In 1983 when this book was published I was working at 233 N. Michigan Ave., one of the photos in this book. I can relate to the clothing, hairstyles, In 1983 when this book was published I was working at 233 N. Michigan Ave., one of the photos in this book. I can relate to the clothing, hairstyles, advertisements and general style of these photographs. This was my Chicago in the 1970's and early 1980's. The pictures mostly involve story or leave you guessing at what is the story behind the picture. The focus is neither on the people or the place but the interaction of people and place. Mostly ordinary scenes - man walking dog in snow storm - riders on a bus - but a true Chicago feel. Chicago works and plays....more
I'm not an architect or scientist, but a counselor and teacher. I read the book because of my interest in beauty, form and function. I enjoyed the autI'm not an architect or scientist, but a counselor and teacher. I read the book because of my interest in beauty, form and function. I enjoyed the author's compare and contrast method in discussing various architectural styles. Most amusing was Viscount Bangor and Lady Anne Bligh's Castle Ward. Negotiated to end a marital dispute on style, the Castle displays a Classic front and Gothic rear. The psychology of "talking buildings" was light hearted and a little far fetched for me at times. My problem was that I had to keep forcing myself to read this book. As a philosophy or psychology of architecture text, it lacked the enticement to keep reading. As a history it lacked organization and structure. As an eclectic free association it had some charming and interesting moments. ...more
A decent history published in 1972 traces Hagia Sophia through Byzantine glory, attack by the Crusaders, conquest by the Turks and eventual conversionA decent history published in 1972 traces Hagia Sophia through Byzantine glory, attack by the Crusaders, conquest by the Turks and eventual conversion to a secular museum. Of interest is the appendix highlighting the Hagia Sophia in literature. Procopius writes in A.D. 560 of the columns and marbles, "One might imagine that he had come upon a meadow with its flowers in full bloom. For he would surely marvel at the purple of some, the green tint of others and at those on which the crimson flows and those from which the white flashes, and again at those which Nature, like some painter, varies with the most contrasting colours. And whenever anyone enters this church to pray, he understands at once that it is not by any human power or skill, but the influence of God, that is work has been so finely turned." Other visitors' voices include: a French knight, Robert of Clari (c. 1204); Ibn-Battuta, devout Muslum traveler (1325-54); Spanish nobleman Pero Tafur (c. 1455); Evliya Chelebi, page to Sultan Murad IV (c. 1635); and Jospeh Tournefort, chief botanist to Louis XIV (c.1700). Also included are descriptions by women travelers Julia Pardoe (1837) and Lady Hariot Dufferin (1881). Pardoe gained access disguised as a Turkish man gushes, "And this was St. Sophia! To me it seemed like a creation of enchantment - the light - the ringing voices, the mysterious extent, which baffled the earnestness of my gaze... all conspired to form a scene of such unearthly magnificence, that I felt as though there could be no reality in what I looked on, but that, at some sudden signal, the towering columns would fail to support the vault of light above them, and all would become void."...more
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