Product Description

Through all-new, full-color photography, Stanford White, Architect is the first book to explicitly feature the work of the principal genius of the illustrious American architecture firm of McKim, Mead & White. The firm was also a prime mover in the realm of residential design, with Stanford White as its visionary head. As an architect of opulent houses—in Newport, Rhode Island, along the Hudson, on the Long Island Gold Coast, and elsewhere—Stanford White had few peers. His genius for this form is expressed nowhere more wonderfully than in such personal masterpieces as his country home Box Hill and his city home in Gramercy Park. Along with residential commissions for such eminent American families as the Vanderbilts, Astors, Pulitzers, Paynes, and Whitneys, Stanford White lent his eye and hand to New York’s Pennsylvania Station, Brooklyn Museum, The American Academy in Rome, and the Boston Public Library, as well as many diverse commissions, including social clubs, public buildings, churches, monuments, university buildings, and many other forms, each of which is represented in this landmark volume.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259753 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-21
• Released on: 2008-10-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
"The lavish photographs, particularly the archival images of White buildings that have been demolished, such as the New York Herald Building and the original Madison Square Garden, are sure to make even the most committed minimalists a bit wistful." ~The Washington Post

"...a sumptuous look at the famous designer’s most inventive commissions..." ~The New York Times

"Two dozen fine examples of White's remarkable taste, flair, and erudition...Jonathan Wallen's excellent photography...make this book a visual treasury..." ~Interior Design Magazine

“But what really puts this book in the buy category are photos by Jonathan Wallen, plus a well-reproduced stock of vintage photos. Often in full-bleed format or two-page spreads, the pictures reveal the flamboyance and at times mesmerizing strangeness of White’s work.” ~Traditional Building

From the Inside Flap
Stanford White (1853-1906), arguably the most celebrated American architect of his day, was the visionary genius of the illustrious architecture firm McKim, Mead & White. A defining figure of the so-called Gilded Age, White lived an extravagant life, which ended prematurely in a sensational death. His celebrity as a result was such that perceptions of the man have to some degree distracted attention from an extraordinary body of work. Now, more than a century since his passing, the enduring quality of White's architectural legacy becomes ever more apparent as the circumstances of his life and death fade to the background. In acknowledgment of this legacy, Stanford White Architect comprehensively explores White's sumptuously rich oeuvre--from the residences he designed for himself and his wife, Bessie, both at Box Hill in Saint James, Long Island, and at Gramercy Park in New York; to the extraordinary and opulent houses he deigned for others, such as Rosecliff in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Payne Whitney House in New York; to those works beyond the residential, including such masterpieces as Newport Casino Theatre in Rhode Island, the Century Association in New York, and the no longer standing Moorish fantasy cum pleasure pavilion Madison Square Garden. Stanford White Architect will serve for generations to come as a vivid testament to a resplendent life in architecture.

From the Back Cover
"Stanford White lived extravagantly and had died sensationally, and familiarity with both circumstances would have colored anyone's perception of the architect's professional accomplishments. The passage of time since White's death in 1906 makes it easier to move White's celebrity towards the background and to focus instead on the enduring and extraordinary quality of his work." --from the authors' Prologue

Stanford White Architect brings a long awaited focus to the work of this luminary of classical American architecture.

Customer Reviews

STANFORD WHITE
This really is the definative work on the great Stanford White. The text is informative without being a PHD disertation and the images are really spectacular. White was not only an amazing architect of the classic venacular, but he was a huge celebrity in his own right. This book covers his singular career with panache, it covers his work both minor and major, with the main focus being on his best work, most notibly his masterpeice for Mrs. Herman Olreichs, that house is simply perfection personified and the images in this book capture it at its grandest. Of course, White has many distinguished works and they are all given their due in this book. If you have any interest at all in Stanford White, Gilded Age architecture, or just appreciate fine books, then i cant imagine you not being pleased with this book. A fine tribute to an iconic architect.

Stanford White, Architect
The book is great! All new photographs and great writing. But Credit for the Goulet Building (20th and Broadway) does NOT belong to Stanford (the Beaver) White!!!! It was designed by Bigelow when the firm was McKim, Mead and Bigelow and the cause of his seperation from the firm.

Great book
Full of insights into the great Stanford White and his amazing work. Beautifully illustrated.