Preservation of Style is a visual journey through some of Los Angeles' historical apartments of the 1920's and 30's. The book focuses on the architecture, history, and style of three key neighborhoods. Preservation of Style celebrates the style of early Los Angeles through the lens of its historical buildings apartments. The photographs emphasize the details and juxtaposing styles of European Revival and Art Deco apartment houses. During the housing boom of 1920's Los Angeles, there was a strong push to build apartments in the revival style and bequeath them with European names to make the new city feel old.
This essay collection draws upon work presented at three national conferences on women and historic preservation held at Bryn Mawr College in 1994, Arizona State University in 1997, and at Mount Vernon College in 2000.
In 1866, Alexander Dunlop, a free black living in Williamsburg Virginia, did three unusual things. He had an audience with the President of the United States, testified in front of the Joint Congressional Committee on Reconstruction, and he purchased a tombstone for his wife, Lucy Ann Dunlop. Purchases of this sort were rarities among Virginia’s free black community—and this particular gravestone is made more significant by Dunlop’s choice of words, his political advocacy, and the racialized rhetoric of the period. Carved by a pair of Richmond-based carvers, who like many other Southern monument makers, contributed to celebrating and mythologizing the “Lost Cause” in the wake of the Civil War, Lucy Ann’s tombstone is a powerful statement of Dunlop’s belief in the worth of all men and his hopes for the future. Buried in 1925 by the white members of a church congregation, and again in the 1960s by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the tombstone was excavated in 2003. Analysis, conservation, and long-term interpretation were undertaken by the Foundation in partnership with the community of the First Baptist Church, a historically black church within which Alexander Dunlop was a leader. “Stories in Stone: Memorialization, the Creation of History and the Role of Preservation” examines the story of the tombstone through a blend of object biography and micro-historical approaches and contrasts it with other memory projects, like the remembrance of the Civil War dead. Data from a regional survey of nineteenth-century cemeteries, historical accounts, literary sources, and the visual arts are woven together to explore the agentive relationships between monuments, their commissioners, their creators and their viewers and the ways in which memory is created and contested and how this impacts the history we learn and preserve.
As today's valued examples of modern architecture age to the point that preservation is called for, the methods and technology used in such preservation must be carefully considered so that the design integrity of the building is maintained. Written by the president of an organization committed to the documentation and preservation of modern architecture, this book outlines best practices for undertaking such efforts and addresses the latest technological advances in the field. Containing relevant case studies of preservation projects in the United States and in Europe, this is the only professional reference for architects dedicated specifically to the subject of preserving modern architecture. "Winner of the Association for Preservation Technology International 2008 Lee Nelson Book Award"
After critiquing—and infuriating—the art world with The Painted Word, award-winning author Tom Wolfe shared his less than favorable thoughts about modern architecture in From Bauhaus to Our Haus. In this examination of the strange saga of twentieth century architecture, Wolfe takes such European architects as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Bauhaus art school founder Walter Gropius to task for their glass and steel box designed buildings that have influenced—and infected—America’s cities.
Preservation Hall, located in the French Quarter just three blocks from the Mississippi River, remains an icon of New Orleans and an essential stop for all fans of traditional jazz. Since the early 1960s "The Hall" has served as a sanctuary for the Crescent City's rich and illustrious jazz heritage, a haven for players, and an incubator for successive generations of jazz musicians. Seven nights a week the venue fills to capacity with die-hard fans and curious tourists eager to hear live New Orleans jazz played by a mix of veteran musicians and up-and-coming players. Preservation Hall dedicates itself to the authentic performance of traditional jazz. The space inside seems simple, and a large portion of the audience must stand in the back, behind a limited number of benches, chairs, and floor cushions. The Hall has no dance floor and serves no food or drink. In Preservation Hall, the music alone fills the space between listener and player. In their rare behind-the-scenes portrait, New Orleans photographer Shannon Brinkman and audio documentarian Eve Abrams capture the rhythm and cool of this historic club with both a pulsating array of images and the heartfelt words of band members.
Surveying the past, present and future of historic preservation in America, this text features 15 essays by some of the most eminent voices in the field, essays which highlight the principle ideas and events that have shaped and continue to shape the movement.
