Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden: From the Archives of Country Life

By Judith B. Tankard; 2011; 208 pp; Rizzoli; $45

British landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932) became one of the most important garden designers of the Arts and Crafts movement. Her initial training as a painter prompted her break from rigid Victorian design, inspiring her to create informal, naturalistic gardens which she called “living pictures.” Her use of native materials and local traditions complemented Arts and Crafts architecture and led to her extensive collaboration with architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. The periodical Country Life, founded in 1897, documented their combined efforts in numerous issues, and Jekyll wrote more than 100 pieces for the magazine, passing on her theories and techniques to future generations. This fine study is well organized, highly informative and extensively illustrated with drawings and black-and-white photographs from Country Life that show her gardens when they were new, as well as a sprinkling of recent color images that demonstrate their mature beauty. 

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Bernard Maybeck: Architect of Elegance

By Mark Anthony Wilson, photographs by Joel Puliatti; 2011; 40 pp; Gibbs Smith Publishers; $60

In her Style 1900 article “The Best of Berkeley” (Winter 2011–12), Arlene Baxter included several structures by Bernard Maybeck (1862–1957). Don’t be chagrined if you weren’t familiar with his work; Maybeck is not well known outside of the Bay Area, where he was an instructor of architectural drafting at Berkeley and a practicing architect, designing numerous homes for his fellow professors in the Berkeley Hills. 

However, Maybeck is widely respected by fellow architects: In 1991, the American Institute of Architects ranked him ninth in a list of the greatest American architects of all time. This outstanding biography provides a detailed introduction to both the man and his work. Author Mark Anthony Wilson’s personal acquaintance with members of Maybeck’s family and his access to family letters afford rare insight into this fun-loving Bohemian family man, whose Old World, yet forward-looking architecture is represented by 230 fabulous color photos. Endnotes and a focused bibliography provide a path to further research.

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Frank Lloyd Wright Designs: The Sketches, Plans, and Drawings

By Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer; 2011; 420 pp; Rizzoli; $85

A perfect companion to the monumental three-volume series on Wright by architect Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer (reviewed previously on these pages), this book provides great insight into Wright’s processes. The sketches show the architect’s initial musings, the plans that refined these reveries and made them functional, and the drawings of the completed structures within their settings. Iconic structures such as Fallingwater are paired with lesser-known projects and some previously unpublished illustrations. Drawings of fantasies that never reached fruition—soaring cliff-side rookeries, wavelike dwellings by the ocean, and circular, sun-catching abodes—give us a glimpse into the master’s inventive mind. Subjects are organized into private, ecclesiastical and public places and are discussed chronologically, allowing the reader to trace Wright’s evolving thoughts on the function, meaning and beauty of architectural space. A final chapter on ornament puts the icing on the cake.

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Marion Mahony Reconsidered

Edited by David Van Zanten; 2011; 176 pp; University of Chicago Press; $45

Born in Chicago and educated at MIT, Marion Mahony Griffin (1871–1961) was the first woman to be licensed as an architect in Illinois. For 15 years she produced architectural renderings for Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as her own designs, and in 1911 she married fellow architect Walter Burley Griffin. This series of essays explores her role in the development of modern architecture, seeking to overturn the perception of her as a “helpmate” to others and establish Mahony as a significant force in her own right. Some writers rely on speculation and assertion to make their cases, while others shape their arguments based on empirical data. With no color images but extensive notes, this scholarly study is a worthy addition to the bookshelf of any enthusiast of modern architecture. 

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Art Nouveau

By Norbert Wolf; 2011; 304 pp; Prestel Publishing; $75

This large-scale, lavishly produced book takes an intriguing approach to the Art Nouveau movement. Writing in a somewhat convoluted style, author Norbert Wolf starts his discussion with a series of issues and theories regarding the best way to approach the study of Art Nouveau, then addresses how the movement spread across Europe, Britain and America. This wide-ranging book covers the decorative arts, architecture, fashion, dance, advertising and painting. Almost all the objects discussed are from European collections, so many will be new to the American reader, and all are beautifully presented, making this a true feast for the eye.

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Adirondack Style: Great Camps and Rustic Lodges

Text by Lynn Woods and Jane Mackintosh, photographs by f-Stop Fitzgerald and Richard McCaffrey; 2011; 224 pp; Universe Publishing; $50

In the Winter issue, we reviewed a study of Adirondack architecture illustrated with period photographs. This book depicts the region today, with vivid color imagery by two noted photographers. Double-page vistas depict a landscape that has drawn people for more than 150 years, while evocative photos of the buildings in their settings make clear why the original owners selected certain sites, and detailed interior shots reveal the ingenious use of twigs, bark, branches and stones. Although the low cost of land and abundance of building materials attracted lower- and middle-class nature lovers, it was the wealthy who, emulating Englishmen and their country houses, purchased thousands of acres for secluded, self-sufficient estates and hired skilled architects who, the authors claim, “elevated rustic building to an architectural and artistic level.” The relative informality of these buildings allowed for experimentation, melding a wide range of influences into an iconic American style.

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Greene & Greene: Developing a California Architecture

By Bruce Smith, photographs by Alex Vertikoff; 2011; 192 pp; Gibbs Smith Publishers; $50

Fortunately, literature on the Greene Brothers has flourished in the last few decades, allowing the luxury of more focused works such as this, which concentrates on the formative years of 1902 to 1906. Author Bruce Smith discusses the various architectural influences—the Swiss Chalet, Spanish-Mexican ranchero house and Japanese minka—that coalesced to form the major themes in the architects’ work, and came together for the first time in the Duncan Irwin House in Pasadena. Illustrated with period photographs, plans and drawings, as well as outstanding new photographs by an Arts and Crafts specialist, this study is well organized and footnoted, and includes an extensive bibliography, making it sure to please any G & G enthusiast.

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