Every future account of architecture in Ireland should be indebted to this book. - Edward McParland; Times Literary Supplement Rotherys book sheds an illuminating light on Irelands progress in the first four decades of this century - Frank McDonald; The Irish Times There is now a significantly better foundation for our assessment of the architecture of the early years of this century. Dr Rothery deserves the thanks; not only of architects and students of architecture; but of anyone interested in the history of the built environment of this country. - Loughlin Kealy; Irish Architect Architecture; like print; is ubiquitous; a part of the fabric of culture which touches every aspect of our lives while reflecting; and articulating; socio-economic change. As the twentieth century draws to a close; the architecture inscribed in its early decades attracts ever-closer scrutiny. The design movements in fin-de-siècle Europe saw manifestations of modernism combine with unprecedented advances in technology and American machine culture; emerging in a new architecture: Viennese Rationalism supplanted free-form Art Nouveau; Beaux Arts gave way to Le Corbusier; bizarre brick Expressionism of the Amsterdam School coexisted with De Stijls bare abstractions. Modern architecture in the form of the International Style of Gropius and the Bauhaus reached its apogee in the early 1930s; but styles scorned by this orthodoxy - Art Deco and stripped Classicism - flourished alongside it and are now being reappraised. Ireland and the New Architecture 1900-1940 is the first comprehensive study of its subject. It describes the pioneering buildings of the period and examines their intellectual scaffolding and the influence of international design movements; demonstrating that Ireland was no architectural backwater; as is often assumed. It looks in detail at the writings and examples of early modernism and the way in which architects of a fledgling Free State went beyond Britain to France; Holland; Scandinavia; Austria; Germany and America for models of new structures in both private and public spheres of building. A generous selection of over two hundred drawings and photographs; along with extended interview material with survivors from the time; give this book unique value. It is both a stimulating work of reference and a survey-guide to Irelands position in; and contribution to; the mainstream of modern architecture.
#3268018 in eBooks 2016-02-22 2016-02-22File Name: B00B0MCWWQ
Review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. OK but soooo much detailBy Michael LewynOn the positive side; this book is certainly informative: a blow-by-blow guide to the career of J.C. Nichols; a developer who built not only Country Club Plaza (a shopping center built in 1922 and still going strong) but also most of Kansas Citys affluent southwestern neighborhoods. Why is Nichols important? What can we learn from him? This book gives a few pointers:1. By using deed restrictions to freeze his neighborhoods in place; Nichols ensured that his neighborhoods continued to be wealthy over time. By contrast; before him; Kansas Citys proto-sprawl ensured that the center of the citys upper-class population moved a little further south every decade. In 1900; that "social center" was in an area that is now very much part of the central business district. By 1915; it had moved 20 blocks south to the Hyde Park neighborhood. By 1930; it had moved to areas developed by Nichols- and it remained there in 1975. Today; the areas developed by Nichols are still the wealthiest in the metro area; though much of the middle and upper middle class has leapfrogged into suburbia. On the other hand; Nichols was lucky as well as good: even before he began building in the first decade of the 20th century; wealthy Kansas Citians were moving south towards land he owned.2. Nichols was innovative in a lot of smaller ways: he used parks and shopping centers as boundaries to buffer different types of neighborhoods from each other; rather than allowing long strips of commercial development- thus preventing the kind of jumbled; strip mall sprawl that makes Levittown look less attractive than his developments. Nichols also and made neighborhoods more attractive by giving sweetheart deals to private schools and churches catering to the upper classes.3. Nichols is of course most famous for Country Club Plaza; a shopping center that has become Kansas Citys satellite intown downtown. What went right here? First; Nichols managed to accommodate both the automobile and pedestrians; installing parking garages but not putting yards of parking in front of every store. Also; Nichols favored surrounding the Plaza with apartments; thus creating a built-in customer base for his shops.Having praised this book; I would add somewhat negative note: because it piles detail upon detail; it can be a pretty slow read for a 300-page book. So reading it cover to cover may not be for everyone.