Women and the making of the modern house : A Social and Architectural History

"If you want a book about architecture which is informative, provocative, offers new paradigms on the way we describe architecture, is both soundly academic, and as compelling to read as a good novel, look no further.” —Kester Ratenbury In this groundbreaking book, Alice T. Friedman investigates how women patrons of architecture were essential catalysts for innovation in domestic architectural design. By looking at such iconic houses as Hollyhock House (Frank Lloyd Wright), the Truus Schröder House (Gerrit Rietveld), the Edith Farnsworth House (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe), the Constance Perkins House (Richard Neutra), and the Vanna Venturi House (Robert Venturi), she explores the challenges that unconventional attitudes and ways of life presented to architectural thinking—and to the architects themselves. Detailed portraits—fashioned from personal letters, diaries, office records, photo albums, and interviews—of the clients and architects reveal the private passions and struggles that women and men of talent and creativity brought to these projects, and suggest the rich cultural and artistic context in which each house was created. The works considered are thus brought to life through the people who commissioned, designed, and lived in them. Women and the Making of the Modern House offers a generously illustrated, exciting new perspective on some of the most extraordinary and well-known houses of the 20th century -- among them Hollyhock House, the Farnsworth House, the Schroder House, and the villa "Les Terrasses". Author Alice T. Friedman focuses on houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Robert Venturi, and others for independent women who headed their own households, exploring the challenges that unconventional attitudes and ways of life presented to architectural thinking -- and to the architects themselves.Unlike previous studies of these buildings, this book focuses on people and their lives as well as on the history of built form. Each chapter follows one house from conception to completion and beyond, looking behind the scenes at the complex process of give-and-take as design decisions were hammered out.Detailed portraits -- fashioned from personal letters, diaries, office records, photo albums, and interviews -- not only reveal the private passions and struggles that women and men of talent and creativity brought to these projects, but also suggest the rich cultural and artistic context in which each house was created. Through these fascinating stories our knowledge of these icons of 20th-century architecture is deeply enriched. Investigates how women patrons of architecture were essential catalysts for innovation in domestic architectural design. This book explores the challenges that unconventional attitudes and ways of life presented to architectural thinking, and to the architects themselves. Investigating how women patrons of architecture were essential catalysts for innovation in domestic architectural design, this book explores the challenges that unconventional attitudes and ways of life presented to architectural thinking, and to the architects themselves