Customer Reviews:
Yes. Read it........2005-08-09
As the title suggests, this book is a wonderful guide to the spiritual approach taken in the conception and planning of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. It shows the cultural approach to the collections within the museum, and in the design of the museum. It provides a window into the Native American culture. It also provides a brief history of the Mall, and its design. I wish I had read this book before I had visited the museum. Now, I will just have to return and pay more attention, this time, to the design elements of the museum, the entrance to the museum, and the grounds surrounding it, as well as the collections.
Book Description
The fourth edition of the venerable AIA guide to Washington's architecture offers tourists, residents, and architecture aficionados insights into nearly 400 of the city's most important architectural landmarks, organized into 19 discrete tours. All entries carried over from the previous edition, published in 1994, have been thoroughly rewritten, and scores of entries have been added. This edition includes notable new structures such as the National Museum of the American Indian, as well as the classics that epitomize the city -- the White House, the Capitol, Union Station -- plus a number of private structures that are sometimes overlooked, including houses designed by Walter Gropius and Richard Neutra.
G. Martin Moeller Jr. blends informed, concise descriptions with lively commentary on each landmark, revealing often surprising details of the building's history and design. Every entry is accompanied by a photograph and includes the structure's location, the names of the architects and designers responsible for the building and any major alterations, and the corresponding dates of completion. Each entry is keyed to a new, easy-to-read map at the beginning of the tour.
From the imposing monuments of Capitol Hill and the Mall to the pastoral suburban enclaves of Foxhall and Cleveland Park, and from small memorials to vast commercial and institutional complexes, this guide shows us a Washington that is at once excitingly fresh and comfortably familiar.
Customer Reviews:
Great guide to Washington for anyone.......2007-07-03
A confession: I'm not a big architecture afficionado and had never heard of the AIA or its guides before my in-laws gave me this book, but I do live in Washington and am always looking for new sources of info about the city. This is a great overall guide to DC, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone ranging from locals to tourists.
Why? This book is great for three main reasons.
First, it's a great source of history about the big picture of DC and its most prominent areas as well as the nooks and crannies of the city. At the same time, that history isn't presented in an overwhelming way that makes the reader feel as if s/he is preparing for a high school history test. And even the minutiae that it contains are really pretty interesting, partly due to the high quality of the writing (more on this below.)
Second, it does a great job of organizing the city and guiding the reader through the different areas. All guide books break down the city into areas to some extent, but I often wonder if the writers have actually spent much time in DC. One can always quibble about where certain neighborhoods begin and end, but this book is far better than most and gives a good feel for what the actual areas are really like and how they got that way.
Finally, it's a great source of architectural info about tons of buildings throughout the city. Although I live here, it turns out that I've often walked past many notable buildings without a second glance. Now, not all of these buildings are notable for their strengths (which is one of the fun features of the book - it includes some dogs along with the highlights), but what I've found having read through much of this book is that I now notice some of the more subtle features of the buildings that the book points out.
Best of all, the book is eminently readable, so much so that I have actually used it as bedtime reading to get some entertaining history and insight into my neighborhood - what other guidebook have you done that with? And many of the descriptions are really fun (e.g. the Kennedy Center is what would happen if a "Las Vegas developer were to open a casino under the theme of 'Palace of the Soviets'" since it exhibits a "hefty dose of Stalinist bombast") or at least interesting (e.g. the Eccles Building of the Federal Reserve is "uncomfortably reminiscent of the...work of Albert Speer.")
Now, the book isn't an ideal guidebook since it naturally doesn't include (many) hotels, restaurants or detailed descriptions of the contents of, for example, the National Gallery. But for the first, you only need one rather than a long list, so find it online and skip the rest (assuming you're a tourist since locals don't need that info at all - unless you need someplace to put up your in-laws.) For the second, use Fodor's CityGuide Washington. The last is best available at a place like the National Gallery itself.
Get the Fodor's CityGuide and this book, and you've got a ton of things to explore whether you live here or are just visiting. For visitors, that combination would be more interesting, informative and entertaining than almost any other guidebook on the market for DC (and this book would be great reading if you've got a long trip to DC from, for example, the west coast or Europe.)
What a difference!.......2007-01-26
This guide is a tremendous improvement. The attention to detail is impressive, the guide is timely and VERY informative. I particularly liked the images with each entry. A basic concept and a welcome addition to this edition.
