Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses (Hardcover)

~ Ezra Stoller (Author), Joseph King (Author), (Photographer) "Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph set out to create a new architecture for southwest Florida..." (more)
Key Phrases: operable flaps, lime block, progressive architecture, Paul Rudolph, Ralph Twitchell, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A giant of twentieth century architecture, Paul Rudolph began his career designing beautiful and intimate beach houses on the west coast of Florida. This new book presents Rudolph’s striking renderings and Ezra Stoller’s period photography, along with the authors’ insightful text, conveying the lightness, materiality, and transcendence of these intensely original houses.

Paul Rudolph’s Florida houses, seen all together for the first time in this book, illustrate the ambition, discipline, and inventiveness that led the way to Rudolph’s international prominence in the 1960s. With fifty years distance, we are now able to see the Florida Houses as a distinct body of work, some sixty projects created between 1941 and 1962, that came to represent the possibility of a locally inspired American modernism.

After disappearing from the scene for many years, these outstanding buildings are being discussed again, inspiring a new generation of architects searching for a meaningful architecture for the present. This is the first book to be published based on full access to the primary source material housed in the Paul Rudolph Archive at The Library of Congress.

About the Author

Christopher Domin is an architect, educator, and freelance curator living in Tucson, Arizona. He is a professor at the University of Arizona where he teaches design studios along with history and theory seminars that focus on mid-century and contemporary architecture.

Joseph King is an architect practicing on the west coast of Florida. He is a specialist in landscape, development, and design as related to regional issues of sustainability.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568982666
• ISBN-13: 978-1568982663
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,275,060 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses, June 14, 2002

By	Michael Webb (London, England > Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews

As the Case Study program got under way in southern California, Rudolph launched his own from his office in Sarasota on FloridaÕs Gulf coast. For two decades (with time off for U.S. Navy service) he created (first with Ralph Twitchell and then independently) a succession of airy pavilions that mitigated the steamy heat and filtered the brilliant light. In Ezra StollerÕs crisp period photographs these houses seem almost dreamlikeÑtoo graceful and pure to endure storms and the crass consumerism of waterfront development. And yet, despite the pressure of escalating land prices and the cult of gigantism, most of these houses have survived in their original form, and several have been lovingly restored. Every aficionado of mid-century modern should buy this elegant volume. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The modern Florida house, March 11, 2003

By	James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I found myself becoming nostalgic looking through the pages of this book. Having grown up in Florida, I was stunned to see that the house I lived in had been a knock-off of one of Rudolph's houses. His early Florida houses were widely emulated for their clean lines and passive solar designs. It is an impressive collection, and illustrates the lighter side of Rudolph before he became caught up in the monumental forms that dominated the latter part of his career.

You might call him the John Lautner of Florida, creating a lifestyle as much as an architecture. You could see Travis McGee laying back in one of these houses, drinking a beer as he waits for the elusive flash of green. Rudolph really captured the spirit of Florida in the 40's and 50's. Simple, well-thought out designs that are as relavent today as they were then.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb review of Paul Rudolph's houses, January 14, 2007

By	J. Owens (Ft Myers Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses (Paperback)

This book is an wonderful mix of photographs, drawings and text that give great insight into the work of Rudolph's understanding of the Florida's climate and the technology available in his day. It is a must for anyone seriously interested in modern architecture. What an amazing architect, what an amazing book!