Product Description

With nearly one thousand commissions executed between 1879 and 1912, McKim, Mead & White was the architectural firm of choice of the most prestigious projects of the era, including the redesign of the White House and the Mall in Washington, D.C., and the campuses of Harvard and Columbia Universities. Among its residential clients were many of the most powerful figures of the Gilded Age-Vanderbilts, Whitneys, Pulitzers-for whom the firm built splendid summer cottages in Newport and throughout Long Island and the Hudson valley and sumptuous town houses in Boston, Washington, Baltimore and New York.

More than thirty houses are presented here, their exteriors and interiors elegantly recorded in lush new color photographs. The book also provides the first look at the recent restoration of the Isaac Bell house in Newport and newly reinstalled Venetian room at the Payne Whitney house, now the French Cultural Services, in New York City.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #152822 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-15
• Released on: 1998-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 252 pages

From Booklist
Many great architects achieved fame by way of the public buildings they designed--including libraries, museums, corporate towers, even airport terminals--but the firm of McKim, Mead & White achieved fame in two arenas: great public projects, yes, but also splendid summer cottages and residences for the wealthy of America's Gilded Age. In the third of a century, from 1879 to 1912, the firm designed more than 300 such residences, a third of which still survive and a tenth of which form the basis for this volume of stunning photographs and text written by a great-grandson of Stanford White (thus privy to excellent sources for the creation of this book). These mansions--built for such folk as the Vanderbilts, Whitneys, and Pulitzers and sprinkled throughout Newport, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island--come alive through beautiful color photographs. Not cheap at $70, but the price provides lesser mortals entree into a lush and elegant world. Allen Weakland

Review
[White] offers a fond but perceptive portrait of a team that gave their patrons--fellow patricians--exactly what they wanted. -- The New York Times Book Review, Martin Filler

About the Author
Samuel G. White is a partner in Buttrick, White & Burtis, a New York architecture firm widely recognized for its work in historic preservation and adaptive reuse.

Jonathan Wallen is a photographer specializing in historic buildings. He is the principal photographer for Rizzoli's John Russell Pope: Architect of Empire.

Customer Reviews

Luscious Vision of the Gilded Age
Speaking as a practicing architect and longtime admirer of the works of Stanford White, I found this book was nonetheless a revelation. Gorgeously photographed, it shows a broader spectrum of the residential work of this illustrious firm. McKim Mead and White have a well-deserved reputation for grand public buildings (Penn Station, Madison Square Garden to name two that have sadly been demolished) but are less known for these spectacular houses built for the robber barons of the Gilded Age among whom Stanford White circulated. What is suprising is the facility with which they moved from lavish and elegantly detailed city houses to surprisingly unpretentious inviting summer homes on Long Island and elsewhere. If you love Beaux Arts architecture, skip this book at your peril.

A minor correction
The point of this review is to correct an error in Steven Goldstein's review of this book. McKim, Mead, & White were not involved in the construction of the Metropolitan Opera, as he states.

This is a wonderful, ravishing book, although I suppose some readers might be disappointed that the author has limited himself to surviving examples of McKim, Mead, & White's work, with current photographs ... all of them gorgeous. Vintage photographs, where available, would have been a nice addition. For example, it would be interesting, if possible, to compare the Pulitzer mansion in New York as originally built with the current photos ... it has been divided into something like 9 condominiums!

Sumptuous photography and insightful text
This book combines rich visual appeal with a serious analysis of the residential work of McKim, Mead & White. The introduction is particularly valuable for its succinct survey of the firm's development and its discussion of the collaboration of the partners.