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

Kathryn Bishop Eckert (Author)

Book Description

Series: Buildings of the United States | Publication Date: 1993

Buildings of Michigan presents a pictorial survey of Michigan architecture from 1831 to the present. From Romantic Michigan, before the Civil War, with its Greek, Gothic, and Italian villas to the internationally renowned buildings of modern Michigan, this informative book explores Michigan's history, covering the full spectrum of architectural styles particular to the state.
Surveying the architecture of Detroit and many other cities, towns, and villages, this volume examines such structures as the mine locations in the Copper Range, early inns and houses along the Sauk Trail, the sandstone architecture of the Lake Superior region, lighthouses and lifesaving stations of the Upper Great Lakes, the great houses of automobile industrialists in Grosse Pointe, the factories of Albert Kahn, and the contributions of numerous local architects whose work has added to Michigan's architectual heritage.
Offering a fascinating look at buildings of each period, style, type, and material in Michigan's history, with over 400 exceptional photographs, drawings, and maps, Buildings of Michigan is an extraoridinary guide to architecture shaped by the changing attitude of people toward their rich and splendid land.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book provides a helpful link between Michigan's social and economic history and its built form as well as being a wonderful resource for the weekend adventurer."--Michigan Historical Review

"The most comprehensive architectural guide to Michigan ever published....This volume goes boldly where many an architectural guide fails to enter."--Detroit Free Press

"Taken overall, the book...is a grand tour of the state, with more than 400 photographs, and it sends the traveler to a few out-of-the-way spots sometimes not noted on the travel guides....It is fascinating to spot the old buildings, and some of the new ones, that caught your eye on recent travels and you wondered what the history of the place might be. This volume will give you the answer."--Bay City Times

"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

"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

"This volume is comprehensive in its geographic and chronological coverage, with buildings from all corners of the state and time periods covered. Serving as a guidebook for the motoring architectural enthusiast, even remote areas are covered with care....Buildings of Michigan is an exciting introduction to an architecturally interesting state. Written for both academicians and general readers, it succinctly presents a great deal of information."--Academic Library Book Review

"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 the 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

"A valuable undertaking indeed....Judging by the volume on Michigan...the results will be exemplary....The series promises to be everything one could reasonably hope for in an affordable format. 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

Kathryn Bishop Eckert is State Historic Preservation Officer at the Bureau of History, Michigan Department of State.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195093798
• ISBN-13: 978-0195093797
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, with some factual errors, April 6, 2009

By 

R. bentley "moses" (amherst ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

Book contains not a few innacuracies. Sample:

"Members (of the Huron Mountain Club in the Upper Peninsula)now include affluent Michigan families like the Fords, Algers, Ferrys, Bentleys, and Angells - many of whom exploited the resources of the wilderness but saved this particular wilderness as sancturary and hideaway for themselves."

The Fords have not been members since the 1930's. The Algers, Ferrys, and Angells have never been members. The Bentleys are members but are not a "Michigan Family" (they're from Chicago). Furthermore their affluence is somewhat open to question