McKim Mead & White

McKim Mead & White: Selected Works 1879-1915
Charles Follen McKim, William Rutherford Mead, Stanford White, Richard Guy Wilson
Princeton Architectural Press in association with the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, October 2018



Hardcover | 9 x 12 inches | 428 Pages | English | ISBN: 978-1616897574 | $100.00

Publisher Description:

McKim, Mead & White is the best-known architecture firm of America's Gilded Age, and designed many of the most iconic buildings including the Boston Public Library, Washington Square Arch, and the campuses of Columbia and New York Universities. The firm built opulent residences and private clubs for the nation's wealthiest and most powerful, buildings that are now well-loved cultural institutions. McKim, Mead & White: Selected Works 1879-1915 collects the work of these influential architects and their successors. Compiling the original four volumes into one, this magnificent edition is supplemented with an introduction from Richard Guy Wilson and an essay by Leland Roth. Published in association with the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art.

dDAB Commentary:

"Princeton Architectural Press's Reprint Series was established in 1981," per the PAPress website, "to make rare volumes on architecture available to a wider audience." Recognizable by their large size, simple black covers with gold letters, and heavyweight paper, the series reproduces Classical treatises and other titles more than 100 years old, such as Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's Plan of Chicago from 1909. McKim Mead & White: Selected Works 1879-1915 compiles the firm's four-volume monograph made up of 400 plates. The faithful reproduction, though on a smaller page size than the original, includes an introduction by Richard Guy Wilson and an essay by Leland Roth, who has penned an excellent history to MM&W.

Flipping through page after page of drawings and b/w photographs of the firm's voluminous output, a few things come to mind. First, MM&W was more than prolific, defining American architecture in the decades after the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the event that brought Neoclassical architecture and planning to the country. Second, the book's historical photos make changes to the places they created -- in their demolition or the growth of the cities around them -- explicit; this is particularly true in New York, where their work is in abundance and is the context I'm most familiar with. Third, the original layout of the images often requires going back and forth between vertical and horizontal, something I find annoying. Regardless, the book is a must for fans of McKim, Mead & White and of Classical architecture and urbanism. 

Author Bio:

Richard Guy Wilson holds the Commonwealth Professor's Chair in Architectural History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He has authored, co-authored, or edited over a dozen books.

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