The iconic American house Architectural masterworks since 1900

In their third collaboration in the unofficial "iconic" series, Bradbury and Powers deploy their well-honed recipe of sharp photographs and accessible writing to introduce readers to 50 homes built in the U.S. during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The selections reveal the male-domination of architecture--all but two projects are attributed to men, and the ones with women's names attached are collaborations--but Bradbury shies away from such a critique in favor of celebrating the "pioneer spirit" that has been a "vital spur towards construction and creativity" in American domestic architecture from Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (1939) to Peter Eisenman's House VI (1975). Each entry is given four to six photograph-filled pages and accompanied by a brief description of the architect's background and the design's unique features. Though the book's size suggests that it belongs on a coffee table, the format is more like a guidebook, offering an armchair tour of houses along the country's coasts, with a spattering cited in the states in between.

Journalist Bradbury (Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses) teams up with photographer Richard Powers in this attractive exploration of 50 houses from the last century that, in his opinion, rise to the level of architectural totems. Bradbury's brief tours of these "masterworks" take the reader through familiar houses, such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (built in 1939) and Charles and Ray Eames's California house built a decade later, along with others designed by a veritable who's-who of 20th-century architects: Richard Neutra, Louis Kahn, Robert Venturi, and Philip Johnson, among them. Bradbury also includes lesser-known dwellings by studio furniture maker Wharton Esherick, whose home is an "exemplar of a highly contextual, organic approach to architecture" and "remains a vital reference point in terms of sustainable modern design." Powers's exquisite photographs capture the buildings and their landscapes, and lend credence to Bradbury's thesis that an architect's vision, when unleashed and given the funds, can create, according to Bradbury, "shining landmarks within an American architectural dreamland." This will be a treat for any art, architecture, or photography lover. (Oct.)