Great Houses of the South

I trust Hippo Books descriptions or find them more reliable than ThriftBooks!Just sayin'...

Great coffee table book. I used this as our guest book for our wedding. I wanted something with enough space on pages so guests could write their note and name in between the texts and pictures. I searched for awhile before finding this one. It arrived in perfect condition. I could not tell from the product description or photos how much blank space the book would have, but figured with the amount of pages and pictures it would work. Based on customer reviews, I had high hopes it would work, and it did not disappoint. I received a ton of compliments on the unique idea but mostly for how gorgeous the book was and all the photos with details on each house. My guests loved looking for a house in their city (by using the box’s index), and would suggest visits or trips I should take in the future. I highly recommend the book as a coffee table book, guest book, gift idea, etc. I have not had time to read it, but I have read on a few of the houses, and it gives great detail on the houses I have known growing up in the south.

This book is intended as a living room conversation piece rather than a reference work or scholarly study.That, of course, does not diminish the supreme quality of the photography of this rather small selection of grand Southern houses. Let me make clear that the SELECTION is small, but the houses are most certainly not.The author treats us to gorgeous stops at Mount Vernon and the Biltmore House, Shirley Plantation and Whitehall. The book is arranged in chronological chapters, beginning with 1700-1800 and ending with 1865-1940, so the majority of the book is dedicated to OLD structures. Think the framing essays for each entry are just filling material and you'd be seriously mistaken. The author creates the perfect balance of historical depth and reader accessibility. The writing is profound without being pedantic, and the book will be as interesting to architectural historians as it is to amateur enthusiasts.Here's something really nice: The building selection is limited to places that are open to visitors, so a reader can visit ANY of the houses s/he falls in love with from the book.My only regreat is that this author's "South" does not include Texas. There are no examples from Texas, but there are several from Florida, Kentucky and Maryland.This is a big book printed on heavy gloss paper. Overall, it is one of the very best coffee-table books you can buy on this subject, and it's a nice travel guide as well. Exceptionally well done.

The witty and erudite text and stunning photographs of this beautiful book succeed at placing some of America's most historic, largest, and anachronistic homes in the context of an evolving narrative on life in the South as expressed in its premier homes. Ossman's incredibly well researched yet concise essays trace the evolution of the use of home architecture to provide signs and represent status of the owners from the earliest days of European settlement to the flowering of Colonial Revival in the mid-twentieth century. Seeking common threads in a disparate fabric of house high styles over centuries, Ossman links transplanted English Palladian forms with classic plantation style Greek Revival and later Beaux Arts and Colonial Revival homes through how each represents the aspirations of its creators within the Southern milieu. Brooke's stunning photography illustrates and complements the text to provide a panoply of gorgeous house settings and interiors from Key West to Baltimore, Charleston to New Orleans organized by progress in time. Each house is open to the public so readers can use these chapters to guide them on their own travels through the South's rich history.

An all inclusive book was very satisfied with it very happy I got it

Great info, and looks good on a coffee table/bookshelf!

I just received this book and though I'm delighted with the quality of publication and the content -including choice of houses, many of them unfamiliar to me- I have to say that many of the best illustrations are often put two to a page plus captions and printed text, thus making it difficult to admire all the details -alas I realize this is probably due to space constraints, but it would have been lovely had more page space been provided for said illustrations. Still, a worthwhile book on par with Wendell Garrett's Victorian America ( which however does give full page cover to most of its images).

,,,simple stunning photos n history Proud to display it

The book is very detailed, will be taking this with us when we visit the area

Amazing photos, large, excellent quality. I use this as a coffee table book