The Architecture of America; A Social and Cultural History
Boston: Little, Brown and Company [An Atlantic Monthly Press Book], 1961. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. x, [2], 595, [1] pages. Illustrations. General Bibliography. Notes. Index (Index of Buildings; Index of Cities; General Index and Illustrations). John Ely Burchard (December 8, 1898 Marshall, Minnesota - December 25, 1975 Boston) was an American professor and dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a historian and architectural critic. He was President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1954 to 1957. He attended the University of Minnesota for two and a half years, served in World War I, and returned to study at MIT, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 1923 and a master's in 1925. Burchard started his career at Bemis Industries as research director, vice president, and director. He was appointed professor at MIT in 1938. From 1940 to 1945, he was affiliated with the National Research Council and the National Defense Research Committee. For his war work, he received a Medal for Merit in 1948. Burchard was the first dean of MIT's School of Humanities and Social Science, serving from 1950 to 1969. The John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities is an endowed chair named in his honor. MIT holds his papers. Albert Bush-Brown (1926-1994) was an American architectural historian and university president. He was chancellor and president of Long Island University (1971–1985) and president of Rhode Island School of Design (1962–1968) He also taught art history at Princeton, Harvard, Case Western Reserve, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He authored several books, including Louis Sullivan (1960). He attended Princeton University. This work was a Finalist, National Book Awards 1962 for Nonfiction. Discusses "the evolution of a uniquely American architecture from derivative European forms and eclecticism. How this evolution relates to the growth of American society, to the development of arts and letters -- to American intellectual life -- is brilliantly discussed in this rich, far-ranging social and cultural history." (from dj). In its 1961 review, the New York Times calls THE ARCHITECTURE OF A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY an ambitious and provocative book (awaited since it was commissioned as part of the centennial celebration of the American Institute of Architects in 1957) and says that, in large part, it fills what had been a major gap in our architectural literature. Dean Burchard was a widely known and respected architectural critic and historian, an authority on housing and urban good taste. He was in addition an educator and scholar whose writings and teachings fought for the joining of science and culture and the combining of technological progress with humanism. Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: Architecture, Cultural History, Social History, Bauhaus, Gropius, Buildings, Construction, Classicism, Functionalism, Eclecticism, Gothic Revival, Immigration, Innovation, Beaux-Arts, Skyscraper, Regionalism
[Book #89812]
Price: $60.00