Customer Reviews

Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean: An A-Z of Historic Buildings

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I order every book on Caribbean architecture I can find. My biggest disappointment with this one is with the drawings, most of which are from Pamela Gosner's Caribbean Georgian, published by Three Continents Press in 1982. (You'll get many more informative drawings if you can find this book.) One of the other illustrations, a "classical" column and pediment, is filled with the most basic errors. The text neither contradicts not adds anything new to Gosner's book or Buissert's Historic Architecture of the Caribbean (1980, Heinemann Educational Books) or Crane's Historic Architecture of the Caribbean Islands (1994, Univ. of Florida Press). The photography is better in the later two books as well.

I recommend searching for used copies of these other books instead.

The Caribbean islands offers the student of architecture a wealth of historic buildings reflecting Spanish, French, British, Dutch, and Creole colonial heritages and styles. Andrew Gravette's Architectural Heritage Of The Caribbean: An A-Z Of Historic Buildings is a comprehensive reference guide to more than a thousand architectural sites including churches, plantation houses, fortresses, and ordinary homes. Enhanced with a useful glossary of architectural terms, 16 color plates, and 120 line drawings, Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean is a superbly descriptive introduction to notable and interesting buildings, and encompasses every Caribbean island from the Bahamas to Trinidad. Architectural Heritage Of The Caribbean is an invaluable guide for tourists, architectural students, and regional historians.

"This book offers the academic and casual visitor alike a unique insight into the varied architectural treasures of the Caribbean... through this book we can appreciate the true history of the Caribbean."

---Professor Richard Hodges, OBE, PSA
Director, The Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture