10 Buildings That Changed America

by Dan Protess, WTTW PBS Chicago (Editor)

10 Buildings That Changed America tells the stories of ten influential works of architecture, the people who imagined them, and the way these landmarks ushered in innovative cultural shifts throughout our society.

From American architectural stalwarts like Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, to modern revolutionaries like Frank Gehry and Robert Venturi, this book examines the most prominent buildings designed by the most noteworthy architects of our time. Also profiled are Americans less noted for their architectural acumen, but no less significant for their contributions to the field. Thomas Jefferson, a self-taught architect, is profiled for designing the iconic Virginia State Capitol. Taking its inspiration from ancient Rome, America's first major public building forged a philosophical link between America and the world's earliest democracies.

We see the legacy of the architects profiled like Mies van der Rohe or H.H. Richardson all around us: in the homes where we live, the offices where we work, our public buildings, and our houses of worship. 10 Buildings is the ideal collection to detail the flashes of inspiration from these architects who dared to strike out on their own and design radical new types of buildings that permanently altered our environmental and cultural landscape.

Genres: Architecture

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Tom Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous photos and brief but informative text on a savvy selection of buildings that have reflected and influenced how America looks at itself and calculates its future direction.

[Keeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of the book talks about how much time and effort it took for the creator's of this television piece to figure out and narrow down these buildings. They listed criteria such as avoiding buildings that are in the same cities along with referencing the same architect more than once. It seems that making sure that all the architects featured aren't older white men wasn't on the list. According to this list, no person of color or woman contributed an important enough building to be featured.

[Simon M.]

This book is meant to be a supplement to its PBS documentary of the same name. I did not watch that documentary, nor do I really plan to, do this was a very random read.

I wanted some entry idea on architecture, which I essentially have none, and what little text this book had, gave me a good amount of context. This took me maybe an hour to read and it is intended that way: this isn’t a book exactly, but as I said a supplement. So for the exact purpose I set out for (a extremely quick introduction to architecture) this did the job!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but too short overview of ten buildings that changed America. Would have enjoyed more historical context. Level of detail on architectural features was good.

[Cara Noyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photographs are excellent.

[DeAnne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed as if they couldn't decide if it should be a children's book (and if so, it's written at much too high a reading level) or a book for adults (in which case there's too little meaningful text).

[Peter Tillman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck.