Architecture Of The Old South

From early colonial times to the onset of the Civil War, the finest examples of antebellum architecture in the South are revealed in glorious photographs and a scholarly text. This handsome volume is the culmination of a distinguished series that has explored the historic buildings of the Old South. The fruit of fifteen years of travel and research, Architecture of the Old South surveys the most beautiful and historic buildings of the region and illustrates them with color photographs, old prints and drawings. The authoritative, and sometimes amusing text documents a surprising conclusion-that most of the great buildings of the Old South were created by Yankee builders and that the South participated more fully in the mainstream of American life before the Civil War than has been fully appreciated. Indeed, the illustrations and text of Architecture of the Old South, though presenting famous shrines, explore the unexpected by-ways of Southern architecture and history. The great buildings of great cities-Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans-and plantations and country houses of the gentry are well represented. But here also can be found a wealth of the unfamiliar-frontier cabins, eccentric houses built by gentlemen amateurs, grand designs of professional designers from England and Europe. When the "Architecture of the Old South" series was begun in 1981, the New York Times praised the first of these volumes as "dignified and handsome, with engaging texts that strike a neat balance between architectural scholarship and social history." Mills Lane, a native Georgian who was educated at Harvard, boasts that he is "a Yankee above the waist and a Southerner below the waist." He has brought to his subject an affection and familiarity with the South balanced by a wider perspective. As publisher of The Beehive Press, located in a house facing one of Savannah's verdant squares, Lane has produced more than fifty books about the cultural and social history of Georgia and the South. In an age that seems to spin bigger and faster, Lane was honored with a 1993 commendation by Dartmouth College Library for his "clear vision, patient scholarly investigation and persistent progress". As author, Mills Lane has written eight previous volumes in the "Architecture of the Old South" series, state-by-state surveys of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky-Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Misssisippi-Alabama and Louisiana. 250 illustrations

Background that is free of any dogmatic architectural thesis. As this volume so clearly demonstrates, North Carolina has long suffered from an unjustified cultural inferiority complex. Despite an early start, North Carolina, with shallow harbors and unnavigable rivers, developed slowly, but finally produced architecture of great variety and beauty. The colonial buildings of New Bern and Edenton, the Moravian buildings at the frontier metropolis of Salem, the magnificent.

DIVRich survey ranges from pioneer cabins to French Provincial and Neoclassic revivals. Extensive commentary on each building, with over 100 detailed illustrations, including 36 floor plans. Bibliography. /div

Few things evoke thoughts and memories of the past more than a house from a bygone era, and few places are identified and symbolized more by historic dwellings than the American South. Plantation houses built with columned porticos and wide porches, stout chimneys, large rooms, and sweeping staircases survive as legacies of both a storied and troubled past. These homes are at the heart of a complex web of human relationships that have shaped the social and cultural heritage of the region for generations. Despite their commanding appearance, the region's plantation houses have proven to be fragile relics of history, vulnerable to decay, neglect, and loss. Today, only a small percentage of the South's antebellum treasures survive. In Southern Splendor: Saving Architectural Treasures of the Old South, historians Marc R. Matrana, Robin S. Lattimore, and Michael W. Kitchens explore almost fifty houses built before the Civil War that have been authentically restored or preserved. Methodically examined are restoration efforts that preserve not only homes and other structures, but also the stories of those living in or occupying those homes. The authors discuss the challenges facing specific plantation homes and their preservation. Featuring over 275 stunning photographs, as well as dozens of firsthand accounts and interviews with those involved in the preservation of these historic properties, Southern Splendor describes the leading role the South has played, since the nineteenth century, in the historic preservation movement in this country.

With these words William Baldwin and Elizabeth Turk lay the foundation for a stunning visual journey into the Southern home. The images found within these pages tell as much about the definition of home as they do about certain aspects of design. Taken from the Historic American Buildings Survey or HABS collection--which began as Depression-era works program--these images document the grace and unique nature of the Southern home. While some of the images show the grandeur of the old plantation house, others reveal a much simpler side of Southern living. And while there are always elements that are distinctive to each home there is an ever-present theme that reminds the reader that home is not just a structure, but also a reflection of our dreams. Compiled from over seventy years of HABS images, this arrangement is a matchless illustrated history of Southern architecture and design. Whether a stately mansion or a decaying rural farmhouse, the images within are a visual essay into the true nature and being of the South and Southern home.

Southern Exposure is the definitive guide to the often overlooked architectural riches of Chicago's South Side by architecture expert and former Chicago Sun-Times architecture writer Lee Bey.