Timeless Architecture: Homes of Distinction by Harrison Design Associates

Following a recent trend to radicalize or modernize domestic architecture, both professional and lay audiences must relearn the lessons of the traditional architect. This book is an excellent 101 course in historic design for today's home, taught by a professor of architecture, illustrated with more than 400 color images. It answers the needs of patrons, professionals, and the merely inquisitive to reconsider the tenets of classical or traditional design that were universally followed for more than twenty-five centuries. Drawing from one of America's leading design firms, it presents the traditional concepts that all fine buildings must satisfy - being well-built, easy to use, and inspiringly beautiful. The partners of Harrison Design Associates (Bill Harrison, AIA , and Greg Palmer, AIA) answer their clients' desires with buildings that fit their context and climate, provide comfortable and familiar imagery, and respond to the time honored desire for a beautiful environment. Many residential designs are presented in three contexts as seen in the writings of the Roman Vitruvius and the Renaissance author Alberti -- beauty, function, and firmness. Beauty is explored through historical styles, including Eighteenth Century American Colonial, Georgian and Federal, Arts and Crafts, American Beaux-Arts, Philadelphia Style, American Eclectic, and Italian Influence. For utility, a tour of twentieth-first century homes includes kitchens and keeping rooms, bath suites, pools, outdoor rooms and gardens, wine cellars, bars, and entertainment rooms. In chapter three, structural materials are discussed and illustrated, culminating in a set of fascinating renovations of residential design.

Elizabeth Meredith Dowling, author of American Classicist: The Architecture of Philip Trammell Shutze, is an associate professor of architectural history at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.