Chicago Architecture (2-Volume Set)

Chicago Architecture, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis accompanies a major traveling exhibition of the same name. Including twenty essays by leading specialists, it surveys those international interactions which helped Chicago to become the mid-western metropolis that it is today. This lavishly illustrated volume, which also contains an extensive catalogue section and an annotated bibliography, provides a contribution of lasting value to the scholarship on this important topic. The second volume and sequel is Chicago Architecture and Design 1923-1993, which is the first volume to document the architectural evolution of the city in relation to the social and architectural environments before and after the Great Depression and World War II. The book identifies significant changes in city planning, land use, and transportation, and it explores some of the most exciting architecture in the world in the context of America's political, social, and cultural climate. The book contains over 600 illustrations, including line drawings of key sites and specially commissioned photographs of buildings, furniture, and other artifacts. The plates are accompanied by extensive annotations. Seventeen original and authoritative essays by scholars working in a variety of fields, including design history and American studies, offer a panoramic view of the mature twentieth-century city.