a photographic guide to the city's architectural landmarks and other notable buildings

I picked up this book about a year ago, but I didn't really delve into it until recently when it became useful for a book I'm writing. In between I read the new and revised biography of Mies van der Rohe by Franz Schulze (with Edward Windhorst) and was amazed at how much I liked it. In my review of the book, I called it "excellent, explaining not only the what but also the how and why of his buildings." The same sentiment can be applied to this guide that Schulze co-authored with Kevin Harrington, a professor at IIT. The entries and the neighborhood descriptions are spot-on, very well-written and enjoyable to read. They are illuminating in some way, even for somebody with deep knowledge of Chicago architecture. And like the editions that came before (some authored by others), the selection is very good, befitting the book's title. ( )

This "photographic guide to the city's architectural landmarks and other notable buildings" is a forerunner to the book of the same name by Franz Schulze and Kevin Harrington (fifth edition, 2003). I had picked up the fifth edition before I knew of or found the second edition. But when I came across the one edited by Arthur Siegel, with contributions by Carl W. Condit, Hugh Dalziel Duncan, and Wilbert R. Hasbrouck, figuring it to be similar to the later edition, I was pleasantly surprised to see what is basically a completely different book. Descriptions are shorter in the second edition, and the photographs mentioned in the subtitle are accompanied by floor plans for many buildings. The whole is designed remarkably well, from the geometric cover to the Sullivanesque endpapers and the use of red for navigating the book. It is a great guide. And as much as I appreciate Schulze's writing in the fifth edition, it would have been great to see later editions following this earlier format. ( )

It's a thorough pictorial history broken up first by era and then by location of the Windy City's skyscrapers. Unfortunately the book's age keeps more than 20 years of recent architectural changes to the city's skyline out of the text. For someone looking for the architecture of the 1980s onward, this edition is not the one to go for. If however, one is looking for a solid resource for older architecture, this book will compliment newer books nicely. ( )

shelved at: 92 USA : Architecture - USA