Buildings of Iowa (Buildings of the United States) [Paperback]

David Gebhard (Author), Gerald Mansheim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 1995 | Series: Buildings of the United States

From the first years of European settlement down to the present moment, Iowa has symbolized the heart of America. In Buildings of Iowa we are offered a wide-ranging survey of this state's architecture from the earliest Native American influences to the present. The image of Iowa as the breadbasket and agricultural center of the nation often overlooks the unity of urban and rural that is reflected in Iowa's buildings and landscape.
Surveying the full array of Iowa's architectural styles on a town-by-town basis, this volume examines such structures as octagonal houses, log cabins, Beaux-Arts courthouses, water towers, grain elevators, the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans Home at Cedar Falls, the bright blue "glass fused to steel" silos built by A.O. Harvestore Products Inc., Art Deco service stations, post office buildings, churches, bank buildings, public high schools, American Prairie houses, and motion picture theaters.
Beautifully illustrated with over 400 photographs, lincuts, and maps, Buildings of Iowa shows both general readers and travelers how a unity of rural and urban is effectively mirrored in Iowa's buildings.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Libraries serving architectural historians and others interested in the geography and history of the US should have the entire series."--Choice

"Some of the best and brightest writers and scholars in the field are behind this series...This looks like a classic series in the making."--The Boston Globe

"An early volume of what is bound to become a landmark series, Buildings of Iowa is the definitive architectural guidebook of the state."--Academic Library Book Review

"It is clear that the series will inform us about our own architectural heritage on a scale never before accomplished. The series is recommended for art and architecture library collections and is also appropriate for general college, university, and public libraries."--Art Documentation

"What keeps one dipping [into the books of the Buildings of the United States series]--when far from Iowa and Michigan and the possibility of making proper use of these guides--is not architecture as architecture so much as architecture as a setting for fiction. The stoops, porches, tower rooms, sun decks, office blocks, silos, courthouses, barns and schoolhouses shown here are known to us from novels, and more particularly, movies. These are Gothic houses burnt-out writers returned to, the town halls corrupt mayors peculated in, the quiet streets terror stalked. They are the subject of Hopper's paintings and provide backgrounds to Norman Rockwell's cover art....From [the building descriptions] you make a portrait of a kind of American town you feel you already know, in which there really are addresses like Chestnut and Main."--London Review of Books

"Buildings of the United States...is soon destined to be an irreplaceable and authoritative resource for anyone with an interest in American architecture."--Interior Design Magazine

About the Author

David Gebhard is Professor of Architectural History and Curator of the Architectural Drawing Collection at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Gerald Mansheim is an independent architecural historian.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 9, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019509378X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195093780
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,845,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, January 21, 2009

By 

Jon L. Albee "Faulkner Wannabe" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buildings of Iowa (Buildings of the United States) (Paperback)

As with the other titles in the series, this book is the state-wide catalog of (mostly) historic buildings that you expect, sorted by region and town. Each entry includes a brief descriptive essay, and about one entry in ten also includes a small monochrome photograph. The coverage is comprehensive, with a focus on late Federal and Victorian styles.

I also notice that the authors seem to favor domestic architecture over public architecture in this guide, which is something not found in other volumes in the series. In fact, I find the coverage of Sioux City's public architecture (particularly its many fine churches) to be entirely incomplete, and the only real flaw in the book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Iowa is dope, December 27, 2007

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Zacarator (heaven) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buildings of Iowa (Buildings of the United States) (Paperback)

This book is a handy dandy little guide for the daring soul who enjoys taking lazy Sunday afternoon drives in the great state of Iowa. The book doesn't have a lot of information per se, but it is really nice as a quick reference to many well-designed/constructed buildings that may be lurking just around the corner, or cornfield.