This guide is a must for MD/DC/VA natives, particularly to share with visitors so they can customize their own walking tours.
CAPITOL ARCHITECTURE.......2006-11-21
I have the previous guide, which was good, but not as good as many of these AIA guides, but alas this one is a real improvement. The images are better and the guide itself is of better quality, frankly Washington should have a great AIA guide, the city of full of intesting buildings. This guide is still not up there with the AIA guide to Houston or the one for Detroit, but it's better and i do recommend it if you have any interest in the architecture of the nations capitol.
Book Description
Colorful, interactive, and fun, The White House Pop-Up Book illustrates the history and architecture of the White House with pop-up elements, die-cut images, booklets, pull-outs, photographs, models, illustrations, and more. More than 100 photographs capture the people, places, and events that are part of this famous building's past and the story of the United States.
Highlights from the book include a movable diorama of the Mall with all of the monuments; a removable map of Washington, D.C.; a gallery of all the presidents; a pop-up of an exact replica of the White House with an exact replica floorplan; the Oval Office in three dimensions; a fan that pops open to reveal portraits of the First Ladies; a standing "carousel" that reveals five rooms-the Red Room, Cross Hall, Blue Room, Green Room, and Lincoln Bedroom and an accordion of inaugural gowns worn by the First Ladies.
The White House receives an average of one million visitors annually, and there is perennial interest in the President's house. From those who have visited repeatedly to those who wish to go, this three-dimensional tour serves as a great gift, souvenir, or keepsake that will make them feel as if they're stepping into the White House every time they open the book.
Customer Reviews:
INTERESTING BOOK.......2007-07-29
It's not a real pop up book, But
it was a informed book about the
White house.
Not a real pop-up book.......2007-06-21
I was so looking forward to unwrapping this book, and couldn't believe how disappointing it was. I'm a huge fan of pop-up books, and this is the worst one I've ever seen. There are very few pop-ups! And some of them don't even work--are hopelessly stuck after only one use. There is material in little booklets which you open (they do not "pop"), and it's hard to imagine them being less interesting or visually appealing. They're stuck willy-nilly on the pages.
I especially wanted to see the different rooms in the White House, but the way they're displayed in a very weird pull-out on the back page which wobbles as you try to open it, you can't really get a sense of them. I wanted to show this book to children in the family, but there's no way they could enjoy it.
I can't believe someone decided to publish this book.
not enough pop-up.......2007-01-11
I bought this book for my daughter-in-law for Christmas, along with another pop-up-book. I was dissappointed because while there are slide-outs and lots of information, the only real pop-up is in the center of the book. The other pop-up book was wonderful, and maybe I'm only comparing the two, but like I said; a real dissappointment.
Almost gives one the feeling of being there........2006-12-02
As far as Pop-Up books go;this has to rank right up there with the best.I will not bother to detail what is inside the book since that has already been done very well by the Editorial and Customer Reviews.
I have already reviewed other Pop-Up books and believe a different approach needs to be taken depending on the subject of the book.For example;"America the Beautiful" and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Robert Sabuda could be described as delightful and fanciful in the case of "Alice" and majestically in the case of "America" and so should they be in these cases. The "White House" needs to be done in a completely different way.It requires formality,seriousness and utmost respect in the way it is handled. This has been carried off extremely well by Fischer and results in an excellent book,presentation and given the respect the subject demands and deserves.
I am surprised that no one has brought up the construction involved in this book in particular ,as well as the other two I mentioned.It takes great skill figure out how to make pop-ups work,and I am sure the printing of such intricate stuff must also be real challenging.The quality of the paper,printing and color rendering are likewise very important and well done. All that being said; these 3 books all suffer from one major weakness.One cannot, and should not, expect them to survive rough usage and they are definately not suitable for kids to handle roughly.However; a much better job and design is needed at the hinges where the spline connects to the front and back covers.I noticed there were several copies in the store where the hinges were already split.Even with care,it won't take much handling for others to split as well;it's just a matter of time and use. There is simply no way these books will stand up to use in schools or libraries ,or in fact even with normal use in the home.Applying "Scotch" brand Book Tape; along both edges of the spline will help on the outside,but that still leaves the inside hinges which are likewise too fragile and subject to cracking and spliting.
