Book Description
"Provides an excellent introduction as well as suggestions for using these plans to add architectural detail to your own home...an excellent bibliography."--Victorian Homes
"The best home, barn and landscape designs...in a charming book....[It] contains numerous original illustrations showing a wealth of construction details, site plans and plantings."--Fine Homebuilding
This classic bestseller contains the finest collection of architectural designs from a bygone era--and it's a boon for anyone hoping to construct that dream house or add charming touches to a modern one. Hundreds of illustrations from actual 19th century building plans feature architects' blueprints and drawings, full-color photos, and more. The buildings range from humble farmers' cabins to summer getaway cottages for the rich, and there's plenty of detail work, including built-in shelves, dormers, and turned balusters. With this information, an architect could easily create anything shown on the pages.
Customer Reviews:
LLL.......2007-07-26
I was very disappointed in this book. Ever since I learned that the house I grew up in was built in 1752, I've been fascinated with early American architecture, particularly old farmhouses, outbuildings and barns. I was hoping to discover the original floorplans for some of these sprawling farmsteads I've seen through the northeast and midwest. None of the houses included in this book look like any of the farmhouses I've seen. What about the huge two-story farmhouses meant to hold the dozen or so children farm families had in order to work the farm? Most had a large central hall at the entrance with a large staircase. Some had the kitchen in an ell so the whole house wouldn't be heated by the wood cook stove in the summer, or even had a separate summer kitchen. There is no mention of saltboxes or sprawling capecods with the sheds that connected to the barn. Plus every barn shown has the animals housed on a floor below ground level! Most of the old barns I've seen house the animals on the main level and have a loft for the hay. If you're looking for original floorplans of old houses you're familiar with, look elsewhere!
One-of-a-kind book.......2006-08-25
This was exactly what I was searching for....a history lesson on how to properly plan a site for a home with ancillary buildings on anything over an acre.
Nostalgia and Fun Bits of History.......2006-07-04
This book is all about 19th century buildings, just like the title says. These are the houses that pushed forth from the established coastal settlements through upstate NY, OH and the Midwest during that century of expansion. I confess that this isn't my preferred style of house, but the book itself is a delight. The illustrations are exquisite; Currier & Ives stuff that make you just want to jump into the scene. And the texts that accompany the plans are full of fun facts. This is not a scholarly text, just a breezy ride back through time with a guide that makes it all come alive. You'd have to be a real curmudgeon not to enjoy this book ...unless of course you were determinedly looking for something else. A note however on the coverage. Although the subject of the book is the 19th century, the early part of the century (Federal and Greek Revival in particular) up to about 1840 is not really treated in this book. This book is about what was built during the industrial revolution, when things -including house plans- were mass produced. Buy it for a couple of hours of light reading and some new perspectives on how we lived and built in the latter 2/3 of the 19th century.
A rare find of historic country building plans.......2001-04-14
I am an architect designing a house for a client -it is a Charleston Style house with the master bedroom in a "carriage house" attached at the rear. This book helped me to create/design a more authentic carriage house. I am a horse lover from way back so I ate up the book front to back! I was pleased to find many examples of architectural details and embellishments. The plans of historic houses and barns are a rare treasure. Would be fun to build one of the farm houses!
A background of the evolution of early american housing.......2001-03-21
Donald J. Berg does an outstanding job of showing the evolution of the designs and the backgrounds of the designers of single family housing primarily in the 19th century. The plans and illustrations are excellent for those that want to use them as a guide for present day construction.
Customer Reviews:
Four Stories.......2003-02-02
Collection 5 contains four stories. I consider this the best of the Collections I have read so far, and I've read most of them.
The Enchanted Barn by GHL is a story of an oldest daughter, Shirley Hollister, who finds herself supporting her ill mother and younger brothers and sisters after her father's death. She works as a poorly paid stenographer, and learns that they must vacate their tiny dark house in the city. She uses her last dime to ride a trolley into the country to find a home, and discovers a beautiful old stone barn in an idyllic setting, with a stream, fresh air, trees, and sunshine. The handsome young wealthy owner, Sidney Graham, agrees to rent it to her -- and then proceeds with some modifications. When the family moves to the country, the mother starts to recover and the children grow stronger. Young Shirley is asked to the city to work with some important governmental papers, and is kidnapped by evil men. Sidney Graham sets out to find her -- and you will have to read the story yourself to learn the ending. The story is pure fun, especially the part about fixing up the barn, and one of the best GHL has written.
The Love Gift by GHL is a story of young milliner living in a cheap boardinghouse, who can make beautiful hats. And of a poor young minister who goes in search of a respectable hat for his older mother. The two become friends after the beautiful poor young milliner sells him a beautiful hat for a very low price, and the minister shows her about Jesus. Do they fall in love? Read the story yourself to find out.
