Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

This book is about the design of the facade of 51 of America's most extravagant early skyscrapers. Included are the biographies of noted architects and the aristocrats who financed America's first skyscrapers. This book discusses the influences of European aesthetic values in America--and scandals, rogues and class distinctions. Interpretations by contemporary critics are sprinkled throughout the text. Woven throughout the book are inquiries about the validity of Greek and Roman mythologies and their relationships to "modern" America and its spirit of invention and progress. Foreign traditions were challenged by some architects but then accepted by most. Why was it necessary for the long-dead hero of a faraway civilization to be included on the facade of a newly invented American skyscraper? This book tells why.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. 1)
• Introduction(p. 3)
• 1 Ways and Means(p. 7)
• Basic Questions(p. 14)
• Traditional Options(p. 19)
• Options for Tired Eyes(p. 21)
• 2 Hopes and Dreams(p. 28)
• Monadnock(p. 30)
• Rooftop Dialogs(p. 33)
• Building Walls and Mythology(p. 41)
• 3 Togas and Parasols(p. 48)
• Classicism and the Renaissance(p. 50)
• Of Myths and Merriment(p. 55)
• The Beaux-Arts(p. 59)
• World's Columbian Exposition(p. 62)
• 4 A Time for Funny Hats(p. 101)
• Variations on a Theme: The Neo-Baroque Skyscraper(p. 102)
• 5 Towers, Dragons and the Stuff of Dreams(p. 153)
• The Medieval Inspiration(p. 154)
• The Pious Ones(p. 155)
• Scary Things(p. 157)
• The Great Migration(p. 161)
• The Tower in Madison Square(p. 163)
• 6 Eclectic Explorations(p. 188)
• American Heroes(p. 190)
• Conclusion(p. 216)
• Chapter Notes(p. 217)
• Bibliography(p. 225)
• Index(p. 229)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Joseph J. Korom, Jr., retired architect, is a Chicago historian, photographer and artist.