Tag Archives: Chicago

New Books for Winter Reading

First, I would like to call attention to William Allin Storrer’s two new books on Frank Lloyd Wright that just arrived – Frank Lloyd Wright: Creating American Architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright: Designing Democratic America. Storrer notes in both works, “It is, too, a personal memoir and distillation of what my 66 years ‘with Frank Lloyd Wright’ has come to mean to me” (Designing Democratic America, IV; Creating American Architecture, III). Each work focuses on domestic architecture – Creating American Architecture specifically on Wright’s Prairie architecture and Designing Democratic America on his Usonian designs.

Storrer, William Allin. Frank Lloyd Wright: Creating American Architecture. With D. Dominique Watts and Rich Johnson. Traverse City, MI: WineWright Media, 2015. Storrer, William Allin. Frank Lloyd Wright Designing Democratic America. Traverse City, MI: WineWright Media, 2015.

The other two books I selected to share pertain to cities – Chicago and Florence, though they will be of interest to  historians, architects, and urban planners.

Betancur, John J. and Janet L. Smith. Claiming Neighborhood: New Ways of Understanding Urban Change. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016.

betancurBetancur and Smith examine Chicago as a case study for understanding the history and future of neighborhoods. They write:

We argue that current theories – the tools used by academics and policy makers to explain how and why neighborhoods change – limit our ability to interpret what is actually happening while at the same time advancing in a veiled form a specific position or point of view and mandate. In particular, long-standing assumptions about what a neighborhood is and its importance in our lives rely on an image from the past that never existed and ignores or hides the realities on the ground. (pg. vii)

Atkinson, Niall. The Noisy Renaissance: Sound, Architecture, and Florentine Urban Life. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University, 2016.

I am particularly excited about Niall Atkinson’s book on Renaissance Florence.  While I was not anticipating his work, I find medieval and Renaissance Florence incredibly engaging and it is always one of my favorite sections to teach. I am curious how The Noisy Renaissance will either act as a companion piece to Marvin Trachtenberg’s Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art, and Power in Early Modern Florence by enhancing our understanding of Renaissance Florence or perhaps challenge Trachtenberg’s interpretation of the city experience. Atkinson writes:

The Renaissance city was by no means a quiet place. In a variety of ways atkinsonit spoke directly to its inhabitants, who, irresistibly, were drawn to speak back. With its buildings and spaces, walls and gates, doors and windows, it facilitated and obstructed the flow of information, the dissemination of official messages, the telling of stories, the performance of music, the rhythm of prayer, the trade in secrets, and the low-frequency murmur of rumors, lies, and gossip. The built environment was not a stage upon which a discordant urban drama played out, but the very medium that gave that drama form, shaped its meaning, and modulated its towns. The city expressed the most compelling aspects of its design when people danced on its surfaces, crowded its spaces, poked holes in its walls, and upended its hierarchical organizations. And it is through these exchanges that we can learn a great deal not only about how contemporaries understand the buildings and spaces that surrounded them, but how they participated in a collective dialogue that continually reinforced, undermined, and reconfigured architectural meaning (pg. 4).

Friday Finds in Special Collections

Relying on my trusted method of serendipity, I found three books that I wanted to share today. They are not thematically related; however, due to their small size, they are housed near each other.

Frederick Post Co. Catalog and Price List of the Frederick Post Company: Manufacturers and Importers of Drawing Materials and Mathematical Instruments. Chicago: Frederick Post Co., 1910.

I was intrigued by both the tiny size and title of the book. “Frederick Post Company” was stamped on the spine; having no prior knowledge of the company, I was curious about the contents. I was quite surprised to discover a supply catalogue of drawing instruments and other equipment related to drafting and construction. The Frederick Post Company offered blue print papers, slide rules, drawing instruments, surveying equipment, plum bobs, and a whole host of related items.

A stamp on the title page identified local architect Roy L. Thomas, whose papers are housed in the Alexander Architectural Archive, as the previous owner. The catalogue seems like a curious thing to save, though I am glad Mr. Thomas did. The items for purchase speak to a rather different process of design than that of CAD.