Miranda, by GHL is part of a sequence of stories that began with the book "Marcia Schuyler." It takes the story of Miranda Griscom and her own secret love, young Allan Whitney. Years ago, Allan had been wrongly accused of a crime and had fled out west, with only Miranda believing firmly in his innocence, and helping him to flee. When he returns to town years later after cleared of wrong-doing, will he remember his long-time faithful friend?
Agatha's Unknown Way is a story by Isabella Alden. Young Agatha Hunter grew up in India, and returns to the states to stay with her Aunt & Uncle for health reasons. While in the states, she attends a city missionary meeting, hoping to be inspired and encouraged and to be able to encourage her parents who are still in India. When she discovers only apathy, she is pushed beyond her usual shyness to help change things. A chance encounter and a mistaken identity change not only her life, but the lives of those around her.
Average customer rating:
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An Age of Barns
Eric Sloane
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co
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ASIN: 0805012958 |
Average customer rating:
- Just Barns
- A gorgeous coffee table book
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David Plowden: The American Barn
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America
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Bridges: The Spans of North America
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Harker's Barns: Visions of an American Icon (Bur Oak Book)
ASIN: 0393025578 |
Book Description
A tribute to the barn by the master documentarian of our time.
As an elemental part of our landscape and our history, barns evoke childhood memories for many of us, recollections of a simpler way of life. Regardless of their size or shape, their forms follow their functions. They are honest. They are beautiful. And they are rapidly vanishing. Across the land we see abandoned farms with barns falling down, being torn down, and only occasionally being converted to other uses. As urban sprawl eats up the countryside and food-producing Goliaths put small farmers out of business, the need for old barns has diminished. For most of his life as a photographer, David Plowden has admired and photographed barns. In recent years, as their disappearance accelerated, he made it his mission to document these beautiful structures, before they too are lost. The result is this beautiful book, his hymn to the American barn. 130 duotone photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Just Barns.......2005-04-15
When I was a child in the city, we always were told that barns are red. I can't remember how many I drew in kindergarten. In later years when I was an aspiring artist, I loved to do pastels of unpainted barns because of the wide range of colors in individual boards. So it has come as a surprise to me that some photographers have decided that their artistic record of the vanishing American barn should be preserved in monochromatic tones. Perhaps the photographers think that black and white is more artistic than color and that these barns deserve artistry. (Most people familiar with the works of today's color photographers would feel that color can be just as artistic.)
David Plowden's book is a collection of such black and white pictures taken of barns across the Northern United States from New Hampshire to Montana, with a few stops in Canada. The pictures are simple shots of barns, both inside and outside. Neither human nor animal appears in any of them. The photographer states that his purpose is to capture these structures before they vanish from the American scene. The pictures are direct and almost confrontational.
Given Americans' long-standing belief that we are an agrarian society, these pictures should appeal to some ineffable feeling in our souls. Clearly this book tells us that it is meant to be art. It's sized for the coffee table, has plenty of white space in the text and often has a blank page opposite a photograph. And yet this book seems curiously lacking in soul, and static. It seems merely a record.
The reason why is quite simple. The range of light in almost every one of the pictures is strangely constricted, as if the pictures were always taken on a cloudy day. Perhaps we've just been taught that black and white photography should cover the full range of light from the deepest blacks to the clearest whites. This is the tradition of fine arts photography passed down to us from the likes of Ansel Adams. Plowden seems to have taken a different path, and it doesn't contribute to his stated goal.
For someone interested in artistic pictures of America's barns that elicit a feeling of loss for the past, I would instead recommend "Harker's Barns", an unassuming soft cover book by Michael Harker, published by the University of Iowa Press. Unlike Plowden's book, this is an undiscovered treasure. And unlike Plowden's work, the pictures have a strong subtext of love for the subject.
A gorgeous coffee table book.......2003-12-08
Photographed, compiled, and presented by David Plowden, The American Barn is a grand, black-and-white photographic survey and showcasing of classic barns across America -- many of which are disappearing in an increasingly urbanized world of agribusiness and suburban sprawl. A brief introduction complements a majority of the photos comprising this visually impressive tribute, which is devoted to nothing but full-page photographic images. A gorgeous coffee table book The American Barn is recommended academic and community library photography collections as well as to rural architecture buffs with a special interest in barns.
Book Description
This lovingly written book presents reliable records of such vanishing forms of architecture as the American barn and covered bridge. Delightful anecdotes accompany accurate line drawings of barns attached to houses, an "open" log barn in Virginia, a "top hat" barn in North Carolina, and more. Over 75 black-and-white illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
American Barns and Covered Bridges.......2005-08-06
A great book if you are into bridges
Average customer rating:
- Great Photos!
