Customer Reviews

Stanford White, Architect

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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This really is the definative work on the great Stanford White. The text is informative without being a PHD disertation and the images are really spectacular. White was not only an amazing architect of the classic venacular, but he was a huge celebrity in his own right. This book covers his singular career with panache, it covers his work both minor and major, with the main focus being on his best work, most notibly his masterpeice for Mrs. Herman Olreichs, that house is simply perfection personified and the images in this book capture it at its grandest. Of course, White has many distinguished works and they are all given their due in this book. If you have any interest at all in Stanford White, Gilded Age architecture, or just appreciate fine books, then i cant imagine you not being pleased with this book. A fine tribute to an iconic architect.

This is a wonderful book that may only appeal to architectural buffs as I am but it would be a wonderful look for anyone just to see how great architecture is done. Truly a coffee table book, as you need to put it on the table to read it comfortably, I highly recommed it.

The book is great! All new photographs and great writing. But Credit for the Goulet Building (20th and Broadway) does NOT belong to Stanford (the Beaver) White!!!! It was designed by Bigelow when the firm was McKim, Mead and Bigelow and the cause of his seperation from the firm.

This is a beautiful and well written study of this superb architect. The chosen buildings are very characteristic and really illustrate the quality and character of his work, from the inventive early buildings to the very polished and sophisticated examples of American Classicism. I have one serious complaint, however. I was involved in the restoration of of White's first major church, built as First Methodist Church, Baltimore, Maryland, now known as Lovely Lane Methodist Church in honor of the name of the first congregation. The restoration of the sanctuary is spectacular, centered on a huge organ with gilt pipes, under a sky painted to show the stars in their positions as they were on the night of the dedication, a unique decoration. Rather than show the front of the oval sanctuary with the splendid organ, they show the back! Nor or the colors well rendered; incomprehensible selections. The other buildings appear to be far better photographed. Baltimore played an important role in the early career of McKim, Mead and White and this church was their first major church commission: it deserved better treatment. Nonetheless, I would still recommend this book, particularly in view of the photographs of White's own homes.

Full of insights into the great Stanford White and his amazing work. Beautifully illustrated.