It is a shame that such an otherwise excellently constructed,albeit a difficult project ; has such a weakness and is so prone to failure.
The best!.......2006-09-14
I have been fascinated by pop-ups since I was a kid and now collect them. I also have a love of history. This is the best pop-up I own. Fischer is a great artist,engineer and, as shown in this project, historian. This is a must have and a terrific gift.
Book Description
Firsthand accounts and photographs chronicle the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy Administration.
Designing Camelot recounts one of the most influential interior design projects in American history, the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy administration. Fueled by the intense fascination with the charismatic First Family, the project had a profound effect on the popular American imagination and taste in interior furnishings. Emphasizing the historic restoration of each room and the efforts to have these rooms reflect the personalities and tastes of Jack and Jackie, Designing Camelot features a wealth of first-person quotations, personal and public correspondence, media accounts, and photographs. Included are detailed room-by-room analyses of the restoration, anecdotes about the people involved, and insights into the choices made.
James Abbot (Baltimore, MD) is currently Curator of Decorative Arts at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Elaine Rice (Wilmington, DE) is an independent consultant on American fine and decorative arts.
Customer Reviews:
Spectactular.......2006-04-08
James Abbot and Elaine Rice are right on the money! This book entails the Kennedy restoration of the White House during 1961 - 1963. Much research has gone in to producing an excellent history that otherwise would be lost. Great photographs of the Kennedy White House as well. I can say this book is a treasure for both Kennedy and White House enthusiasts alike. I have had this book for several years and still find myself picking it up.
Classic Lady, Classic Designer, Classic Book........2004-03-21
James Abbott and Elaine Rice have documented the blueprinting and designing of much more than rooms in the White House. The title says it all. Camelot was about all things Kennedy Administration. Navy suits and Limousines were younger and more progressive. Presentations on the lawn for visiting heads of states by far surpassed the ho-hum receptions at the train station. No detail of Camelot, the White House public rooms and the family quarters escaped scrutiny of Jackie, Sister Parrish and Boudin. Jackie even designed the ash stands with Boudin's help.
I don't understand the criticism of this book as dry or wordy. It's a book. It's a narrative, not a coffee table book. Tomes have been printed and documented of the restored rooms, before and after. The photos are what they were. In this world of colorized movies, Photoshopped magazine covers and remastered music, Abbott and Rice have given us the plain unvarnished way it was, warts and all. I found the background very interesting. It was a collaborative effort between the committee, Jackie, Sister Parrish and Boudin, with a giant does of Henry duPont thrown in. Any one person could have completely changed the way the great house looked, but Jackie rescued the building from it's Gimbell's basement look. It remains generally true to her vision, even though eight First Ladies have imprinted on it. This country would not exist if not for the help of France during the Revolution. It influenced this country greatly and I see nothing wrong with the influence. No one criticized Mamie Eisenhower for the his and hers tvs in the wall or the Mamie Pink.
I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone.
not enough for the money.......2003-05-17
The writing is dry. The pictures are not the best and it fails to show whnat the White House looked like before the restoration. Everyone says that it looked horrible so why not give the reader a taste of what was so wrong with it? If you can find the White House guidebook that was produced to pay for the restoration read that instead. It has much betters photos.
Superb!.......2001-06-25
A superb survey of the White House decor of President & Mrs. Kennedy. The book documents the ideas, process, decisions and choices behind the stunning interiors of the Kennedy White House-both the public and private rooms. What comes through the text is Mrs. Kennedy's leadership and vision - combining taste, history, beauty and great cunning - just to create and then manage this melange of egos, talent and intelligence was an accomplishment, and the results live on today (albeit not as beautifully or artistically). We all gained a greater knowledge and appreciation of our nation's historic and artistic past because of Mrs. Kennedy's work.
I've corresponded with Mr. Abbott and he's been most kind and interesting. He assisted in the current show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years," and there's a number of items on display relating to the White House decorations.
Read the book, catch the exhibit (it moves to the JFK Library in Boston in the fall).
Wordy and Disappointing.......2001-05-15
I was very disappointed with this book. I found the writing style dry and the photographs/layout just not up to par. It almost seemed like somebody's thesis with som photos thrown in. Somebody needs to do a large format picture book on this subject with more about Jackie!
