Goodhue's residential portfolio also provides a unique glimpse of life in the early twentieth century, the era of the great industrialists and their grand estates."--BOOK JACKET.
This book goes beyond the stock characterizations of Goodhue as a derivative architect or protomodernist. It shows Goodhue as a talented exemplar of the free eclectism of the late nineteenth century, an innovator who freshly interpreted traditional forms.
This innovative and absorbing book surveys a little known chapter in the story of American urbanism—the history of communities built and owned by single companies seeking to bring their workers' homes and place of employment together on a single site. By 1930 more than two million people lived in such towns, dotted across an industrial frontier which stretched from Lowell, Massachusetts, through Torrance, California to Norris, Tennessee. Margaret Crawford focuses on the transformation of company town construction from the vernacular settlements of the late eighteenth century to the professional designs of architects and planners one hundred and fifty years later. Eschewing a static architectural approach which reads politics, history, and economics through the appearance of buildings, Crawford portrays the successive forms of company towns as the product of a dynamic process, shaped by industrial transformation, class struggle, and reformers' efforts to control and direct these forces.
The campus of the California Institute of Technology was destined for architectural greatness when, in 1915, the university's visionary founder, astronomer George Ellery Hale, retained one of New York's preeminent architects, Bertram Goodhue, to devise a master plan for 22 acres of orange groves in what was then rural Pasadena. Goodhue's eclectic "planted patios and shaded portales, sheltering walls, and Persian pools" set the tone for the campus's illustrious architectural future. Throughout the first half of the century, Caltech's nearly continuous expansion would spawn such architectural jewels as the Athenaeum, a combination Italian villa and Spanish hacienda; Greene and Greene's bungalow-style student union; and the gardens of landscape architects Beatrix Ferrand and Florence Yoch, who thoughtfully mixed the campus's Mediterranean themes with its natural California setting. Well-researched and informative, this book details the organizational and architectural elements that have made Caltech a model for scientific institutions the world over. Rare photographs of lost and altered buildings portray an early Pasadena with ambitious plans to become a cultural mecca, while contemporary images reflect the Institute's continued dedication to a rich architectural future.
"Austin Val Verde, situated on seventeen and a half acres, is one of the few great early twentieth-century Southern California estates to have been preserved. It is a pivotal work in the career of the famous American architect Bertram Goodhue (1869-1924). Its celebrated and extensive gardens are the masterpiece of Lockwood de Forest Jr. (1896-1949), one of the most important landscape architects to have worked in Southern California. For three decades, Austin Val Verde housed one of the finest private collections of Greek and Roman sculpture, and for many years a number of celebrities from the worlds of film, stage, music, literature, and art visited or stayed at the estate. Although Austin Val Verde has been included in a number of survey publications on major estates and gardens, this is the first book that focuses on its beautiful mansion and grounds."--BOOK JACKET.
"Designing Paradise : The Allure of the Hawaiian Resort follows the history of tourist destinations in the Hawaiian Islands, the motivations that shaped their formation, and the buildings and landscapes that are the embodiments of this paradise of the Pacific. Comprehensively illustrated with drawings, ephemera, archival images, and contemporary photographs, Designing Paradise examines the most magnificent and culturally rich architecture to emerge in the Hawaiian Islands and provides insight into the essence and allure of Hawai'i. The resorts presented here are more than places of shelter or destinations; they exemplify the aloha spirit and the idyllic mythos of Hawai'i."--BOOK JACKET.
In the most comprehensive investigation of the Los Angeles Public Library’s early history and architectural genesis ever undertaken, Kenneth Breisch chronicles the institution’s first six decades, from its founding as a private library association in 1872 through the completion of the iconic Central Library building in 1933. During this time, the library evolved from an elite organization ensconced in two rooms in downtown LA into one of the largest public library systems in the United States—with architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue’s building, a beloved LA landmark, as its centerpiece. Goodhue developed a new style, fully integrating the building’s sculptural and epigraphic program with its architectural forms to express a complex iconography. Working closely with sculptor Lee Oskar Lawrie and philosopher Hartley Burr Alexander, he created a great civic monument that, combined with the library’s murals, embodies an overarching theme: the light of learning. “A building should read like a book, from its title entrance to its alley colophon,” wrote Alexander—a narrative approach to design that serves as a key to understanding Goodhue’s architectural gem. Breisch draws on a wealth of primary source material to tell the story of one of the most important American buildings of the twentieth century and illuminates the formation of an indispensible modern public institution: the American public library.
Built by industrialists whose early businesses contributed to the escalation of the Industrial Revolution, company towns flourished in countries that embraced capitalism and open-market trading. In many instances, the company town came to symbolize the wrecking of the environment, especially in places associated with extractive industries such as mining and lumber milling. Some resident industrialists, however, took a genuine interest in the welfare of their work forces, and in a number of instances hired architects to provide a model environment. Overtaken by time, these towns were either abandoned or caught up in suburban growth. The most thorough-going and only international assessment of the company town, this collection of essays by specialists and authorities of each region offers a balanced account of architectural and social history and provides a better understanding of the architectural and urban experiences of the early industrial age.