Tiny Houses

Tiny Houses Review

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With “McMansions” increasingly giving way to “tiny” houses, the desire to downsize and be more ecologically and economically prudent is a concept many are beginning to embrace. Focusing on dwelling spaces all under 1,000 square feet, TINY HOUSES (Rizzoli, April 2009) by Mimi Zeiger aims to challenge readers to take a look at their own homes and consider how much space they actively use.
Ranging from tree houses to floating houses, TINY HOUSES features an international collection of over thirty modular and prefab homes, each one embodying “microgreen living”, defined as the creation of tiny homes where people challenge themselves to live “greener” lives. By using a thoughtful application of green living principles, renewable resources for construction, and clever ingenuity, these homes exemplify sustainable living at its best.

California Romantica: Spanish Colonial and Mission-Style Houses

California Romantica: Spanish Colonial and Mission-Style Houses Review

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California Romantica features the most important, yet rarely seen, residential exemplars of the California Mission and Spanish Colonial styles, by such noted architects as George Washington Smith, Wallace Neff, Richard Requa, Lilian Rice, and Paul R. Williams, among others. From whitewashed stucco walls and cloistered patios to tile roofs and sumptuous gardens, each house shown is a rare masterpiece, splendidly appointed with authentic Monterey furniture, California tile, and Navajo rugs. Among the magnificent seaside estates, canyon villas, and courtyard bungalows shown is Diane Keaton’s former home in Beverly Hills, which she thoughtfully restored with noted designer Stephen Shadley, and for which she has been recognized as a committed preservationist. She brings her cinematic eye, a keen sense of natural drama, and a profound appreciation for the nuances of shadow and light to the elucidation of these buildings, through the selection of specially commissioned photography. Authoritative text by D. J. Waldie lucidly explicates the architecture and provides an intimate tour of a historic and distinctly Californian lifestyle.

Caribbean Houses: History, Style, and Architecture

Caribbean Houses: History, Style, and Architecture Review

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Caribbean Houses is a lavishly illustrated account of the development of historically significant houses in the West Indies. Author Michael Connors, a West Indian decorative arts scholar, examines venerable houses that remain as a testimony to the rich history and vibrant lifestyle that was, and continues to be, an important part of Caribbean culture. The book is divided into five chapters, one for each European heritage: the Spanish Antilles, the Dutch Leewards, the English Islands, the French Lesser Antilles, and the Danish Virgin Islands. An authoritative text sheds light on the area’s rich architectural and interior design history and gives the reader a unique view of houses that combine the tradition of European styles with the vernacular island forms and decorative motifs. The lavish new photography captures the stunning exteriors and provides a rare look into the interiors of these historic houses, with exotic tropical hardwoods, indigenous stone, and a blending of local crafts and handiwork with antiques and contemporary furnishings. With the disappearance of so much of the Caribbean’s historic domestic architecture, the colonial residences that still exist represent an important historical record of the Caribbean’s material culture.

Tudor Style: Tudor Revival Houses in America from 1890 to the Present

Tudor Style: Tudor Revival Houses in America from 1890 to the Present Review

The Tudor house is one of America's keystones-- a type of home that has attracted homeowners for more than a century. Its basic elements-- the steep gabled roofs, mullioned windows made of leaded glass, and half-timbering-- are instantly recognizable and iconic. Tudor Style showcases the wide variety of Tudor homes and how American Tudor style differs from their English counterparts.

Renowned photographer Paul Rocheleau and architectural historian Lee Goff have traveled across the United States, from the suburbs of metropolitan New York to Lake Forest, Illinois, from St. Louis to Los Angeles, capturing the unique Tudor styles each geographic location offers. The Tudors featured in the book range from modest homes to grand estates, making this a perfectly accessible book for all Tudor homeowners and aficionados. In addition to displaying the architectural structures of these buildings, Goff examined the history of these houses, why they became so popular in the United States, and what their appeal is today.

The first book ever on this wildly popular style, Tudor Style will delight architecture enthusiasts who have been desperately waiting for a book on this favorite architectural style.

Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses from Santa Barbara to San Clemente

Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses from Santa Barbara to San Clemente Review

The Spanish-style architecture of Southern California's seaside estates, canyon villas, and courtyard bungalows is central to its romantic image, one that has traditionally evoked a Mediterranean paradise. The details of this inexhaustively rich style-- ornate wrought iron and wood balconies, colorful tiles, graceful arches, and palm-dotted gardens-- reflect the region's Spanish, Mexican, and southwestern history and culture as well as its popular outdoor lifestyle.

This book showcases Southern California's most historically significant and beautifully preserved Spanish-revival houses of this century. Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 are featured in stunning color photography that captures exterior and interior architectural details, Spanish and Mexican antique furnishings and folk art, and lush landscaping and tiled fountains. Among these are the Adamson House in Malibu, with its extraordinary collection of custom tile from Malibu Potteries; the contemporary Greenberg House in Brentwood, by Ricardo Legorreta; The Andalusia Courtyard Apartments in Hollywood; and Casa Pacifica, the former home of Richard Nixon, overlooking the ocean in San Clemente. Brief narratives highlight the history of each building and its design influences on the Spanish-revival movement in California.

