Buildings of Pittsburgh (Buildings of the United States)

At the forefront of national and international change, Pittsburgh has long been portrayed as a place for innovative architecture. From its origins as a fort built in 1753 at the urging of a twenty-one-year-old George Washington, through its industrial boom, and into contemporary times, when it has become a pioneer for the ideals and philosophy of environmentally friendly architecture, the city has a history of development that exemplifies the transformative nature of America’s built environment. With The Buildings of Pittsburgh, we now have a substantive reference book (organized by area, with subsets of geographical entries) that relates the architectural history of this ever-changing city up to the present day.
 Franklin Toker examines Pittsburgh’s architectural transformations from its early architecture following the Federal and Gothic Revival styles, to the city’s importation in the mid-nineteenth century of new styles in the Romantic tradition, to industrial Pittsburgh with all its factories and huge institutional buildings, and finally to the city’s environmentally conscious renaissance that began in the mid-twentieth century. In doing so, he shows why Pittsburgh has consistently been rated among the top three American cities for buildings by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and how the city once famous for embracing industry and pollution is now preaching the gospel of clean air and "green" architecture.

History

Toker, Franklin

Americas

Center for American Places

At the forefront of national and international change, Pittsburgh has long been portrayed as a place for innovative architecture. From its origins as a fort built in 1753 at the urging of a twenty-one-year-old George Washington, through its industrial boom, and into contemporary times, when it has become a pioneer for the ideals and philosophy of environmentally friendly architecture, the city has a history of development that exemplifies the transformative nature of America’s built environment. With The Buildings of Pittsburgh, we now have a substantive reference book (organized by area, with subsets of geographical entries) that relates the architectural history of this ever-changing city up to the present day. Franklin Toker examines Pittsburgh’s architectural transformations from its early architecture following the Federal and Gothic Revival styles, to the city’s importation in the mid-nineteenth century of new styles in the Romantic tradition, to industrial Pittsburgh with all its factories and huge institutional buildings, and finally to the city’s environmentally conscious renaissance that began in the mid-twentieth century. In doing so, he shows why Pittsburgh has consistently been rated among the top three American cities for buildings by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and how the city once famous for embracing industry and pollution is now preaching the gospel of clean air and "green" architecture.

Arts & Photography

Architecture

Most people, specialists or not, typically think of New York City or Boston when considering the early development of parks and open spaces in American cities. Despite the size and importance of the Chicago park system, its history is less well known-even to many of those Chicagoans who regularly enjoy its facilities.City in a Garden, developed in association with the Chicago Park District itself, changes that: its 184 large—format pages, packed with 140 images and a closely integrated text, provide the first official documentary chronicle of Chicago's parks. Thirty-one of the city's finest spaces are profiled, using photographs—both contemporary and historical-along with detailed vignettes and captions to trace their development. The visual treat of the book's fine-art duotones combines with its emphasis on narrative history to create a rich and magnificent exploration of a city's most beautiful sites.

The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks (Center for American Places - Center Books on Chicago and Environs)

Bachrach, Julia Sniderman

Photography & Video

Most people, specialists or not, typically think of New York City or Boston when considering the early development of parks and open spaces in American cities. Despite the size and importance of the Chicago park system, its history is less well known-even to many of those Chicagoans who regularly enjoy its facilities. City in a Garden, developed in association with the Chicago Park District itself, changes that: its 184 large—format pages, packed with 140 images and a closely integrated text, provide the first official documentary chronicle of Chicago's parks. Thirty-one of the city's finest spaces are profiled, using photographs—both contemporary and historical-along with detailed vignettes and captions to trace their development. The visual treat of the book's fine-art duotones combines with its emphasis on narrative history to create a rich and magnificent exploration of a city's most beautiful sites.

For years the prevailing view among scholars has been that postcolonial Australia is "an undifferentiated composite of Anglo-Celtic culture," in which English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish components quickly fused into a singular culture. But based on extensive field research, this study questions that view: the authors' compilation of data from 13,271 tombstones revealing the birth place of the interred, from 565 graveyards throughout Australia, shows "point-to-point and shire-to-shire migration from the British Isles to Australia." As a result, they also uncover Australia's distinct regional clusters of specific groups from the British Isles—and the differences of religion, dialect, urbanization, and agriculture that accompany them.

