Customer Reviews

Stanford White's New York

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The book business is really weird. Hundreds of people who know nothing -- the authors of those Chicken Soup and diet books come to mind -- write books that leap out of the bookstores. And scholars who spend years learning about fascinating subjects end up being the 1,456,657th best seller on Amazon.com. I was browsing in my library when I came across this retrospective of Stanford White's work and life in New York. It's a magnificent book, lovingly and intelligently written; the kind of book you can read once a year and continue to enjoy. Anybody who loves history, particularly the history of NYCity should try to get this book. The pictures are terrific. The authors should be proud of themselves.

This is an excellent portrayal of Stanford White, his childhood, his education, and the brick-by-brick rise of his stellar architectural career. The narrative contains none of the rancor of Suzannah Lessard's portrayal of White, instead focusing on the myriad buildings he designed and his masterful blending of diverse architectural styles. The technical descriptions are balanced by colorful accounts of White's clients, White's personal life, and the maelstrom surrounding White's tragic death. This isn't just an architectural book, it's very readable American history. Dozens of photographs accompany the text.

Now in focus: A photo-packed history of a city that once was. Part architectural retrospective, part biography, part cultural and social history, this gem is both a brilliant evocation of the noted architect's life and times, as well as a portfolio of unforgettable images of his priceless legacy to the Big Apple, such sa Madison Square Garden and the Washington Square Arch. Author David Garrard Lowe marries stunning photographs with lively prose that brings to life the glittering, and often sensational, world of New York's
"beau mode" --- both city and country ---- in the late 19th and 20thc centuries. Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today ... to buy this book.