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.

1 comments about Farmhouse: Classic Homesteads Of North America.

1. Good book, nicely written & put together. Easily read for enjoyment.
   Not a book for learning technique, layouts, or building methods.

No comments about New Apartments.

2 comments about Bridges of the World: Their Design and Construction.

1. this is an excellent book for people with an intrest in the history of bridge construction and their design from the roman times to the modern bridge with lots of black and white illustrations.anybody who likes bridges will like this book.



2. This reprints a 1929 classic in an unabridged presentation covering the design and construction of spans around the world, from wooden landmarks and classic restored medieval structures to covered bridges, stone structures, and modern (up to early 1900s, that is) creations. Chapters pack in many vintage black and white photos and diagrams to accompany a technical survey of bridge advancements and construction.

No comments about Inside Art Deco: A Pictorial Tour of Deco Interiors from Their Origins to Today.

5 comments about Architect's Portable Handbook.

1. This is a nice little reference book that is packed with useful info. It's not the definitive Architectural reference but that's not it's intent. It is a bit pricey...but pick up a used copy for $10 bucks and you'll be pleasently surprised.



2. After using the older version of this book, I was disappointed by the sequel. Not only was the shipper terrible, the book showed up sliced and with no return instructions, but the content was already outdated. It has been a disappointment.



3. book is very basic. for the home owner (or joke architect) to become familiar with the basic concepts of building. not for a contractor or engineer.



4. As a portable handbook and quick reference it contains some useful information if you need something to carry in your pocket, beyond that I feel if you have a graphics standards or building construction illustrated you are better off. The cost estimation is a bit simplistic but useful, but does not offset the lack of information. Plenty of areas are covered with only the most generalized and basic information. Reason for two stars: should be a 10 dollar notebook.



5. I have had the First Edition of this book since 1993, and have used that as a reference almost daily throughout my education and well into my professional practice. I decided to purchase this revised edition since the original book was becoming worn and flat out-of-date. This new version (a good 200 pages heavier than the first edition) includes new building code information (specifically IBC 2000), and provides revised cost estimate numbers. To this day, it is still the ONLY book worthy enough to reside on my desk.

   This book is an excellent source for the student and professional alike. Basic concepts, construction methods, and principles for design considerations are organized and indexed for easy reference and all attempts have been made to make the content easy to understand. Rules-of-thumb and graphics are provided throughout the text as well as commonly used tables, charts, graphs, maps, etc. Guthrie has also managed to develop several clever little checklists, which assist in making sure all issues have been addressed.

   The book is getting a little thick, and the distinctive oversized laminated cover has evolved into a standard size cover (it's not spiral bound - it's a paperback). The price is a little high, but I think the information found in this tidy little book is well worth it.

1 comments about Designing the World's Best Bars.

1. This is a nice book for viewing bars that have already been designed. However, I wanted to actually design a bar and this book didn't help me with that at all. Good book. Nice pictures. But if you are looking to actually design a bar, then this book will not help. This book would have been more accurate if it were titled "the world's best designed bars."

No comments about Marketing Green Building Services: Strategies for Success.

5 comments about Southern Style.

1. I was purchasing home plan books and this item popped up as a "you might also like" item. So I received it but was disappointed there were no plans just decorating/style ideas. It was not what I was looking for.



2. The best way to learn, the easyest way to order, and best after sale service, are only availbale with amazon.com.



3. I have been an avid reader of Southern Accents for years. I found their book to be well written and filled with the beautiful photography I've come to expect from the magazine. Chapters are broken out room-by-room, making it an easy reference guide. The book is one that you'll not only keep out on the coffee table, but also will refer to often for great decorating ideas.



4. I found Southern Style a great compedium of how design in the South has evolved. As an editor at a competing magazine, I wish more publications would give us a backward glance at their previously featured work. This book shows not only where southern design has been, but the way past photography and styling techniques have changed. I wish more magazines would publish such a compendium. It would save us all a lot of space with hoarding decorating magazines. Oh admit it,we all do it. Also great text, with deep insight into it's subject matter.



5. I eagerly awaited Southern Style's release ll/l only to find that the content was repeated from past issues of Southern Accents. I was looking forward to new pictures/content but found very little that wasn't in old magazines. I think the editors could have at least given us different camera shots of those same rooms. Big disappointment.

No comments about Landscapes and Cityscapes for Artists and Craftspeople: From 19th-Century Sources (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).