Book Description
The White House Situation Room is arguably the most important facility in the most important building in the world. As the president’s intelligence and alert center, it provides vital communication and crisis management capabilities to the chief executive and his advisers. It can also be “an island of calm,” as a top adviser for Vice President Al Gore once described it. So little is known about the Situation Room that, until the publication of Nerve Center, the American public’s knowledge of it is almost entirely based on its portrayal by the entertainment industry.
Yet, as Michael K. Bohn points out, Hollywood has failed to capture the real drama of the Situation Room. Numerous crises come alive in Nerve Center, from the Vietnam War (when President Johnson made late night visits to the Situation Room wearing his pajamas and went so often that he moved his Oval Office chair there), to the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, to today’s high-tech war on terrorism. Created in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs fiasco by advisers to President John Kennedy, presidents, cabinet members, and National Security Council staff members have all come to depend on the Situation Room. “I knew that I could always rely on the Situation Room,” President Jimmy Carter recalled, “and it never let me down.”
Bohn, who served as director of the Situation Room for the first President George Bush, has recruited numerous officials, including former and current staff, to tell the colorful forty-year history of the Situation Room. In a final chapter, Bohn uses a fictional crisis to describe how the Situation Room will evolve to help the president meet the challenges of an increasingly dangerous future.
Customer Reviews:
Totally Cool.......2006-07-26
Excellent sneak peak into the White House Situation Room, dispelling myths and showing us the American people how our leaders handle a crisis.
A must for lovers of the West Wing!.......2006-02-07
I first read this book 2 years ago after purchasing it from Amazon, and loved it the moment I saw it. Sitting down to read it was almost like opening a chocolate box, with wonderful anecdotes from dozens of men and women who have served in the nexus of American Military decision making. I highly recomend this book to anyone who would like to find out more about the White House Situation room and it's impact on the world and the West Wing itself.
Behind Closed Doors - A Fascinating Look.......2003-04-15
Mike Bohn has succeeded in opening to the reader a portion of the White House that few understand - let alone acknowledge its existence or function. The Situation Room truly is the "Nerve Center" for the country - both in times of crisis and in peace time. It is a central briefing room for the President, and a contact center for countries around the globe. Before reading this wonderful book, I hadn't thought about how calls to heads-of-state were made on behalf of the President, but now I can see why they would all go through the Situation Room.
If you are a fan of political movies, and want to know the truth behind the Hollywood fiction, or are just a political junkie, then this truly is the one book you want on your shelf!
Life in the WHSR.......2003-02-14
Bohn, Commander Bohn. Shakes not stirs events in the White House from the Situation Room. He takes the pulse of the Sit Room and displays it with humor and humanity. This is the first account of the people who watch and report on events that shape our world. Well done and well written!
Great view of the White House Situation Room.......2003-02-14
I enjoyed reading this book on the White House Situation Room. It offers readers great insight and anecdotes behind the scenes of government crises and every day political happenings.
Book Description
Many American democratic ideals are embodied in the public spaces of its cities, especially in Washington, D.C. In L'Enfant's Legacy architect and scholar Michael Bednar explores the public spaces of the nation's capital, examining the context of the surrounding architecture and the roles of the spaces in the changing functional life of the city.
Bednar examines the ways in which L'Enfant's innovative plan of 1791, along with later developments, symbolizes and encourages democratic freedoms and traditions. In the spaces of Capitol Square, citizens expect to encounter their government directly in a dignified setting, a symbolic public forum. On the White House grounds they expect to meet the president where he works and lives. At the National Mall -- America's front lawn -- citizens exercise their rights of assembly and free speech, as well as play football, eat lunch, and socialize.
From historic Lincoln Square, Dupont Circle, and Judiciary Square to the newly developed Freedom Plaza, Pershing Park, and Market Square, Bednar's thoughtful study provides a fresh perspective on the role of public space in the expression of democratic ideals.