The Spanish revival grew in popularity around the turn of the century when many young American architects traveled to Spain, Italy, and Mexico, bringing back sketches and, as the foreword notes, romantic memories of "graceful foliage...small Indian towns...tiled dome and rococo towers." Hundreds of Spanish-style houses, apartments, and bungalows were built throughout Southern California in the following decades, many of them commissioned for movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino.

The Spanish revival is marked by two main phases: the mission revival, which incorporates the white stucco, cloistered patios, tile roofs, and exposed-beam ceilings typical of eighteenth-century California missions; and the more elaborate Mediterranean revival, influenced by Spanish and Italian Renaissance sources, eighteenth-century Spanish plateresque and churrigueresque forms, and Moorish-Andalusian styles.

Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert

Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert Review

Palm Springs is famous as a mecca for the international jet set. But the city has also attracted its share of eccentrics and mavericks who have left an architectural legacy that remains unsurpassed for its originality and international influence. Palm Springs Modern examines the impact that architects and designers have had on the desert oasis, primarily from the 1940s to the 1960s, when they created one of the most important concentrations of modernist architecture in the world.

Palm Springs came into its own architecturally after the war when it became a haven for such modernists as Richard Neutra, who was already practicing the International Style in Los Angeles. Many other distinguished architects have left distinctive marks in the desert: Albert Frey, John Lautner, E. Stewart Williams, William Cody, John Porter Clark, and Craig Ellwood. Palm Springs Modern features examples of mid-century modernism at its most glamorous, some of them the residences of prominent figures who commissioned weekend getaways in the desert including Frank Sinatra, Walter Annenberg, and Raymond Loewy. Adèle Cygelman's insightful text, a foreword by architectural historian Joseph Rosa, contemporary color photography by David Glomb, and the celebrated archival black-and-white work of Julius Shulman all capture the distinctly modern allure of America's famed desert playground.

Stone Houses: Traditional Homes of Pennsylvania's Bucks County and Brandywine Valley

Stone Houses: Traditional Homes of Pennsylvania's Bucks County and Brandywine Valley Review

Stone Houses:Traditional Homes of Pennsylvania’s Bucks County and Brandywine Valley is a unique presentation of beloved building traditions in one of the most charming and historically significant regions in the nation. Houses, barns, and outbuildings dating from the colonial and Federal periods, built with local stone predominantly in an English Cotswold vernacular style, represent a form that has become popular across the nation. Geoffrey Gross’s stunning photographs document a remarkable collection of early buildings, including the John Chad House (circa 1720), Peter Wentz Farmstead (circa 1758), and Buckingham Friends Meeting House (1768), as well as more recent designs, in part inspired by such traditional homes, by architects R. Brognard Okie, G. Edwin Brumbaugh, and John D. Milner. Part of the original Pennsylvania Colony founded in March of 1681 by William Penn, the region encompassing Bucks County and the Brandywine Valley is important not only for its history as an early English settlement in the New World, but also for its role as a crucial site in the struggle for American independence. The evidence for this is obvious in the story of its houses. Some notable examples include the Thompson-Neely House at Washington Crossing, in which, it is said, Washington’s officers were billeted during the famous night of his crossing of the Delaware, and Pennsbury Manor, the reconstructed home of William Penn. With its authoritative text and exquisite full-color photography, Stone Houses is a beautiful record of a historically rich regional building tradition.

Shingle Style Houses: Past and Present

Shingle Style Houses: Past and Present Review

Shingle Style homes began in New England in the late 1800s. They were the vacation "cottages" for the wealthy who summered in resorts along the Atlantic coastline. The style lasted only a short time during the late 1800s, but its impact on the future course of architectural history was significant. In the mid-20th century, interest in these comfortable homes was renewed and continues today as many people are recognizing their casual elegance. Their rough wooden shingles, irregular roof lines, and wide, shady porches encourage lazy afternoons in rocking chairs. Within the house, one room flows freely into another. Over 50 homes in the continental United States are presented in over 500 color photographs, including multi-million-dollar residences, smaller mansions, cottages, and renovated shingle houses. Their sites are as varied as their designs. Some are on the coastline, surveying the crashing waves; others peer through trees on city streets; still others occupy an island or rest in the middle of a vineyard. The Shingle Style homes of today are compared to some of the famous "shingles" from the past, including Naumkeag, the Folly , and Stonehurst all in Massachusetts. One chapter looks at Shingle Style renovations. The foreword, by John C. McConnell AIA, an architect and professor of American architectural history at Boston College, looks role the style played in American architecture-from the early 1870s to the late 1880s-and its influence on future architecture. A chapter by architect Turner Brooks, an Associate Professor at Yale University School of Architecture, investigates at Shingle Style descendants.

The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town

The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town Review

Architect A. Hays Town changed the face of the Louisiana house, and this volume honors that legacy. Color photographs of numerous homes, including Town's own, combine with illuminating text to produce a volume that captures the appeal and beauty of the state's finest architectural tradition. 200 color photos.