Reviews and Blog Posts: architecture

This wonderful book explores the notion of home as the author and his family renovate a century-old house in Cleveland.  Although his defense of sprawl overlooks the physical distinction between streetcar suburbs and automobile suburbs, this is a great read for those who love old houses.

I have recently been obsessed with little buildings, I fantasize about treehouses, writers retreats, rustic cabins, mobile homes (not like you're thinking!) This book runs the gamut of little houses: some amazing, some hideous, some prototypes some actual little tiny mobile houses (see page 123). makes me wish I had...

I was so sad that this Armchair Architectural Salvage Adventure had to end.  Monica Randall grew up exploring the abandoned mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast and later grew up to live in one.  Rife with atmosphere, intrigue and history this is a true tale any historic preservationist or urban...

The contested inheritance of a multimillion dollar piece of historic New York real estate pits siblings and strangers against one another in a hilarious battle of the "will". In straightforward, unstinting language, we meet an unapologetically flawed protagonist and a bevy of other characters. As is the case in real life, in...

We now think of them as snakepits but state asylums were built on the premise of "moral treatment" in which patients were provided care, routine, entertainment, fresh air & enobling vistas. At one point, a half million Americans resided in asylums, leading to overcrowding & the desperate conditions that form...

Haunting photographs set the tone for Harry Skrdla's beautifully written guide to the rise and fall of 30 tragically abandoned American structures. Each chapter explores decomposing edifices by category (industrial, transportation-related, commercial, public, residential and amusement), discussing the historical and sociological factors that have contributed to the ongoing demise of...