Average customer rating:
- Architectural Education Through A Beaux Arts Masterpiece
|
The Library of Congress: An Architectural Alphabet
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
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ASIN: 0764912623 |
Customer Reviews:
Architectural Education Through A Beaux Arts Masterpiece.......2000-03-26
The stunning, mostly color photographs in this splendid book facilitate a highly rewarding vicarious visit to one of the world's truly great Beaux Arts settings, the interior of the 1896 Library Of Congress, located just behind the U.S. Capital. What's more, punctuating the glimpses of the library's grand entrance hall, dazzling white and colored marbles, majestic staircases and wide, open balconies, arches, columns, carved relief work, painted murals and the huge, lavishly ornamented dome towering above the octagonal main reading room, is an alphabetically arranged glossary of architectural terms. Each photo provides a visual of description of the term cited. The colorful, often fantastic typography used for the alphabet letters themselves is an unexpected bonus in this nifty bargain-priced volume.
Book Description
Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the White House with this richly illustrated new book on America's, if not the world's, most famous residence. Abigail Adams dried her wash in the unfinished East Room. Benjamin Harrison left the lights burning all night because he feared being shocked by the newly installed electric switches. LBJ waged an obsessive battle with the water pressure in the shower, demanding shower heads on all sides. His successor, Richard Nixon, promptly had them removed. The White House has not always been the ideal home, and as each president moved in, he transformed the house in small and large ways to fit his family's needs.
Real Life at the White House celebrates two centuries of domestic life in this historic abode. In forty-two chapters - one for each administration - this stylish sourcebook takes us on an intimate tour of the daily life of each president and his family, bringing into view everything from china patterns to built-in closets (a luxury added during the Truman renovation), from plumbing to telephones (Coolidge refused to use the phone for business) from architectural structure to state dinners and family meals.
Filled with hundreds of anecdotes, photographs, and presidential quotes from Washington(who never lived there but oversaw the first plans) to Clinton, this thoroughly engaging book captures the texture of presidential life while documenting the very human history of a house.
Customer Reviews:
A Waste of Time and Money.......2005-03-29
This book is a waste of time and money. It presents nothing that two other more significant works do not already present in more accurate, better edited ways. These two other works are: 1)Inside the White House: America's Most Famous House, The First 200 Years by Better Boyd Caroli, published by Canopy Books; and 2)The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families by Betty C. Monkman, published by Abbeville Press. Caroli has much more research experience with the White House and the nation's first ladies, and Momkman actually worked in the White House Curator's Office.
If it were not for sloppy editing and factually incorrect information, the Whitcomb and Whitcomb book would be a nice addition to these two more accurate, and frankly more interesting works. Grammatical and punctuation errors pepper the entire book and really take away from its readability. Worse are the blatantly wrong facts presented in this book. For example, on page 371 in the chapter on Lyndon Johnson, Clark Clifford's wife is erroneously called "Mary." Her name was actually "Marny," which was a nickname for Margery (Margery Peperell Kimball). The authors interestingly cite Clark Clifford's memoir, Counsel To The President published by Random House, as a source of infomration for the chapters on Presidents Truman and Johnson.
On page 395, in the chapter about Richard Nixon, the authors state that Daniel Ellsburg was a psychiatrist. Had the two authors consulted Ellsberg's memoir, Secrets: A Memoir Of Vietnam And The Pentagon Papers, published by Viking Penguin, they would have seen that Ellsberg is indeed NOT a psychiatrist, but that he earned a doctoral degree in economics from Harvard and later worked in the Pentagon under Secretary McNamara. The authors are undoubtedly confused; there was a break-in at the office of Ellberg's psychiatrist (a Dr. Lewis Fielding...the real pshychiatrist), which was a scheme carried out by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt.
Another misconception put forth by Whitcomb and Whitcomb on page 395 is that the so-called "White House Plumbers" were the infamous Watergate burglars. The team known as the Plumbers consisted of four men: Liddy, Hunt, Bud Krogh, and David Young. Only Liddy and Hunt were present at the June 17th break-int. However, they were not members of the break-and-enter team. Hunt had recruited five cuban nationals and two Americans, one of whom (James McCord) worked for the CIA and was director of security for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) to go into the Watergate. The authors negelected to consult the most accurate account of Watergate and events leading up to the infamous burglary, Watergate: The Corruption Of American Politics And The Fall Of Richard Nixon, published by Simon and Schuster. This book is the accompaniment to a documentary on Watergate developed by the BBC and the Discovery Channel.
These mistakes make me wonder what else the authors got wrong....and such factually inaccurate information really takes away from a historical work. I encourage readers to consult the Caroli and Monkman books for all things White House, as well as the independent biographies and memoirs of the presidents, first ladies, and their staff members (e.g., the memoir by Clark Clifford) instead of wasting their time and money on this sloppy attempt at historical writing.
