Bricks and Brownstone

Bricks and Brownstone by Lockwood, Charles. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780896597853.

Bricks and Brownstone is the first book to examine the architectural styles of the venerable New York row house, the way of life of the families who lived in these unique houses, and the outstanding neighborhoods of a rapidly growing and changing city. The result is a charming and nostalgic evocation of bygone days in a town house or "brownstone" in nineteenth-century Americas richest, most powerful, and most cosmopolitan city. With the aid of handsome photographs and engravings (over half of them 100 years old) the author presents the history of the various row house architectural styles--the Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Second Empire, as well as eclectic but picturesque styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mr. Lockwood also discusses and illustrates the features of the several styles--among them doorways, iron work, mantels, and ceiling ornaments--which the architect and brownstone owner will find invaluable in restoring a row house to its original appearance. The old photographs of long-vanished houses and Street scenes in New York are a special treat for the reader. Bricks and Brownstone is an important contribution to New Yorks "brownstone revival," part of a nationwide phenomenon that has rescued thousands of architecturally and historically distinguished--but run-down--inner-city houses and entire neighborhoods for the habitation and delight of future generations.