American Splendor [Hardcover]

First, the obvious: Well researched, beautifully presented, excellent high quality images, lots-o-plans, and an engaging text.

Many readers may not consciously notice the second reason, but it makes all the difference in the world. Most architectural monographs (and many books in general) scatter images throughout a book, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to develop a clear understanding about individual projects. Various rooms will be many pages (and many projects) apart, and with plans grouped together (or not even included). Also, captions will be brief to the extreme, forcing one on a hunt through the text to access more information. Is there anything more irritating? Not so with American Splendor. Author Michael Kathrens and his graphic designer (and editor?) should be applauded for the clarity offered the reader - like an unexpected gift. Each house is presented on concurrent pages, with beautiful (often full page) images, and concluding (mostly) with clear plans. Ahh! Plans! While the captions are short, the relevant next is always nearby. No hunting!

The third reason is another highly useful (even thoughtful) gift to readers, yet it is also rarely offered. When one concludes reading about each Trumbauer creation, its current status is articulated! One is never left hanging with those two terrible, dreaded, lingering questions: Was this beautiful creation destroyed? (If yes, one wants to weep.) Or is it well loved and maintained? (If yes, a grin spontaneously ensues.) I cannot count the books that don't answer these important questions, or, again, sadistically force the reader to search and search for an answer.

So, American Splendor should be applauded for the usual reasons. But it should also be applauded for reasons that too few authors (and designers and editors) pay attention to.

Michael, thank you for these many gifts.

There were other books in the Library that covered the Gilded Age but these were books of general knowledge and included only a smattering of photos. As an adult, some of my dreams have materialized in the publications of books dealing with the works of these famous architects; well famous in my mind at least.

Of the ones in my collection, this one is without a doubt the best. Perhaps this is so because the architect himself was the best. The book describes, in wonderful detail, the creation of the houses and grounds, the lifestyles of those who occupied the houses, and the current state of those houses. It also provides many interior photos, many not previously published (I thought I'd seen them all). What I find most thoughtful is the inclusion of floor plans of nearly each and every home.

It is wonderful and yet sad to have some of these images so close at hand. Wonderfully huge homes built, literally, to compete with other homes for the sole purpose of out-classing other owners of the same station in life - the world's richest people. Sad because we will never see such works of beauty, like Horace Trumbauer's, created even on a smaller scale, because the architects of today simply have lost the art creating such grand structures. It's not their fault really; Times have changed so much - even the wealthy now eat dinner on their coffee tables in the family room, in front of the TV. But with books like this available, the Gilded Age will continue to live on, if only in our imaginations.