America's gilded age
Subtitle: its architecture and decoration
By: Frederick Platt.
Publisher: A. S. Barnes
Published: 1976
Place of publication: South Brunswick
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
Subjects: Eclecticism in architecture -- United States.; Architecture, Modern -- 19th century -- United States.; Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States.
Description: Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I the United States experienced the spectacular period of change, growth, and optimism that has become known as the Gilded Age. It was an era of tycoons and their personal empires, the flowering of American industry and finance, and the emergence of the United States as one of the world's most important nations. It was an era that the American Victorian architecture of an earlier day was incapable of expressing, and there arose a proud new architecture that continues to reflect the Gilded Age better than does any other creation of those times.
Although the public has always admired Gilded Age architecture, publications on the subject have been few and specialized. At last, this book presents an overall view of the whole realm of Gilded Age architecture and decoration in a convenient form and a beautiful format.
Discover in this book homes of the wealthy, luxurious clubs and hotels, seats of great industries, awe-inspiring churches, and splendid cultural facilities-the amazing buildings of an era when architects thought their principal duty was to produce beauty. Even a private railroad car, an ocean liner, and a bridge are included in the book, which is the most extensive survey available of Gilded Age architecture.
The most representative buildings erected between 1880 and 1915 are depicted here in well over 300 photographs and drawings. Many are old and rare, and works of art in themselves.
A lively text introduces the reader not only to the structures, but to the patrons, the architects, and the era that produced them. The author also considers the continuing controversy between traditional and moderns styles, and makes a plea for the preservation of beautiful Gilded Age buildings.
Everyone interested in American architecture, American history, or American society will want to own this well-written, knowledgeable, and copiously illustrated book.
Notes: Bibliography, p. 288.