- Outstanding photographic history/survey of Michigan's barns.
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Michigan's Heritage Barns
Manufacturer: Michigan State University Press
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ASIN: 0870135201 |
Book Description
During her time as an art student in New York City, Mary Keithan never imagined that one day she would drive the state of Michigan's labyrinthine back roads in search of architectural subjects for her photographs. But, in 1990, shortly after acquiring an 8" x 10" view camera, she began just such an odyssey. In the process she captured on film and preserved images of the rural landscape's most endangered visual treasures, its aging, historic barns.
Many of her "subjects" are in poor condition; many no longer stand. And while we might expect a photographic series on aging barns to be a sad chronicle of America's rural decline, instead Keithan gives us a visual story of endurance and perseverance, of a way of life that in our modern times continues to thrive.
What Keithan has captured with her camera and presented in Michigan's Heritage Barns is enriched with her own narrative, often including interesting histories from the barn owners themselves. Photographs from most of Michigan's eighty counties are included to create a collection that celebrates Michigan's rural heritage as no other does."
Customer Reviews:
Great Photos!.......2000-09-28
This book has great photos but I was expecting more information about the people who built the different styles of barns. The background information is really missing in this book.
Outstanding photographic history/survey of Michigan's barns........2000-04-04
In 1990 the author purchased a camera and began a trip across Michigan's back roads in search of old barns to photography: this is the culmination of her journey, adding historic notes which will prove particularly interesting to residents of Michigan as well as those studying old structures. The black and white images have themselves become history: many of these old barns no longer stand.
Book Description
This paperback reissue of Randy Leffingwell's popular The American Barn presents a colorful look at this classic American structure and its evolution through the years. Readers will travel from the East Coast to the American West, from the 1600s to modern times, and will relish the stunning photography that depicts everything the stone barns of hard-scrabble Maine to thoroughbred barns of lush bluegrass regions to traditional gambrel-roofed red barns of the Midwest. The detailed text examines how styles developed out of necessity and how the American barn contributed to the efficiencies and functionality of the farm. The American Barn is a trip back in time that give readers a fond look at an American icon.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2000-04-20
As usual Randy's books are tops. His photography, sidebars and careful attention to details are unsurpassed. You can almost hear the hammers falling in the barn raising chapters. Recommended to all lovers of the vanishing scene.
Customer Reviews:
If I had only known............2006-05-02
This field guide has what I consider to be soso black and white photos and drawings of each type of barn and supporting structures. If you are looking for accurate information on a style of barn and where it may be located this is the book for you. I would perfer better quality photo's and some color. Rather boring presentation!
Fantastic Book on Barns!.......2001-04-02
For what I wanted the book for it is a fantastic resourse. I build model barns and covered bridges. This book has not only given me new ideas but also a history behind them. Love the book.
Frustratingly brief presentation.......1998-10-29
While the book presents numerous types of agricultural buildings from all over the U.S., it doesn't go into any sort of detail about any of them, making it of limited reference use.
Book Description
American Barns is an exciting, eye-opening study of one of America's most beloved types of buildings. In a handsomely printed text and pictures (113 of them in gorgeous color), it covers barns throughout the United States: huge barns and small barns; Pennsylvania Dutch barns and New England barns; horse barns and carriage houses; and countless others. In all, 240 barns are pictured and explained. If you love barns, you'll be crazy about American Barns. If you're thinking about building a barn, American Barns will raise your sights and help you build a better one.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful barns in great photographs.......2000-04-26
Take a tour of 240 old and new barns throughout the United States with this book's clear photographs and concise descriptions. You'll have a good introduction to our regional styles and to the amazing variety of different barn types. If you're planning to design or build a barn, you can't help but be inspired by the many photos of building details.
Book Description
Celebrating the seasonal cuisine served at the White Barn Inn Restaurant in Kennebunkport, Maine, this exquisite cookbook brings home the elegance of that Relais & Châteaux establishment. A 19th-century country house with an adjacent barn that gives the property its name, the inn combines rustic Maine ambiance with European-style service and innovative New England cuisine. Featuring 100 recipes from the kitchen of executive chef Jonathan Cartwright, The White Barn Inn Cookbook presents menus ranging from intimate gatherings to elegant dinner parties. From a spring seafood feast of Lobster Spring Roll in a Thai-inspired Sweet Spicy Sauce and Grilled Tournedos of Local Cod Loin with Crispy Shrimp and Calamari, to a "Day after Thanksgiving Driving Tour of Picnic" of Spiced Pumpkin Soup, Turkey Sandwich with Stuffing and Cranberry Relish, and Butternut Squash Cookies, it's a treasury of superb meals.
