Customer Reviews

The Architectural Style of A. Hays Town

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I have personally known this author for most of my adult life. No student of architecture should be without a study of, even on a limited basis, the style of A. Hays Town. When this book was published, Mr. Town did not want to provide written descriptions of his works. He simply wanted the original drawings to convey to the viewer his sense of style. The style of his architecture is classical . . . A. Hays Town, the author, is a class act . . . The book, The Architectural Style of A. Hays Town, is a classic.

I have been watching copies of this book, which was published in a very modest quantity, selling at auction in New Orleans for about $1,200.00 now that Mr. Hays has died. The drawings and photgraphs are presented in the casual, uncalculated, genteel manner with which most EVERYTHING is done in the Delta and Louisiana. You'ld never come away from his houses and think " Looks like the decorator JUST LEFT!!".Nothing is contrived or 'studied' too closely. It all appears as if the whole flavor and spirit of the Hays house just grew/developed over the years even if the house still smells of fresh paint. I was building a house modelled after the Simmons-Edwards house in Charleston, S.C. and was just MAD for the brick floors in the Hays houses..Nervy lad that I am, I called him up one Saturday and told him about how I got one of his books and that I needed his secret recipe for making those glazed, blackish bricks. He told me EVERYTHING. Southern Gentleman par excellance!