they are coupled with tales of lucre, deception, pride, and the folly of the rich.

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 Conservation of Furniture (Butterworth - Heinemann Series in Conservation and Museology).

No comments about Floor Coverings For Historic Buildings.

No comments about Moving a House with Preservation in Mind (American Association for State and Local History Book Series).

3 comments about Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City.

1. This is a great book. Philadelphia was blessed with some beautiful buildings and sad to say many did not service so called progress. The vintage images were very interesting and the text was very informative. Philadelphia did lose many buildings that never should have been destroyed, but many of the historic buildings on Society Hill or great buildings like Independence Hall and its annex buildings, survive and I do like what the park service did to house the Liberty Bell, it's sort of Modern Georgian. It's hard to believe that the iconic City Hall building was so close to being pulled down, it barely survived, I mean can you image Philadelphia without City Hall?!!! so it could have been worse...and Wannamakers is still extant, though it's now called Lord and Taylor and at least the greatest of department store buildings is still open and glorious, but i do wish they would get rid of that ridiculous steel stucture substituting for the great Franklins home..its awful..just rebuild it and let people know it's a reproduction..this is BEN FRANKLINS HOUSE, people!!! I do love how Philadelphia cherish's the great Franklin, he is the greatest of the founding father's and he gets his due respect in his home town..i still cant believe that he does not have a huge memorial in Washington, it's a travesty. Great book..if you have any love at all for architecture history of Philadelphia in general...oh and Philadelphians dont let them tear down Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, it's the last of the great Gilded age estates in Philadelphia, it's on it's last leg..dont let it go the way of the late, great Whitemarsh Hall.



2. Tom Keels has produced a treasure of a book. There are many compilations of photographs of old Philadelphia, but Keels supplies what others mostly lack -- a brief but rich history and context for each of the lost buildings he documents. Many of the photographs will be familiar to anyone interested in Philadelphia history, but this should not discourage you from buying the book. You will learn a great deal, thanks to Keels' perspicacious research. Moreover, his prose is graceful and witty, never stodgy.



3. This is an amazing book and concept! It's a guided tour of Philadelphia history like no other. The maps in the book are especially effective in highlighting the changes in the Philadelphia landscape over the years. I used the same Philadelphia based cartographers, NaZa, for ABC Philadelphia to highlight the best and most current places for Philadelphia families today, now I'm wondering about the best family places in Philadelphia from yesteryear. This will be on the top of my holiday list this year.

5 comments about Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built.

1. Saving Monticello by Marc Leepson is a definitive history of the fate of Thomas Jefferson's home from the time of Jefferson's death in 1826 at the age of 83, to 1923, when the home was purchased and turned into a memorial and destination for visitors.
   
   Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is perhaps the most elegant and unique home in America. What happened to the marvelous home is a fascinating story that Leepson tells in ground-breaking depth. In his old age, Jefferson found himself about $100,000 in debt (some $1.6 million in today's dollars), mostly due to overspending over a period of many years. Tragically, Jefferson lived long enough to realize that his business mistakes were going to result in the loss of his beloved mansion, and that his daughter and grandchildren would be left destitute. Even while Jefferson still lived, Monticello began to fall into disrepair.
   
   After the old man died, the house sat neglected for a number of years until it purchased by a most unusual man: Commodore Uriah Levy of the United States Navy. A New Yorker and proud descendant of Spanish Jews, Levy lived in the house only part-time, but did much to preserve the home from ruin. He lost possession of the home when Monticello was confiscated by the Confederate government due to Levy's active-duty service in the U.S. Navy.
   
   It was during this time that Monticello entered its darkest period. Levy died during the war, leaving a complicated will. That and the Confederate seizure led to a clouded title and a lawsuit. For some seventeen years, the property was not only neglected, but openly abused. A trustee in Charlottesville, hostile to the Levys because they were Jewish and Yankees, hired a slovenly caretaker who stored grain in the parlor and allowed students from the University of Virginia to wreck the place in drunken parties. By the time Jefferson Levy, a nephew of Uriah, took possession of the house in 1879, Monticello looked like a haunted house.
   
   Leepson's account of Jefferson Levy's restoration of the mansion gets a little tedious at times, but that's a forgivable sin in a book that aims to be the last word on a topic that's received very little attention. The struggle between Levy and those who wished to make Monticello a shrine lasted for decades and involved unsavory levels of anti-Semitism and gender politics. Eventually, Levy fell on hard times and sold the place to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation which continues to own and operate Monticello today.
   
   It's interesting to realize what a close thing it really was to losing Monticello altogether. Although the Levys weren't cuddly or lovable characters, it was they who stood between Monticello and ruin for years in which other Americans could not have cared less what happened to the place. Thanks to Saving Monticello, the saga of the Levy years at Monticello can now be known and fully understood. This book will be of great interest to anyone interested in Monticello or in historic preservation in America.



2. This is a great book. A saga that is more than the story of how Monitcello was passed on through the years, but rather, a reflection of broader political and social history from the 1830s to the 1920s. Very detailed; interesting facts; some surprises; and as one editorial review has noted "rich with memorable, larger-than-life characters." If any serious Hollywood producer happens to be reading, the book offers a terrific story that could be made into a movie. I can't wait to read Marc Leepson's next book.



3. I highly recommend Marc Leepson's book 'Saving Monticello' because it gives credit to the Levy family without whose help and stewardship Monticello may have been erased forever.
   His detail and insight of story serve to hold the reader's interest of not only Thomas Jefferson, but of the history of the time. Mr. Leepson very patiently educates us about the Levy family and their unwavering loyalty to Monticello. I had often wondered what had happened to Monticello during the years after Jefferson's death until the Memorial Foundation took it over and now is supplied to us a fascinating history, a thread which we must all be tempted to follow and remember as part of our own history. I cannot imagine looking at Monticello in the same way as I did before I read Mr. Leepson's, "Saving Monticello".



4. I have just finished reading "Saving Monticello" and want to say just how much I enjoyed it. I am a long-time fan of Jefferson and particularly his architectural endeavors (the subject of my master's thesis) so I go out of my way to find new items on the subject. It was great to learn about those "lost years" of Monticello that up until now have barely been touched on and I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in American history. The author has clearly delineated what a tenuous hold we sometimes have on important landmarks and how easily they can be lost to future generations if we are not careful.



5. Pass on this one. Monticello itself takes a back seat to the Levy saga of buying the estate.

1 comments about Colonial Houses: The Historic Homes of Williamsburg.

1. This book gave alot of interesting information of the colonial houses in Williamsburg. The pictures compared with stories are werry enlightening. A good book to read for all who are interested in traditional american architecture.