Customer Reviews:
Savor the Experience, Enjoy the Book!.......2007-04-02
The world-famous White Barn Inn, the culinary star of the New England coast, let alone Kennebunkport is a multi-faceted experience and this cookbook transports the reader there! With an emphasis on fresh local ingredients, amplified by world-class photography, no one can walk away from this cookbook without, albeit grudgingly, salivate over one or all of the dishes presented. My favorite had to be the seafood martini - part cocktail, part appetizer.
Unlike other reviewers' I suggest the key to replicating these receipes is the traditional "mis en place" of prep work. With that be it a pbj sandwich or a culinary centerpiece from the White Barn Inn - will be a challenge but not impossible! If you are lucky enough to visit the Inn, be sure to try a "SideCar" made traditionally and perfectly. Sante'!
More reading than cooking pleasure.......2004-06-09
Visitors to Maine may enjoy this one for its evocative design. Cartwright, chef at the Kennebunkport establishment, shares 140 of his recipes and Sully waxes ecstatic over the charms of the Inn and its location. The lush photographs (lots of food close-ups) are stunning.
For those who have eaten or stayed at the Inn, this is a gorgeous keepsake. Ambitious, experienced cooks with time to make a batch of lobster bisque in advance of their Poached Eggs on Lobster Hash may enjoy the challenge. For the rest of us, it's a mouthwatering read-only.
Each seasonal chapter opens with menus. A spring seafood dinner menu begins with "Diver-Harvested Scallops on Asparagus with Champagne Foam and Caviar," moves on to a lobster spring roll with a "Thai-inspired" sauce, a palate clearing lemon sorbet, a main course of "Grilled Tournedos of Local Cod Loin with Crispy Shrimp and Calamari on a Spring Pea Puree with a Piquant Sauce, and then a " `Twice-Baked' Rhubarb Crepe Soufflé with Buttermilk Ice Cream." You get the picture.
There are some simple recipes - a Barbecue Mayonnaise to use in lobster rolls, Wild Rice Salad, peach or berry iced teas, various sorbets - and there are some great presentation ideas (right down to the best shape of plate), cooking tips and ingredient suggestions (i.e. early harvested wild rice). But mostly this is a book to wow the reader and inspire a visit to the Inn for the real thing. Which is probably the point.
An Attractive Picture Book and Advertisement with Recipes.......2004-01-14
This book chronicles recipes from the White Barn Inn in Kennabunkport, Maine in a seasonal format, very similar to the recent titles `The Arrows Cookbook' and `The Vineyard Kitchen'. The recipes in seasonal menus are wrapped in text describing the White Barn Inn and information about other hostelries in the Relais and Chateau chain of hotels and resorts. The object of the book seems primarily to publicize this hotel, restaurant, and chain. Since I had never heard of either before opening this book, the book has succeeded in that goal. As an interesting culinary work, the book is a failure, especially compared to the worthy titles mentioned above.
When rating cookbooks, I start with three stars if the book meets my expectations, give it four stars when it does so with high quality material, and give it five stars if it's content exceeds my expectations. If the book does not meet my expectations, it gets two stars. If it tries to pull the wool over my eyes, it gets one star. `The Arrows Cookbook' set my expectations for this book, a seasonal cookbook for an inn in Maine, and, unfortunately for this title, the bar was set pretty high.
The text by Susan Sully, who appears to be primarily a travel writer, comes straight from a travelogue or advertising brochure. It is aimed entirely at encouraging you to visit this inn with sugary prose. I felt like I was gaining weight just reading her sections. I had the first inkling of what was afoot when the acknowledgments were to flower, cutlery, and antique purveyors.
The introductory material cites 140 recipes. This number is heavily inflated by including recipes for stocks, sauces, infused oils, vegetable purees, and smoothes, lemonade, and sandwiches. The inflation continues with a number of recipes for venison and pheasant. Once you get past the fluff, the recipes are heavily weighted toward local Maine seafood, especially lobster and scallops. An examination of the recipes reveals a competence you would expect from a chef at a highly rated restaurant. The lobster stock / bisque recipes use all the parts in the usual way. My only surprise was that while the lobster roe was used, there was no mention of using the lobster tamale.
The photographs in the book are worthy of the glossy, oversize format. I especially liked the one of the silver Porsche Carrera. The layout and typesetting was well done. The price was reasonable, and another clue that the object of the volume was to advertise.
The book would make a better than average souvenir for a visit to the White Barn Inn and it has a reasonable collection of lobster recipes. I would rather spend my money on a good paperback of seafood recipes by James Beard, James Peterson, or Alan Davidson.
Just as an aside, I wonder where the Publisher's Weekly reviewer's head is at when they give this book a flowery review, yet pan the ambitious Pino Luongo book on his Tuscan cuisine. Go figure.
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