Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain

Nineteen essays, by a diverse group of historians and others who experience and study Gilbert's buildings in their professional lives, detail the intricate relationship between Gilbert's work and the longstanding tradition of public architecture in America.

This volume examines Gilbert's work in five unique categories: the building of a national practice, an evaluation of his Minnesota State Capitol as "a defining moment" in American civic architecture, his New York career, his response to civic ideals in his plans for towns and universities, and his work in the public domain. Illustrations, some in color

Barbara S. Christen is an architectural historian who specializes in the history of Cass Gilbert’s architectural work and the history of campus and preservation planning. In recent years, she has served as technical advisor for the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) Campus Heritage Discovery Project, examining the campus heritage projects funded between 2002 and 2007 by the Getty Foundation (www.campusheritage.org). She has also led the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Historic Campus Architecture Project, which created an inventory of historic campus architecture and landscape design regarding 2100 cultural heritage sites at nearly 400 campuses of independent colleges and universities across the United States (www.cic.edu/hcap). She received her Ph.D. in art and architectural history from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Steven Flanders, a consultant in court administration, lives in Pelham, New York.