how to read buildings: a crash course

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I got this book, to understand structures, buildings. The book is laid out from Building types and goes into details of towers, chimneys, and ornaments. Roman architecture, palladian stood out the ... Read full review

About the author (2008)

Dr Carol Davidson Cragoe is a well-respected academic who specialises in architectural history. She frequently teaches courses at Birkbeck College in London and she is the author of numerous books and papers on architectural history.

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Community Reviews

Useful! This really needed to be a full-sized encyclopedia of a book rather than a pocket book (one two-by-two inch square to summarize Art Deco, really? Nothing on the thought process of how interior spaces are made?), which would probably help expand the content beyond the usual architecture fetishization of Greek-Roman-Classical-Rennaisance architecture.

Overview

This practical primer is a handbook for decoding a building’s style, history, and evolution. Every building contains clues embedded in its design that identify not only its architectural style but also the story of who designed it, who it was built for, and why.

About the Author

Dr. Carol Davidson Cragoe is a graduate of Smith College and holds a Master’s in art history from New York University. She was Architectural Editor for the Victoria County History series and more recently for English Heritage.

Author Carol Davidson Cragoe

This practical primer is a handbook for decoding a building’s style, history, and evolution. Every building contains clues embedded in its design that identify not only its architectural style but also the story of who designed it, who it was built for, and why.

About The Author

Dr. Carol Davidson Cragoe is a graduate of Smith College and holds a Master’s in art history from New York University. She was Architectural Editor for the Victoria County History series and more recently for English Heritage.

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