A History of American Architecture: Buildings in Their Cultural and Technological Context

by Gelernter, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780874519402
• ISBN10: 0874519403
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of New England

Summary

Why did the Victorians drape their buildings in elaborately ornate decoration? Why was the Arts and Crafts movement so popular with the American middle class at the end of the 19th century? Why did Modernism replace traditional architectural styles after World War II? Mark Gelernter provides fresh answers to questions like these, convincingly showing how buildings express powerful cultural forces. Embodying deeply felt attitudes about fundamental issues, buildings express our relationship with nature, our social relations with others, the importance of the individual, the value of science and technology, and our political role in the world. He explains how designers sometimes expressed these ideas with available building technologies, while at other times they invented new technologies in order to realize new ideas. Each of the ten chronological chapters, accompanied by almost 300 photographs, drawings, and maps, begins with a broad survey of the dominant cultural forces and technologies, and then discusses how designers of the day responded with particular architectural forms.

Author Biography

Mark Gelernter is Professor of Architecture and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Colorado

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vi
Foreword	xviii
First civilizations 12,000 BC-AD 1500	1	(34)
Cultures transformed and transplanted 1500-1650	35	(30)
Colonial culture 1650-1763	65	(32)
The age of revolution 1763-1820	97	(33)
Culture realigned 1820-65	130	(36)
Enterprise and turmoil 1865-85	166	(24)
The age of diversity 1885-1915	190	(40)
Between the world wars 1915-45	230	(30)
Modern culture 1945-73	260	(33)
Postmodern culture 1973-98	293	(26)
Glossary	319	(11)
Bibliography and further reading	330	(8)
Index	338