This book, The Azola Legacy - 50 Years REBUILDING BALTIMORE, is a must read for anybody who cares about historic Baltimore. It's not only a primer on some of the most significant parts of our history, it peels back the curtain and gives an insight into the human side of brick, stone and wood. In the chapter on Ruscombe Mansion, for example, we learn the story of Isaac Tyson and his chromium-fueled rise to wealth in the early 1800s at the same time we step into the shoes of the Azola team as they carefully restore the building while fending off attacks from the resident black vulture. In the chapter on the Ivy Hotel, perhaps the most glamorous restoration project in the city, we simultaneously learn about the invention of the bottle cap (William Painter of Crown Cork and Seal was a prior owner) and re-learn the value of having longstanding skilled artisans in Baltimore, as our own G. Krug and Son Ironworks dug through its 208 year old files and found the original design of the metalwork that adorns the front façade so that the Azolas could replicate missing pieces exactly. Baltimore's history is told through 26 projects from seventeenth century log cabins to multistoried skyscrapers. Each represents an important time and place, and many reveal, for the first time, unforeseen surprises and startling historical finds - from skeletons in the attic to buried treasure, and more. Written by Martin Azola and his associate Charles Belfoure, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Architect, House of Thieves, and The Fallen Architect. Martin shares his family's projects in this well-documented, historic presentation of their incredible life's work. Baltimore holds a very special place in the Azolas' hearts, and you'll find the stories and visuals both interesting and beautiful.

The Azola Legacy - 50 Years REBUILDING BALTIMORE

Charles Belfoure

Martin P. Azola

Azola Building Services

In 1886 New York, a respectable architect shouldn't have any connection to the notorious gang of thieves and killers that rules the underbelly of the city. But when John Cross's son racks up an unfathomable gambling debt to Kent's Gent's, Cross must pay it back himself. All he has to do is use his inside knowledge of high society mansions and museums to craft a robbery even the smartest detectives won't solve. The take better include some cash too: the bigger the payout, the faster this will be over. With a new-found talent for sniffing out vulnerable and lucrative targets, Cross becomes invaluable to the gang. But Cross's entire life has become a balancing act, and it will only take one mistake for it all to come crashing down and for his family to go down too.

House of Thieves

Allison Busby

The Paris Architect

When a wealthy industrialist offers Lucien a large sum of money to devise ingenious hiding places for Jews throughout the city, Lucien struggles with the choice of risking his life of refusing the job and starving. But Lucien agrees and begins designing hiding places so expertly concealed that the Germans could rip up an entire apartment and never find them - behind a painting, within a column, inside a drainpipe. It isn't long before Lucien begins to feel emotionally invested in the lives he is saving.

BOOKS ON TAPE]

A nice account of the first major architectural firm in Baltimore in 1848. The design genius of John Rudolph Niernsee and J. Crawford Neilson. The books chronicles their contribution and architectural legacy in the city and American Architecture history.

Niernsee and Neilson, Architects of Baltimore

Randolph W. Chalfant

Baltimore Architecture Foundation

O Arquiteto de Paris (Em Portugues do Brasil)

Bertrand