Product Description

Inspired by the British Arts and Crafts movement, Craftsman-style homes captured America's heart at the turn of the 20th century. Bungalows and larger houses with broad roof overhangs, comfortable porches, and hand-hewn wooden details grew out of California's warm climate and influenced a range of other building types, from resort hotels to churches and schools. Today Craftsman-style structures can be found as far east as New York State. Intricate woodwork gives them a timeless handcrafted look, and rustic materials tie them to the earth. Behind each element lies a hint of a craftsman plying his art.

This handsome volume is a celebration of Craftsman-style architecture, which flourished in America from about 1895 into the 1920s. It took on a more natural and rustic form on this side of the Atlantic than its British counterpart, in keeping with the rugged American frontier ethos. Robert Winter, one of the country's leading authorities on the Arts and Crafts movement, has supplied the informative text, which complements the gorgeous color photography by Alexander Vertikoff.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #205244 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The American Craftsman movement, inspired by Englishmen John Ruskin and William Morris, encompassed not only architecture and the decorative arts, but also a nostalgically romantic philosophy, proposing that modernity (starting with the Renaissance) has lead to "materialism and social decay," and that craftsmanship is an antidote to the woes of industrialization. The Craftsman aesthetic flourished in America around the turn of the 20th century and birthed utopian communities as well as architecture and handicrafts. In this opulent book, architectural historian Winter, with the aid of American Bungalow photographer Vertikoff's gorgeous images, presents a comprehensive survey of this quirky movement and its 1960s revival. Winter's interpretation of the Craftsman style is broad, encompassing Bernard Maybeck's gaudy, Tudor/Gothic/Medievalesque Roos House; the dramatic desert- and Native American–inspired structures Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter built in the Grand Canyon; and even Ray Kappe's "soft modernist" house as well as the more familiar California Swiss/Japanese bungalows, quasi-Tudor mansions and charming artists' communities in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The book ends with a grand finale: the new Disney Grand California Hotel, in itself a kind of Craftsman museum, with a different Craftsman style interpreted in each suite. An erudite introduction provides novices with enough background to enjoy the book, and an extensive bibliography gives enough information for readers to further pursue the Craftsman aesthetic. 255 illus.
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About the Author
Robert Winter is one of the country's leading architectural historians and an expert on the Arts and Crafts movement. A noted author and lecturer, he is the Arthur G. Coons Professor of the History of Ideas, Emeritus, at Occidental College, Los Angeles. He lives in Pasadena. Alexander Vertikoff, chief photographer for American Bungalow magazine, has photographed Arts and Crafts buildings for such books as American Bungalow Style (also by Robert Winter), Bungalow Nation, and Stickley Style. He lives outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Blend of History and Photography
This book is perfect for the person who wants to know more about the Arts and Crafts Movement from a historical perspective and who also wants to see wonderful examples of this architectural style. It is also particularly helpful in training the eye to select accessories for your own home that follow the Craftsman tradition. The photography is just beautiful.

Billie Weinstein
La Crescenta, California

Arts and Crafts Style, strictly speaking
I'm in the middle of converting my house into a neo-Craftsman style house (http://hillsdalehouse.blogspot.com). I'm trying really hard to recreate all those wonderful details that you can seemingly only find in the circa 1914 originals. So, whenever a new book with Craftsman in the title (especially picture books) comes out, I'm quick to sneak a peek. So, I jumped all over this book (actually, I got it from the library). Here are my thoughts:

If you are looking for a nice coffee table book with very pretty pictures of turn-of-the-century Arts & Craft houses, then look no further. This book has some wonderful stuff from houses featured in other similar books, plus many many houses I have never seen before. But, if you are looking for a book about Craftsman Style houses, you have found the wrong book.

Yes, there are some houses that are what most people would call Craftsman. These include the usual Craftsman Farms house, some Green and Green, and the obligatory Bungalows of Pasadena. But, most of the houses in the book are not Craftsman at all, that is if you subscribe the notion that Craftsman houses are houses that were either featured in Gustav Stickley's original Craftsman magazine, or were obviously inspired by one of them. Instead, you'll find some beautiful pictures with a more William Morris type definition of Arts and Crafts. First off, you'll actually find pictures of William Morris' own house (never seen that before!). You will also find wonderful pictures of very gothic looking houses. You'll see marvelous neo-medieval houses. You'll find terrific Tudor revivals. But, you won't find many Craftsman Style houses, which is fine, except for the title of this book. Yes, Stickley and his followers were very much inspired by Morris, and it is fair to say that all things Craftsman are part of the Arts and Crafts movement. But, it is incorrect to say that all things Arts and Craft are Craftsman.

The pictures are wonderful, the text is insightful, but the title is wrong. Oops.