Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

American Sailboat

American Sailboat Review

American Sailboat

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This definitive chronology of American sailboats from 1900 to 1970 provides an in-depth look at the evolution of recreational vessels created by such prominent boatmakers as Catalina, Hunter, Island Packet, Tartan, Morgan, Mason, Cabo, Rico, Dufour, Alden, Oday, Cambria and Hershoff.Archival black-and-white and modern color photography depict the evolution of sailboats and advances in boating technologies and hull designs. All of the key classes are featured, as are famous racing sailboats that influenced the design of production models.


Sunday, April 22, 2012

American Bungalow Style

American Bungalow Style Review

American Bungalow Style

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America once had a love affair with bungalows -- and it's being rekindled coast to coast. This elegant book showcases exceptional examples and features a catalogue of period furnishings.

With a flaming fire in the cozy hearth, a comfortable Morris chair, and soft, natural colors everywhere, bungalows have long embodied the ideal of the American home. At the turn of the century they took the country by storm, providing well-designed and well-priced shelter nationwide. Bungalows revolutionized residential architecture in America and grew into a beloved symbol of domesticity by offering stylish yet affordable housing for the average person. Today whole neighborhoods of bungalows are being saved and restored by people who appreciate the simple and natural lifestyle made possible by these small houses.

Beautifully illustrated with more than three hundred color photographs, "American Bungalow Style" presents two dozen American houses that capture the bungalow spirit. Many are Arts and Crafts in style, others show a touch of Spain or colonial America, and all exemplify the charms that enticed thousands of bungalow buyers during the form's heyday from 1880 to 1930. Among the bungalows included are examples by famous architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Bernard Maybeck, as well as Gustav Stickley's own log cabin retreat. Many are the work of anonymous but skilled builders, and some were ordered by mail.

Bungalows may differ widely in style and size, but they have in common a simplified natural lifestyle made possible by these small houses.

Beautifully illustrated with more than three hundred color photographs, "American Bungalow Style" presents two dozen American houses that capture the bungalow spirit. Many are Arts and Crafts in style, others show a touch of Spain or colonial America, and all exemplify the charms that enticed thousands of bungalow buyers during the form's heyday from 1880 to 1930. Among the bungalows included are examples by famous architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Bernard Maybeck, as well as Gustav Stickley's own log cabin retreat. Many are the work of anonymous but skilled builders, and some were ordered by mail.

Bungalows may differ widely in style and size, but they have in common a simplified plan that places most of the living spaces on one floor. They are typically one or one and a half stories high, low in profile, and fitted with lots of built-ins and all the conveniences of their time. On their own piece of land, with a garden in front or back and space to park a car, bungalows provided the privacy and independence that many Americans favor.

The idea that simplicity and artistry could harmonize in one affordable house spurred the bungalow's popularity -- a rare movement in which good architecture was found outside the world of the wealthy. Bungalows allowed people of modest means to achieve something they had long sought: respectability. With its special features the bungalow filled more than the need for shelter. It provided fulfillment of the American dream.

A fully illustrated appendix features more than one hundred furnishings suitable for bungalows and Arts and Crafts houses. This special catalogue section highlights modern reproductions of tables and chairs, lamps, textiles, wall coverings, tile, and hardware that look right at home in bungalows old and new, commodious and compact.


Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Farmhouse: New Inspiration for the Classic American Home

The Farmhouse: New Inspiration for the Classic American Home Review



America's quintessential house style is reinvented for the 21st century family in this book. Farmhouses evoke nostalgic memories, real or imagined, of a simpler life, and deep, nourishing connections to the seasons and the land. This remarkable collection details and celebrates today's interpretation of the American farmhouse by focusing on traditional elements as adapted for modern needs, such as porches, roofs, windows, mudrooms, doorways, vestibules, fireplaces, and nooks. The 20 homes in this book represent today's best interpretations of this classic style in new and renovated homes designed for modern living. In suburban and rural communities from Maine to California, The Farmhouse celebrates an enduring American icon. This engaging tour, including over 300 color photographs and drawings that vividly showcase the farmhouse of today in a variety of settings and seasons, will delight, instruct, and inspire homeowners, architects, designers, and builders alike. Site and floor plans plus sidebars with historical detail are also included.


Monday, February 27, 2012

American Farmhouses: Country Style and Design

American Farmhouses: Country Style and Design Review



A country farmhouse surrounded by fields and trees is a quintessentially American secene, but it's one that has universal appeal. These simple homes speak to us of history and values, promising both comfort and protection.

The "country look" remains the single most popular American style. Despite social and economic changes and the whims of fashion, it continues to shape our design and decorating tastes. Now in these lavishly illustrated pages, American Farmhouses offers a rich and inspiring survey of country architecture and design, from painted furniture to porches, stenciling to saltbox houses.

Part of the appeal of country homes lies in their hand-hewn individualism and heritage of Old World charm. Many familiar design elements derived from distinct traditions brought by the early settlers, then adapted to local conditions and materials. Even in the early twentieth century, most country houses were still designed and constructed by local craftsmen, resulting in an immensely rich variety still visible in farms large and small across the country.

Today, the interior of a country home can be a meticulous restoration in a traditional style or a flea-market mix of furnishings and collectibles. The nearly twenty profiles of country homes in American Farmhouses, ranging from a rustic German-style house in Texas to a classic Greek Revival in upstate New York to a contemporary reinterpretation in Connecticut, are full of stimulating and original ideas.

To help readers bring the "country look" home, whether in a city apartment or a rural getaway, American Farmhouses also includes a detailed sourcebook of manufacturers, craftsmen, and architectural antiques dealers nationwide. Here is everything from cast-iron firebacks to milk paint to farmhouse tables, from suppliers who continue to keep the spirit of the farmhouse vital and alive today.


Saturday, January 7, 2012

The New American Apartment: Innovations in Residential Design and Construction: 30 Case Studies

The New American Apartment: Innovations in Residential Design and Construction: 30 Case Studies Review



Responding to increasing client and designer interest in urban dwellings, this volume features a well-documented selection of thirty of the best apartment designs in the United States completed over the past decade. The examples cover a broad spectrum of building types, styles, budgets, and scales, including prewar and postwar units, brownstones, lofts, and adaptive-use conversions. Each case study includes context-setting exterior photos, lavish photographs of interiors, and clearly annotated drawings ranging from design sketches to construction drawings and details of special features. The illustrations are accompanied by concise, lucid texts that highlight the ideas, as well as the technical and material decisions underpinning each design. Included are works by some of the best-known and most inventive design practitioners in the country, such as Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Hariri & Hariri, George Ranalli, Krueck & Sexton, and Machado and Silvetti, among others.