Picture of author.
4 teosta 33 jäsentä 9 arvostelua

Tietoja tekijästä

Joseph J. Korom, Jr., retired architect, is a Chicago historian, photographer and artist.
Image credit: Joseph J. Korom, Jr.

Tekijän teokset

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Syntymäaika
1955-08-12
Sukupuoli
male
Kansalaisuus
USA
Syntymäpaikka
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Asuinpaikat
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Koulutus
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Ammatit
artist
freelance writer
architecture critic
photographer
architect
Organisaatiot
Society of Architectural Historians
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Art Institute of Chicago
Milwaukee Art Museum
Fusion Design Professionals
Building Biographies
Lyhyt elämäkerta
Architect Joseph Korom earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he also served as mentor. He is an accomplished artist whose paintings are represented in many private collections and is a freelance writer, architectural critic, and photographer. He is a member of the Society of Architectural Historians, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Milwaukee Art Museum. Joseph Korom, who has also authored Look Up Milwaukee (1979) and Milwaukee Architecture A Guide to Notable Buildings (1995), lives with his wife, two daughters, and their cat in a skyscraper on Milwaukee's East Side.

--From the back cover of The American Skyscraper, 1850-1940

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Kirja-arvosteluja

Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
This should have been more fun for me, an architect, than it turned out to be. The photos are certainly a treasure trove in this book, but the writing doesn't live up to their potential; a more consistent approach (or more thorough research, at least) would have raised my evaluation of this attractive book.
 
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kimsbooks | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jun 22, 2014 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
"Skyscraper facades of the Gilded Age" by Joseph J. Korom, Jr., is a pleasant stroll through the architectural history of cast iron store fronts, ever higher "skyscrapers" and the conspicuous consumption of the robber barons during the last quartiile of the the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. Many of the photos of remarkable buildings constructed during that period are from the author's own collection, and, while of varying quality, are of great historical interest. The detail photos of entryways and cornices and gargoyles bring the artistic and decorative aspects of these building to the fore, in vivid contrast to the glass and steel barrenness of modern high-rise construction. Many of the buildings he describes are iconic: the Flatiron Building in New York; the Philadelphia City Hall; the Fisher Building in Chicago. Many are no longer in existence, long since demolished for the sake of modernism, unfortunately. So it is appropriate that such a book be published to memorialize a period of great optimism and prosperity as expressed in the grandiose representation of the age - the skyscraper.

Unfortunately the writing is uneven from one historical description to the next. It is often difficult to know from what the author includes in his vignettes whether or not the building is still standing or if and when it was demolished. The reader will feel a bit frustrated at times because the information does not quite fill the bill on a particular building or building style. But the overall book is well worth reading and the information included needs to be preserved.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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BlaueBlume | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Sep 20, 2013 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
While I had great expectations for this book, I found myself skimming more and more after the first few buildings which is something I rarely do. A tad too much emphasis was placed on drawings and photographs of building decorations and I lost interest in the facades themselves.
In short, mildly interesting to me but probably more so to an architecture aficionado.
 
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surly | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Sep 6, 2013 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
Many years ago, Editta Sherman, a friend of the family, gave me a copy of Facades, a book she co-authored with Bill Cunningham for an exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Costumes were photographed in front of appropriate buildings in New York City. I knew very little about architecture at the time but recently I had the opportunity to read Skyscraper façades of the Gilded Age : fifty-one extravagant designs, 1875-1910, a book written by retired architect Joseph Korom for McFarland’s series on art and architecture. The author explores buildings and their architects and designers along with the men and women who commissioned the buildings for themselves or their companies. The Gilded Age was also the age of the robber barons, Mark Twain and America striving to find its place in the world. Amazingly, the buildings favored by the age were based on European models with ornamentation linked to the old country. Mansions and homes were designed with this in mind so, when commissions for tall buildings were given to architects, the same standards applied. (And rethink your idea of skyscrapers 50 or more floors in height. Many are five or six to twenty or more stories.) So we have spires and domes on tops of buildings, clocks, Grecian columns, all manner of Greek gods and symbols, gargoyles and other mythological creatures. No expense was spared in these ornamentations.

After setting the stage with background material, in the next five chapters the author goes on to discuss the 51 buildings he has chosen as representative of the period, classed by an architectural style or, in the case of the last, “eclectic” to use his term. Although many of the buildings were erected in New York (and in my copy of Editta Sherman’s book) and Chicago, other cities are represented. Each building is illustrated with a photo or drawing from the period. He also includes illustrations of ornamentation from his selected buildings as well as others from homes and smaller buildings of the period. But be aware that all of the photos are in black and white. Even the cover photo is colored later.

As with all scholarly McFarland books, there is an extensive bibliography, copious endnotes with further information as well as attribution of sources, and an excellent index. Korom has made the effort to define terms for those of us who are unfamiliar with basic architecture. The one thing I was most disappointed in was the lack of floor plans (though one building did have some plans), especially for the buildings that were of unique shapes to fit into irregular plots. However, to be fair, the book clearly indicated that it was about the façades, not the interiors, although he does mention elevators and other conveniences for the tenants of the offices.

I had trouble with the author’s statements of number of stories to some of the buildings. I would count on the photo and I was either several floors too short or I counted more stories than were mentioned. I tried to account for domes and spires, but that didn’t reconcile with the number given at times. Also at one point, the author quotes from Amadeus with proper citation. However, in the text, he implies that Mozart actually said the quote as printed, not that it was from the play.

Since my town still has some of the Gilded Age mansions built in the period (and some still have the original exterior details) along with some office buildings of modest height (most of those fell to reconstruction in the 60s), it was interesting to read about similar structures. The town even has a triangular building of modest height similar to several in the book. The description of the Philadelphia City Hall was also interesting to me; the statue of Billy Penn was a source of wonder to me as a child and it was so high! I think that the average American of the Gilded Age was in the same awe of these magnificent (and sometimes garish) buildings as I was at City Hall those many years ago.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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fdholt | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Aug 7, 2013 |

Tilastot

Teokset
4
Jäseniä
33
Suosituimmuussija
#421,955
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.7
Kirja-arvosteluja
9
ISBN:t
6