The Shingle Style Today: Or The Historian's Revenge [Paperback]

Vincent Scully (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003

Distinguished by long, sloping gables, horizontal lines, and a continuous shingle covering on the exterior, the Shingle Style's essential objective was the creation of expanding, flowing space.

The Shingle Style embodied intellectual pluralism and cultural democracy—ideals fundamental to American belief and developed quickly and richly. After a period of reaction against the Shingle Style, it was revitalized, finding its first fully renewed expression in 1959 in a design for a beach house by Robert Venturi. Vincent Scully details this reemergence, revealing the complex and crucial role of influence in the shaping of this movement. 134 black-and-white illustrations

Product Details

• Paperback: 118 pages
• Publisher: George Braziller, Inc.; 1st edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807607606
• ISBN-13: 978-0807607602
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reads Better Than It Looks, April 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Shingle Style Today: Or The Historian's Revenge (Paperback)

I bought this book a couple of years ago because my husband and I have a recurring fantasy of building a shingle style house and this was one of the few books I could find on the topic at the time. At first, I was a little intimidated by the book because it looks very dry and scholarly. Once I got over my intimidation and actually started reading, I was pleasantly surprised to find that while it is indeed scholarly, it is extremely readable and even witty. Scully manages to weave together a fascinating range of influences and expressions of shingle styles, from Italian palazzos to very modern architecture. The only reason I don't give this book a higher rating is that I wish it had color pictures and more of them, but I am probably just being peevish. The truth is, when I bought the book, I really wanted a glossy picture book but none were available (this was before the 1999 publication of "Shingle Styles"). The book's small black and white photographs will not be satisfying to someone who wants to drool over rich photographs of this gorgeous architectural style, as I did. Nonetheless, the book itself will be quite satisfying to someone who wants to immerse themselves in the history and theory of this unique American style and who is willing to exert a little brain power to do it.