Anglo-Celtic Australia: Colonial Immigration and Cultural Regionalism (Center Books on the International Scene)

Greiner, Alyson L.

Jordan-Bychov, Terry G.

Australia & Oceania

In 1996, photographer Bob Thall—walking to his car after completing some work in downtown Chicago—was stopped by something. "I noticed this strange view down an alley," he later wrote. "It wasn't the type of photograph I was doing that year, but the scene stopped me. I had one sheet of film left and thought, 'Oh, what the hell,' and took the picture."Thall didn't print that picture for over a year. He had just published the highly-praised The Perfect City, an investigation of the sweeping changes in downtown Chicago over a twenty-year period—and he was still working on The New American Village, a look at the new edge city around O'Hare Airport that stands in such contrast to the urbanity of downtown. That single alley photograph, however, would stay with him, and eventually it would inspire the project that led to this, his third book: City Spaces is an exploration of the terrain of Chicago's alleys, where Thall finds remnants of the old city that he, and many other Chicagoans, once found so compelling.What these photographs transcribe are deep urban slits, afterthoughts to the gleaming modernist fronts of buildings. As Thall writes, "Investigating these spaces reminded me of my earlier sense of the city as a mysterious landscape to explore. My history as a Chicagoan, my history as a photographer, the history of the city, and, in a small way, the history of photography—without any plan or anticipation, these photographs brought these histories together for me." City Spaces will be a welcome addition to those interested in fine art photography, architecture, Chicago, and the urban scene—and will reinforce Bob Thall's presence as a leading artist and spokesperson for the city he loves.

City Spaces: Photographs of Chicago Alleys (Center for American Places - Center Books on Chicago and Environs)

Thall, Bob

New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape

In his now classic work of historical geography, published in 1976, Lewis traces the rise and expansion of New Orleans through four major historic periods. This second edition offers a revised and greatly expanded look at this unique community on the Mississippi Delta--"a fearsome place, difficult enough for buildiing houses, lunacy for wharves and skyscrapers."

New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape (Center Books)

Lewis, Peirce F.

Most Americans today view mines as little more than ugly scars on the landscape, places with no connection to an American way of life. This creative new work will force many to rethink that impression: after an introduction to the history of mining in America, the authors present eight visual and historical essays about diverse sites across the nation, each of which reveals mines not simply as physical degradations but as evolving cultural artifacts of the American landscape.

Changing Mines in America

Goin, Peter

Raymond, C. Elizabeth

Most Americans today view mines as little more than ugly scars on the landscape, places with no connection to an American way of life. This creative new work will force many to rethink that impression: after an introduction to the history of mining in America, the authors present eight visual and historical essays about diverse sites across the nation, each of which reveals mines not simply as physical degradations but as evolving cultural artifacts of the American landscape.

For this book, Chuck Forsman—a landscape painter held in the highest regard—undertook a fascinating project: while traveling the American West in search of places to paint, he took 35mm black-and-white photographs of the landscape as seen not from the saddle of a horse but from behind the wheel of a car. He shot his images spontaneously, in all seasons, weather conditions, and times of day, creating a body of energetic and poetically direct work that reviewers have already compared favorably to Robert Frank's The Americans—one of the twentieth century's most significant works of photography. Just as Frank offered a penetratingly honest and new view of America during the 1950s, so too does Forsman present us with equally honest views of the American West, views that capture the gripping beauty of the American road as well as the common experience we share in looking at a landscape the way it is most often seen: through the window of an automobile.

Western Rider: Views from a Car Window

Travel

Forsman, Chuck

Travel Writing

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Books by Center for American Places

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Center for American Places publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Buildings of Pittsburgh (Buildings of the United States)

Buildings of Pittsburgh (Buildings of the United States)

The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks (Center for American Places - Center Books on Chicago and Environs)

The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks (Center for American Places - Center Books on Chicago and Environs)

Anglo-Celtic Australia: Colonial Immigration and Cultural Regionalism (Center Books on the International Scene)

City Spaces: Photographs of Chicago Alleys (Center for American Places - Center Books on Chicago and Environs)

New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape (Center Books)

Changing Mines in America

Changing Mines in America

Western Rider: Views from a Car Window