Customer Reviews

Bernard Maybeck at Principia College

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This book is not only filled with fabulous pictures of one of the most beautiful college campuses in America, but provides a well documented history of its creation. A wonderful example of architect and client working together in support of what is now a 107 year-old institution, still dedicated to providing excellent academic, athletic, social, moral and spiritual development for its students.

I attended Principia College about the same time as Bob Craig and remember vividly how rock solid the Maybeck architecture was. I lived in Rackham West, gave flute lessons in "The Mistake House" (the first picture in the book), and my wife, Nancy, and I were married in the College Chapel. Bob's book is a wonderful compilation of information on the creative genius of Bernard Maybeck. If you ever get to Elsah, Illinois, you must visit the campus! Oh yes...buy the book first!! :-)

A great example of the creation of an academic village, Principia College's orginal dormitories and buildings bring to mind buildings in the English countrside. As a student, I lived in a couple of the dorm buildings designed by Maybeck and it was a great pleasure to experience the many different styles of rooms incorporated into the buildings.

A casual glance at the buildings would lead visitors to believe they were partially constructed of wood. In fact the entire buildings including exposed "beams" were made from concrete.......so bomb proof that they were considered to be an adequate refuge from an atomic attack on St. Louis.....or so legend had it. Definitely sturdy enough to withstand epic water wars and tennis ball fights. Ah....college!

Of course, one of the great pleasures of student life was to either tour with or overhear from a room in the chapel where I would study the great Dr. Charles B. "Chuck" Hosmer wax rhapsodic on Maybeck's work. If you are interested in historical preservation and architecture, Hosmer was a preminent scholar in the field and his "Presence of the Past" as well as the two-volume "Preservation Comes of Age" remain seminal works in the field. God speed, Hos!