Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's

Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's

by R. A. Scotti

Out of the clash of genius and the caprice of popes came the most glorious monument of the Renaissance It was the splendor—and the scandal—of the age. In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II tore down the most sacred shrine in Europe—the millenniumold St. Peter’s Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine over the apostle’s grave—to build a better basilica. Construction of the new... (more)

Pompeii: The Living City

by Alex Butterworth

The ash of Mt. Vesuvius preserves a living record of the complex and exhilarating society it instantly obliterated two thousand years ago. In this highly readable, lavishly illustrated book, Butterworth and Laurence marshall cutting-edge archaeological reconstructions and a vibrant historical tradition dating to Pliny and Tacitus; they present a richly textured portrait of a society not altogether unlike ours,... (more)

A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time

by Diana Preston, Michael Preston

Cities and People: A Social and Architectural History

Cities and People: A Social and Architectural History

by Mark Girouard

Girouard, author of a dozen well-re ceived books on English architecture, here is concerned with Western cities from the Middle Ages to the present. He aims to show why selected cities grew and developed as they did, with first a potted history of the revival of urban life, then discussions of the great preindustrial cities, and finally a consideration of industry (Manches ter), suburbs (London), and the sky... (more)

Central Park (Postcard History) (Postcard History Series)

Central Park (Postcard History) (Postcard History Series)

by Edward J. Levine

Harper's Weekly reported in 1857 that no engineer had yet been able to present a feasible plan for Central Park and that "it may not ever happen." Their pessimism was misplaced, as Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's Greensward Plan was approved in May 1858. By 1860, visitors were enjoying the magnificent new park's naturalistic splendor. Central Park quickly became one of New York's premier attractions,... (more)

Blenheim: Biography of a PalaceMarian Fowler

Blenheim: Biography of a Palace

by Marian Fowler

This is a history of a great English house, from its conception and building in the opening decade of the 18th century, to the burial of Winston Churchill in the early 1960s. Using the vast Blenheim papers (now in the British Library), together with local Oxfordshire documents and archives, the author has been able to trace the history, not just of its famous inhabitants, but also of the building itself and the... (more)

Camillo Sitte: The Birth of Modern City Planning: With a translation of the 1889 Austrian edition of his City Planning According to Artistic Principles

Camillo Sitte: The Birth of Modern City Planning: With a translation of the 1889 Austrian edition of his City Planning According to Artistic Principles

by George R. Collins

This 1889 text by a noted Austrian architect and urban planner ignited a new age of city planning. Inspired by medieval and baroque designs, Sitte emphasized the creation of spacious plazas, enhanced by monuments and other aesthetic elements. Numerous illustrations, plus extensive commentary, notes, and bibliography.

The Cathedral Builders (Harper colophon books)Jean Gimpel

The Cathedral Builders (Harper colophon books)

by Jean Gimpel

This elegantly illustrated, finely detailed account of how the magnificent Gothic cathedrals were erected also provides illuminating information on medieval society and the financial, political and spiritual roles of the men who inspired these splendid buildings. 94 photographs.

The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely

The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely

by Anthony Vidler

"Brilliant.... Anthony Vidler is a conceptual conjurer of formidable skill." -- J. Mordaunt Crook, New York Times Book Review The Architectural Uncanny presents an engaging and original series of meditations on issues and figures that are at the heart of the most pressing debates surrounding architecture today. Anthony Vidler interprets contemporary buildings and projects in light of the resurgent ... (more)

Architecture in the Netherlands/Architectuur in Nederland: Yearbook 1998-1999 (Architecture in the Netherlands Yearbook)

Architecture in the Netherlands/Architectuur in Nederland: Yearbook 1998-1999 (Architecture in the Netherlands Yearbook)

by Bart Lootsma, Tom Verstegen

Edited by Hans Ibelings. Contributions by Hans van Dijk. Text by Bart Lootsma, Tom Verstegen.

Classical Architecture: The Poetics of Order

Classical Architecture: The Poetics of Order

by Alexander Tzonis

This fascinating introduction to classical art and architecture is the first book to investigate the way classical buildings are put together as formal structures. It researches the generative rules, the poetics of composition that classical architecture shares with classical music, poetry, and drama, and is enriched by a variety of examples and an extensive analysis of compositional rules. The 205 line drawings... (more)

The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862

The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862

by Carol Sheriff

Winner of Best Manuscript Award from the New York State Historical Association Artificial River reveals the human dimension of the story of the Erie Canal. Carol Sheriff's extensive, innovative archival research shows the varied responses of ordinary people-farmers, businessmen, government officials, tourists, workers-to this major environmental, social, and cultural transformation in the early life of the... (more)

Architecture and Politics in Germany, 1918-1945

Architecture and Politics in Germany, 1918-1945

by Barbara Miller Lane

In the spring of 1933, the Nazi government began its campaign to eliminate "modern" tendencies in German art--with particular emphasis on architecture--and to eradicate what it chose to call "art bolshevism." The Bauhaus, by then an internationally famous center of avant garde design, was shut down. In a close analysis of intellectual, political, social, and economic developments, Lane shows that Nazi views... (more)

Imaginäre Architektur (Kunstreisen)Johannes Odenthal

Imaginäre Architektur (Kunstreisen)

by Johannes Odenthal

Text: German

Theory and Design in the First Machine Age

Theory and Design in the First Machine Age

by Reyner Banham

First published in 1960, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age has become required reading in numerous courses on the history of modern architecture and is widely regarded as one of the definitive books on the modern movement. It has influenced a generation of students and critics interested in the formation of attitudes, themes, and forms which were characteristic of artists and architects working... (more)

The Built, the Unbuilt, and the Unbuildable: In Pursuit of Architectural Meaning

The Built, the Unbuilt, and the Unbuildable: In Pursuit of Architectural Meaning

by Robert Harbison

Robert Harbison reads architecture as one would read poetry for meaning. Meaning, he finds, resides especially in those works of architecture that are unnecessary, having outlived their physical functions or never having been intended to have any. Gardens, monuments, historic fortifications, and ruins are among the examples he uses to reveal the secret meanings of this architecture "freed from function." ... (more)

Architectural Principles in the Age of Historicism

Architectural Principles in the Age of Historicism

by R. J. van Pelt

Explores the relationship between architectural history and the current practice of architecture. The authors draw on insights from anthropology, ancient history, theology, philosophy and the Holocaust. They also provide practical ideas which should help students build a more human world.