Michael G. Imber: Ranches, Villas, and Houses

The first monograph of the stunning residences designed by a contemporary master of traditional architecture. A must-have for lovers of traditional or southwestern-inspired residential design, Michael G. Imber: Ranches, Villas, and Houses reveals the beauty of building from the rich architectural traditions of the desert southwest and Mexico. A master of traditional forms derived from these regions, particularly of his native Texas, Michael G. Imber begins each of his designs by considering the land through watercolors and then develops his ideas in relation to climate and local historical references. The result is an array of ranches and houses that evokes the rural building traditions of the west, that is unafraid of the delights of classical ornamentation, and that is nonetheless wholly modern in its execution. Here, in the first monograph devoted to the architect’s work, is a collection of masterful residential projects ranging in scale from bungalows to sprawling ranches, all presented in large-format photographs and accompanied by Imber’s extraordinary watercolor studies.

Elizabeth Meredith Dowling is a professor of architectural history at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the author of New Classicism: The Rebirth of Traditional Architecture. Marc Appleton is principal of Appleton & Associates Inc. Architects with offices in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, California. His design work has received many awards and been published in Architectural Digest, Town & Country, and other periodicals. He has consistently been named one of Architectural Digest’s Top 100 Designers.