An Interesting Account of Our Presidents.......2002-09-12
I found this book full of information about the different Presidents and their families and how they adjusted to living in the White House.
There is a lot of information about earlier, less known Presidents, and I enjoyed reading those chapters.
I was also interested to read about all the pets over the years.
Every family seemed to have all sorts of animals.
It was interesting to read about the First Ladies and their "quirks". Mary Todd Lincoln ran up clothing bills that she tried to hide---just like Jackie.
Other stories that I found amusing were that Nixon would not allow guards or policemen to speak to him or Mrs. Nixon. Betty Ford couldn't understand why they ignored her greetings until this was explained to her.
Ronald Reagan served tea to Prince Charles who did not touch it because, as he explained later, he didn't know what to do with the little bag!
Many such amusing stories made this a truly enjoyable book. I recommend to anyone wanting to know about living in the White House.
Poorly done.......2002-06-21
I was so excited when I got this book. I love stories about Presidents. However, everything in this book I had read somehwere else. Same old boring stuff. No new pictures. Basically, I thought it was awful.
Great research; fascinating stories.......2002-04-15
Former White House curator Clement Conger calls this one of the best White House books he's read. White House scholar William Seale also endorses it. I found it full of fasincating stories that really show what it was like for forty families to live in one house over 200 years.
Lazy research, lazy writing, lazy documentation.......2001-11-29
If you simply want a few raise-your-eyebrows stories about WH occupants, order this one. If you care about historical accuracy and context, forget it. The myriad misspelled names and often creatively edited/paraphrased quotations are the first big clue that these authors took the path of least resistance (how hard is it for a self-professed history teacher and an alleged professional journalist to check these simple and very important facts?). The heavy reliance on only a few sources--some of them completely unattributed and others, like Ronald Kessler's Inside the White House, entirely questionable--is the second.
Certainly, most readers won't care that much about these flaws. If you're more interested in storytelling than history, this is a decent collection of cotton-candy gossip about presidents and their families. But history fans looking for a competently executed and engagingly written account of White House private life will still do better to check out the work of the wonderful William Seale, among other writers. Though it's written by self-described professionals, Real Life at the White House is amateur hour.
Average customer rating:
- A must have for DC real estate owners and realtors
|
Best Addresses
James Goode
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Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings
-
Washington, D.C., Then and Now (Then & Now)
ASIN: 0874744768 |
Book Description
A century ago, the popularity of early Washington landmarks like Stoneleigh Court and the controversial Cairo (which, at a soaring twelve stories, shocked District officials into enacting the city's height limit) made it clear that apartment living was here to stay. By the 1920s, Beaux Art and Art Deco palaces offered residents all the luxuries of a first-class hotel: barbershops, ballrooms, rooftop terraces, and indoor pools. Soon other innovations in apartment living—the garden complex, the cooperative, and the mixed-use building—put Washington at the forefront of urban planning. Today the resurgence of the historic heart of the nation's capital has created an apartment boom rivaled only by that of the 1920s.
Through residents' personal recollections, original floor plans, and more than 690 photographs, Best Addresses offers an intimate tour behind the facades of 162 remarkable buildings. Some have already been destroyed or dis-figured beyond repair, making their preservation here especially valuable, while others continue to set the standard for elegant living in the nation's capital.
Customer Reviews:
A must have for DC real estate owners and realtors.......2005-09-08
As a realtor, this book is immensely useful in garnering the history of some of these cherished buildings. As an adopted Washingtonian and architecture buff, the details included in the book are hard to find elsewhere. The writing style is inviting and accessible. Long out of print, it is great to have ready access to this valuable tomb again. Fifth star withheld solely for the fact that I hoped an expanded update section for up and coming buildings or new neighborhoods would have been included in the reissue.
Customer Reviews:
Washington by Design.......2005-08-25
This is a wonderful book that highlights all the most important buildings in the District. It gives a short synopsis on each buiding highlighted, some like the Capitol and the White House getting a bit more coverage. It was quite comprehensive, and the buildings covered came with pictures. It is not up to the level of the AIA Guide to Detriot or New York, but it is a nice guide none the less. I definitly recommend it to anyone interested in the architecture of the District.
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