Become an Art Deco house fanatic
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I have a love of all things Art Deco, and this book has helped build my passion and understanding. Its probably not a book you'd read from beginning to end, but instead dip in and out of. For this purpose, its perfectly designed.
Each chapter is an individual creation (house, apartment, housing estate....). It gives the background on the architect and who the building was commissioned for. So, its not just a review of the architecture, but puts the building and its creation into social context. As well as including a few of the more well known Art Deco buidlings (such as the Isokon apartments) it includes many that you probably don't know.
As you would expect from a book of this nature, it includes lots of wonderful pictures. Many of them from the early days of the buildings life, showing the interiors as they were originally decorated and laid out. And, this is what makes the book more than just a simple study of the Art Deco style.
But simply, would I recommend it? Yes, even if you're not an avid follower of this topic its a fascinating to browse and read.
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Excellent text and photos in a dull layout
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There are some glorious colour photos in this book of Art Deco (or Moderne) houses. Twenty-nine are featured as well as places like Miami Beach, Los Angeles apartments and Napier, New Zealand. This last place is the Deco capital of the southern hemisphere and I think there should have been more photos than just the four shown.
Each house starts on a spread (frequently with a photo of the architect) and Adrian Tinniswood explains in detail the thinking behind the design. He also writes additional essays on other aspects of Deco style. Unfortunately there are no plans to any of the houses, something I would have thought was fairly essential to a book of historical architecture. I've always wanted to see a plan of the amazing Butler House in Des Moines.
A major disappointment for me was the bland layout. Each page has only one column which makes the photo sizes very inflexible, most pages end up with one photo and a lot of empty white space. Someone should have suggested using more photos (especially interiors) and creating some interesting side-bars.
The twenty-nine houses featured are probably the best examples of the Art Deco style but have a look at two other books on the same subject, 'The Modern House Today' by Kenneth Powell, wonderful colour photos of sixty-five still standing Moderne houses in England and 'Classic Modern Homes of the Thirties' by James and Katherine Ford, an inexpensive black and white reprint of a 1940 book featuring houses in America. Both these books have some floor plans.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
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