The Provencal House: Architecture and Interiors [Hardcover]

Johanna Thornycroft (Author), Andreas Von Einsiedel (Photographer)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584793104
• ISBN-13: 978-1584793106
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book!, March 4, 2004

By 

Christopher Glenn Sides (Athens, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Provencal House: Architecture and Interiors (Hardcover)

I'm an architect with the task of designing a "French" style home. This is one of several books I ordered to use as references. The appeal of this book for me is that it includes exterior architecture, interior design/decor, & gardens/landscapes. It is extensively illustrated with color photos & captions (my kind of book...). I can't critique the text because I have not yet had time to read it. But I can't get enough of the pictures!

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking, October 29, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Provencal House: Architecture and Interiors (Hardcover)

I picked this book up from the table of new releases at a local bookstore, sat in a chair, and didn't move except to turn the pages for the next 90 minutes. In more than 200 color photographs, The Provencal House explores the beauty of 16 Provencal homes - interior and exterior details, uses of color playing off the landscape, curves and arches and doorways. It's a beautiful celebration of an architectural way of life rooted in the land and its traditions.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS...., August 25, 2004

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Provencal House: Architecture and Interiors (Hardcover)

Pure and simple, for most of us PROVENÇAL HOUSE is a coffee table book filled with exquisite detail found in several dozen homes in the south of France. Author, Joanna Thornycroft, has classified the structures Andreas Von Einsiedel photographed into `Town', `Manor' or `Country' houses. Short on text and long on photos, the premise of this publication seems to be a picure is worth a thousand words. Beginning with houses in the French Rivera and ending with Le Murier in hameau das Auvis, the author takes you on a trip through the land painted by Van Gogh and Pagnol.

Some of the homes are "simple" cottages, others the more ornate domains of the landed gentry or super-rich movie star. My favorite shots were taken in gardens, and show flowers, pots and rustic gates across cobblestone walkways that lead to the lane or another room of the garden. Small details such as a decorative window latch covered with several centuries of paint, delft-like kitchen tiles, and a rooster weather vane, remind me of the land of the Cathars-those God-fearing people who lived in this land that once harbored them as heretics who may or may not have been far from God but who must have understood how blessed life can be when the sun shines.

Architects may get some ideas from the recessed windows, the red tiled roofs, the stucco blue walls, and the marble bathroom fixtures, but the fabric-lined antique china cabinets, and nifty little accent touches in the various rooms depicted so lovingly make this book a must for interior designers and others seeking the "look" of Provence.