The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925
This thoroughly illustrated classic study traces the history of the world-famous Chicago school of architecture from its beginnings with the functional innovations of William Le Baron Jenney and others to their imaginative development by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Chicago School of Architecture places the Chicago school in its historical setting, showing it at once to be the culmination of an iron and concrete construction and the chief pioneer in the evolution of modern architec
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Review by Peter B. Hales for The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925
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This is Condit’s most significant contribution to the history of architecture– a must-read for anyone interested in Chicago, its architecture, and the broader themes of American vernacular inventiveness in design and engineering. Condit is not forgiving of the reader– prepare to learn more than you might have planned about caissons, load-bearing structural systems, windows, etc.– but on the other hand there’s little or no sense of being instructed in “good taste” here, either. Condit makes a plain-speaking argument and provides the information to support it. Those who wish to delve deeper will want to look to Condit’s two-volume study of architecture in Chicago, long out of print but still available used. There his strong-willed personality appears more forcefully and so does his penchant for the technical; one leaves the work with a richer vocabulary, a sharper eye, and perhaps a sharper tongue, as well.