Houses From Books

Many homes across America have designs based on plans taken from pattern books or mail-order catalogs. In Houses from Books, Daniel D. Reiff traces the history of published plans and offers the first comprehensive survey of their influence on the structure and the style of American houses from 1738 to 1950. Houses from Books shows that architectural publications, from Palladio&’s I Quattro Libri to Aladdin's Readi-Cut Homes, played a decisive role in every aspect of American domestic building. Reiff discusses the people and the firms who produced the books as well as the ways in which builders and architects adapted the designs in communities throughout the country. His book also offers a wide-ranging analysis of the economic and social conditions shaping American building practices. As architectural publication developed and grew more sophisticated, it played an increasingly prominent part in the design and the construction of domestic buildings. In villages and small towns, which often did not have professional architects, the publications became basic resources for carpenters and builders at all levels of expertise. Through the use of published designs, they were able to choose among a variety of plans, styles, and individual motifs and engage in a fruitful dialogue with past and present architects. Houses from Books reconstructs this dialogue by examining the links between the published designs and the houses themselves. Reiff&’s book will be indispensable to architectural historians, architects, preservationists, and regional historians. Realtors and homeowners will also find it of great interest. A catalog at the end of the book can function as a guide for those attempting to locate a model and a date for a particular design. Houses from Books contains a wealth of photographs, many by the author, that enhance its importance as a history and guide.

Journey with architects Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample through the history of architecture on their quest to find a perfect home In Houses for Sale, architects Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample of MOS Architects invite readers on their family's quest for a new home through the annals of architectural history, exploring details and peculiarities from some of the greatest names in architecture. When they realize that there isn't any one house that suits them perfectly, they decide to design their own. In doing so, Meredith and Sample come to the conclusion that no building is perfect and that architecture is an exciting, ever-evolving project in which the process of bringing a new building to life through design and construction can be even more satisfying than the final product itself.Published in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Houses for Sale is a charming and thoughtful introduction to architecture's varied history, with full-color illustrations and simple text that are suitable for aspiring young designers and experienced architects alike.

Features detailed, bas-relief collage spreads of dwellings in other world regions and historical times to explain how different people live and have lived, from a village house in South Africa to a floating green house in the Netherlands.

The Bernard Johnson translation of Pekic's prize-winning novel. Originally published by Harcourt in 1978. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Mysterious, a bit dark, and completely riveting, this book, imbued with the world of classic fairytales, fascinates and invites.

Poetry. At once wise and achingly at a loss, Ann Scowcroft's THE TRUTH OF HOUSES is an elegant debut collection. While very intimate--even startlingly intimate at times--the voices of these poems are constantly taking a step backward, wrestling for a measure of distance and perspective. Reading them, we eavesdrop on the uncovering of a personal vernacular that might allow the present to be better lived; we have the sense of overhearing a particular yet eerily familiar inner struggle--a struggle for insight, for an equanimity with which both narrator and fortunate reader might re-enter life anew.

Combining the sophistication of luxury interiors, the innovation of period and contemporary furniture and art, and the glamour of fashion, the homes of Delphine and Reed Krakoff are inspirational and unforgettable. This is the long-awaited monograph on the homes of Delphine and Reed Krakoff, unique voices in contemporary American design. Passion and obsession has driven the creation of their homes, each a master class in combining a grand space with world-class furnishings and artworks, with a savoir faire that only an American fashion designer (Reed) and a Paris-trained interior decorator (Delphine) can possess. Because of the unique lens that the Krakoffs train on their spaces, combining expertise in crafting the architectural space with their personal design and art collections and a refined understanding of livable spaces, these rooms are personal and inviting. Some of their houses have been widely published to acclaim, while others are presented here for the first time. With texts from personal friends of the Krakoffs, such as Martha Stewart, Hamish Bowles, Simon Doonan, Tory Burch, and Jacques Grange, who are brilliant designers and writers in their own right, the book will inspire interiors and design lovers with these projects of passion and finesse that represent dreams realized.