Lux, Joseph August. Schöne GartenkunstEsslingen: P. Neff Verlag (Max Schreiber), 1907. (Part of the Martin S. Kermacy Collection)

This slim little book contains several interesting drawings of gardens by Max Benirschke and Franz Lebísch. While I am unfamiliar with both the author and the illustrators, the drawings reminded me of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Flinn, Joseph J. Official Guide to the World’s Columbian Exposition. Chicago: The Columbian Guide Co., 1893.

The Official Guide to the World’s Columbian Exposition may rate as one of my favorite finds in Special Collections to date. While the images contained in the text might be familiar to those who study American architecture, there is something rather special about being able to examine the guide first hand. In addition to the illustrations and map, it provides an overview of the fair, descriptions of the buildings, useful advice for travelers, and information about Chicago. While the Ferris Wheel is not illustrated, I rather like the description: This to some extent, takes the place of the Eiffel tower. Visitors are hurled 250 feet into the air, in cars similar to railway coaches in construction (pg. 152). I also had no idea there was a New England Clam Bake Building (pg. 153)!

Our copy is inscribed by several previous owners: Dr. N. S. Davis at State and Randolph; V. Weldon of Chicago; and Mr. S. E. Weldon of Cuero, Texas. S. E. Weldon left explicit instructions that his book should be returned to him if found. He writes:

The finder of this book, if at any time it be lost, will please send it through the [missing text] to the last address. Put one cent on it. I will pay [potentially missing text] rest. S.E.W.

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Feature Friday: 25 Buildings of Chicago

This week’s Feature Friday takes us to a city quite a bit north from here – Chicago! This comes at an opportune time, as the AIA National Convention took place in the beautiful Windy City a few weeks ago, and many of the UTSOA faculty attended.

For me, Chicago will always hold a dear place in my heart. Growing up in Milwaukee, a mere 1 1/2 hour drive from Chicago, afforded me with many opportunities to visit the third largest city in the United States. From school trips to Navy Pier to visting family, Chicago has been an integral part of my upbringing. My favorite memory, even to this day, is of visiting my aunt when I was around ten years old. She was a professional ballet dancer at the time and was always moving from place to place, and one weekend, my family and I stayed in her apartment located directly above the brown line train tracks. And when I say directly above, I mean directly above. The whole apartment would shake when a train would pass, and although most people would find this to be a major annoyance, I loved it. I can still remember running to the window in the middle of the night to see the trains pass. I barely got any sleep that weekend, but it was totally worth experiencing what I percieve to be part of Chicago’s inherent romanic aura, and the trains that snake through its many brownstones are an integral part of that experience.

…but I digress! As to be expected, I was thrilled when Martha presented me with a new library item entitled 25 Buildings of Chicago: Elevation of the Fittest. A two-part series, these brief books showcase 25 Chicago buildings, built from 1879-1971, through immaculalty-drawn plans, elevations, sections, and detail drawings. Interestingly enough, these drawings were produced by students at the Technical University of Munich in Germany (Technische Universität München) as a visual study of the language of architecture. As phrased by the editor:

“(This publication) simply tries to demonstrate the astonishing presence and richness of some big, that is, tall buildings of Chicago… Focusing on the detailed display of these buildings in tall elevation drawings the viewer is given the possibility to follow and listen to this very fine and sometimes even audacious language of architecture arising from the mostly simple orthogonal plots and an equally clear facade elevation.”

From the Wrigley Building to the Monadnock Building, to the Chicago Motor Club to three bonus buildings by Mies van der Rohe, these two tandem books utilize the technical skill of computer-aided architectural drafting and translate the grand historical language of these structures into beautiful elevation representations. These books are truly fascinating to look through even if you’ve never been to Chicago before, as the students’ expert use of lineweight and shadow create some of the most detailed, yet incredibly clear, architectural drawings that I have seen. As a student of both architecture and historic preservation, I am completely impressed by this publication, as it reminds me of the importance of careful craft when creating drawings for communication and historic documentation.

Here are a few sneak peaks. Come check ’em out for yourself!

 

Call Number: NA 737 C4 A12 2013

This week’s #FeatureFriday was selected by Martha Gonzalez Palacios, the Architecture & Planning Librarian. She is responsible for collection development, reference, instruction and digital projects at the Architecture & Planning Library – and is the ultimate student resource during busy semesters! Thanks, Martha!