|
This is a wonderful book, full of historical information as well as interesting insights into the people's lives and history.
For people that have a very photographing memory this is a great book. This is a collaboration of various images of the homes in which many of the men that played a role in founding what is now The United States. I recommend this book for any one who is a history buff, especially someone who is into older homes. The descriptions are well put together and get right to the point. The book does go into detail about the homes and shows pictures of the architecture. Every picture shown has a little description about what is shown.
A great book -- terrific photographs and informative historical background of the owners and their times.
Benjamin Chew's Georgian-style summer retreat was a classic five-bay, double pile, two-and-a-half story house, with a unique place in history. Clearly, he is there to show us a real sense of just who were William Wipple,Silas Deane and Sarah Livingston Jay."Houses of Founding Fathers" is a skillful, absorbing, often moving contribution to the popular understanding of one of the few episodes in history to live on untarnished and undiminished in our collective memory; and rightly deserves preservation. From his deathbed, upstairs, the signer of the Declaration of Independence cried out, "I am murdered." -- Three days later, he was dead. Strauss; at a combination of craftsmanship and style you will not find anywhere else.In "Houses of the Founding Fathers," Hugh Howard provides a mesmerizing discourse covering everything and anything about the homes of the men that guided the American Revolution. In their eye-opening volume, "Houses of the Founding Fathers," author Hugh Howard and photographer Roger Strauss III, effortlessly bring each historic household to life through colorful details and well-chosen anecdotes, while taking us on a whirlwind photographic tour of 18th century residences and proprietors.
We get the Corinthian columns, the carved mantels, the ornate ceilings, the Palladian windows, the twisting balusters, the shield-back chairs; the magnificence of it all.What makes this book worth reading, however, is not the author's compilation of the varieties of architectural styles. He can write beautifully. Instead, its importance lies within the chapters; the author sketches the lifestyles of the households that dwelt there, the architectural expressions of the period's elite, and tells the fascinating tales of the transformation in the fortunes of the elite. The strong stone mansion was transformed into a fortress by British troops during the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.The book is a must for anyone claiming a love of historic houses, but it is also the perfect antidote for anyone who still thinks a clean chamber pot should be stored under the bed instead of its rightful place in the kitchen. Howard's entertaining and surprising text, you will never look at a ceiling medallion, an overmantel or a compass window, not to mention a great hall sporting all of the above, in the same way again.
"Houses of the Founding Fathers" crackles with beauty and style.Well-written and illustrated in three parts, "The Colonies Unite", "A Time of War", and "The Federal Era," Strauss and Howard's book is a probing examination of the great homes of early America during perhaps its most fascinating period.Gorgeous photographs of the houses monopolize the pages, but the author does feed the reader tidbits of information in his lively commentary.Some of Strass and Howard's best pages are colorful portraits of the nation's elite. Photographer Roger Strauss III has an eye for an image and a gift for capturing a view, such as the majestic setting of George Washington's Mount Vernon overlooking the Potomac River. You will realize that you are looking, according to Mr. We learn that Virginia Speaker of the House George Whyte's coffee was intentionally poisoned with yellow arsenic. As you peruse Mr. While the houses are familiar, they rarely have been documented in such interesting detail.What more could one want to know about Germantown, Pennsylvania's Cliveden.
Whyte's nephew was acquitted of the murder when the key witness -- a slave -- could not by Virginia law testify against a white man.As in Natchez: The Houses and History of the Jewel of the Misissippi and Thomas Jefferson: The Built Legacy of Our Third President, the author's astute presentation of grand houses shows us why these domiciles of the founding fathers have so nobly survived to our own times.The best parts of the book occur when Hugh Howard shows us America's less celebrated treasures -- like General Knox's Montpelier in Thomson, Maine, the Matthias Hammond House of Annapolis, Maryland and the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House of Cambridge, Massachusetts.This is a compelling and moving real estate album, and Hugh Howard is an author of proven qualities. His subjects are grand on the world-class scale.
The photography is stunning. I found this book to be very interesting and one which told me more about people with whom I am acquainted and, importantly, people important to me about whom I knew little.
|
