Cast-Iron Architecture in America: The Significance of James Bogardus - Hardcover

Gayle, Carol; Gayle, Margot

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393730158 ISBN 13: 9780393730159

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998

Synopsis

The first book on the life and work of the pioneer of American cast-iron architecture.

Nineteenth-century American inventor and entrepreneur James Bogardus was known for his unique grinding mill and other patented devices, but his enduring claim to fame is his cast-iron structures, forerunners of the modern skyscraper. A passionate advocate for iron's strength, economy, suitability for ornamentation, and fire resistance, he invented several new methods of construction; his buildings rose from New York to San Francisco and Havana. Modern interest in Bogardus stems from the historic preservation movement; his four surviving buildings, in New York, are recognized landmarks.

About this title

About the Author:

Carol Gayle teaches history at Lake Forest College, Illinois.

Margot Gayle, a nationally known authority on cast-iron architecture, lives in New York City.

Review:

...likely to remain the definitive work on the enterprising inventor whose seminal architectural concept helped set the stage for the astounding advances in construction during the century after his death in 1874. -- The New York Times Book Review, Martin Filler

Margot Gale has long been the leading figure in the world--once very nearly the lost world--of cast-iron architecture. . . . No one is better fitted than she to explore the life and work of James Bogardus. -- Brendan Gill

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0393730158
• ISBN 13: 9780393730159
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272