Mill: The History and Future of Naturally Powered Buildings

by David Larkin

The counterpart to his bestselling The Art of a Working Building and years in the making, David Larkin's latest visual documentary book is a tour of the intriguing architecture of mills from their medieval beginnings to present day uses. Windmills, watermills, gristmills, sawmills and other kinds of naturally powered buildings from throughout the United States and Europe are revealed in unique, stunning photographs and drawings. Here, you'll discover mills still in full use, historically restored mills, as well as mills that have been converted into splendidly charming contemporary living spaces. In one chapter, stories documenting the complete restoration of gristmills are captured in picture-by-picture sequences. Also documented is the transformation of a towering early nineteenth-centruy English windmill into a beautifully appointed home-an outstanding representation of the possibilities these structures offer of today's lifestyle.

The highly engaging history and profound beauty of these handcrafted structures-all presented in print for the first time-will attract anyone interested in history, architecture, and historic preservation.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2000

Reviews

[Jim]

A beautiful photography book with commentary about Mills - wind and water powered.

This will be less of a book review and more of a series of observations and fun facts as I read through it. (Note: If you suspect you would like this kind of book, I bet you would.)

For my fellow geeky friends, info on the Fitz water wheel company whose best year by number of installs was surprisingly 1940. http://www.angelfire.com/journal/mill.... Why 1940? used to power/recharge the Resistance short wave radio in the field.

The craftmanship on the wood gearing and spokes of these mill museums look more like fine furniture than what a working mill would be like.....

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

About two thirds of this book deals with working or faux working grist mills mostly from the Eastern US that use water or wind, the last third deals with mills remodeled for living. It's a pretty coffee table book very much in the modern architectural style, everything clean and dramatically lit, a bit hard to believe in the case of working mills. Harsh lighting and moving machinery are an ugly combination as witnessed by the horrible accidents that happened in these old mills. The text covers the workings of these mills in fair detail, I hadn't realized how automated late 18th century mills were, they are a bit like being in a giant cuckoo clock, impressive examples of the early industrial age. The last bit on remodeled mills was not that interesting to me, nice pictures but I'm more into tech history. While not very technical, a nice introduction to grain mills for those with a grinding need to know.