Random House New Releases - Architecture - Regional

A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia Savage McAlester

2013-10-29T00:30:00-05:00

A Field Guide to American Houses The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America's Domestic Architecture
Written by Virginia Savage McAlester and Lee McAlester

Hardcover, 880 pages | Knopf | Architecture - Domestic; Architecture - History; Architecture - Regional | $50.00 | 978-1-4000-4359-0 (1-4000-4359-X)

For the house lover and the curious tourist, for the house buyer and the weekend stroller, for neighborhood preservation groups and for all who want to know more about their community -- here, at last, is a book that makes it both easy and pleasurable to identify the various styles and periods of American domestic architecture.

Concentrating not on rare landmarks but on typical dwellings in ordinary neighborhoods all across the United States -- houses built over the past three hundred years and lived in by Americans of every social and economic background -- the book provides you with the facts (and frame of reference) that will enable you to look in a fresh way at the houses you constantly see around you. It tells you -- and shows you in more than 1,200 illustrations -- what you need to know in order to be able to recognize the several distinct architectural styles and to understand their historical significance. What does that cornice mean? Or that porch? That door? When was this house built? What does its style say about the people who built it? You'll find the answers to such questions here.

This is how the book works: Each of thirty-nine chapters focuses on a particular style (and its variants). Each begins with a large schematic drawing that highlights the style's most important identifying features. Additional drawings and photographs depict the most common shapes and the principal subtypes, allowing you to see at a glance a wide range of examples of each style. Still more drawings offer close-up views of typical small details -- windows, doors, cornices, etc. -- that might be difficult to see in full-house pictures. The accompanying text is rich in information about each style -- describing in detail its identifying features, telling you where (and in what quantity) you're likely to find examples of it, discussing all of its notable variants, and revealing its origin and tracing its history.

In the book's introductory chapters you'll find invaluable general discussions of house-building materials and techniques ("Structure"), house shapes ("Form"), and the many traditions of architectural fashion ("Style") that have influenced American house design through the past three centuries. A pictorial key and glossary help lead you from simple, easily recognized architectural features -- the presence of a tile roof, for example -- to the styles in which that feature is likely to be found.

New Orleans New Elegance by Julia Reed

2012-05-08T00:30:00-05:00

New Orleans New Elegance
Written by Kerri McCaffety
Introduction by Julia Reed

Hardcover, 220 pages | The Monacelli Press | Architecture - Interior Design; Architecture - Regional | $50.00 | 978-1-58093-332-2 (1-58093-332-7)

Award-winning photographer Kerri McCaffety looks at the city's most innovative and iconic interiors in a quest to define the essence of the unique New Orleans style. Sumptuous fabrics, elegant architectural details, intricate collections, bold abstract art, and fresh, contemporary lines are all captured in her stunning photographs.

What makes New Orleans different from everywhere else? The answer is its history: three centuries of complex cultural influences—French, Spanish, and African—converging in a unique climate and a strategic location at the mouth of the Mississippi River. It’s an alluring but elusive mélange of sophisticated and primitive, elegant and raw in a sultry, seductive atmosphere of faded glory.

But as New Orleans recovers from the devastation wrought by Katrina, there is an infusion of contemporary energy, manifest in all dimensions—political, social, cultural, culinary, artistic. Interior design is moving toward a fresh elegance while still embracing the extravagance of the past. The grandeur of the Greek revival architecture and the drama of the live oaks are tempered by a fresh, more relaxed elegance that respects classical proportions and details but introduces a more contemporary vocabulary in furnishings and accessories.

More than forty houses and apartments are featured from all parts of the city—the French Quarter, the Warehouse District, the Garden District, and the multiple neighborhoods that comprise Uptown.

Social commentator and Vogue contributor Julia Reed’s introductory essay surveys the traditions of the city, placing its style in a cultural and historic context. Commentary from interior designers, scholars, and antiques dealers creates a rich tapestry of perspectives and opinions on a perennially fascinating place.

The Swedish Country House by Ake E. Lindman

2010-10-26T00:30:00-05:00

The Swedish Country House
Written by Susanna Scherman
Photographed by Ake E. Lindman

Hardcover, 224 pages | The Monacelli Press | Architecture - Domestic; Architecture - Regional | $60.00 | 978-1-58093-294-3 (1-58093-294-0)

Swedish country houses are one of Europe’s best-kept secrets. Little known outside Sweden and rarely published, they survive in surprisingly large numbers, often with their original furniture and decoration. Twenty of these remarkable and timeless houses are examined here in detail, ranging from royal palaces to farmhouses, all dating from the fifteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. In spite of being far from the centers of power and artistic influence, these houses reflect the talents of important architects and designers who together forged a distinctive national style.

Sweden has been fortunate in its history: while the Hundred Years War reduced much of Europe to ruins, Sweden grew rich, and during the subsequent centuries has enjoyed almost continuous peace. The story of Swedish country houses is thus a mirror of Swedish social history, its hierarchy of classes, its absorption of European styles and movements, and above all its enduring culture.

The Swedish Country House is both an important contribution to design history and a highly seductive glimpse into a secret Nordic world. Art historian Susanna Scherman has included examples from every level, drawing special attention to the qualities that make them unique. She and noted photographer Åke E:son Lindman explored the houses together, and together they bring them to life for the reader.