Lost Chicago
by David Garrard Lowe
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The City of Big Shoulders has always been our most quintessentially American--and world-class--architectural metropolis. In the wake of the Great Fire of 1871, a great building boom--still the largest in the history of the nation--introduced the first modern skyscrapers to the Chicago skyline and began what would become a legacy of diverse, influential, and iconoclastic contributions to the city's built environment. Though this trend continued well into the twentieth century, sour city show more finances and unnecessary acts of demolishment left many previous cultural attractions abandoned and then destroyed. Lost Chicago explores the architectural and cultural history of this great American city, a city whose architectural heritage was recklessly squandered during the second half of the twentieth century. David Garrard Lowe's crisp, lively prose and over 270 rare photographs and prints, illuminate the decades when Gustavus Swift and Philip D. Armour ruled the greatest stockyards in the world; when industrialists and entrepreneurs such as Cyrus McCormick, Potter Palmer, George Pullman, and Marshall Field made Prairie Avenue and State Street the rivals of New York City's Fifth Avenue; and when Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, and Frank Lloyd Wright were designing buildings of incomparable excellence. Here are the mansions and grand hotels, the office buildings that met technical perfection (including the first skyscraper), and the stores, trains, movie palaces, parks, and racetracks that thrilled residents and tourists alike before falling victim to the wrecking ball of progress. "Lost Chicago is more than just another coffee table gift, more than merely a history of the city's architecture; it is a history of the whole city as a cultural creation."--New York Times Book Review show lessTags
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Lost Chicago by David Lowe focuses on the buildings that have been torn down. Since I’ve never lived in the city and I'm new to the field of Chicago history and architecture, I got rather tired of the drama (this building has “disappeared” and this “gem” has been horrifically removed). Beyond that, though, the book provided a very general history of Chicago in between the photographs, starting with Louis and Clark and going through the Chicago fire and to the early 20th century. Because the focus was on the photographs of the now-torn down buildings, the history was not too dense for me. I learned about a little about the Chicago School of Architecture and I’m eager to learn more. I also found myself interested in some more show more of the history. show less
These dazzling, poignant pages recreate the magical built environment that thrilled generations of Chicago residents and visitors alike before falling victim to the wrecking ball of "progress." Here are the grand residences and hotels, opulent theaters, legendary trains, and state-of-the-art office buildings and department stores-including the world's first skyscraper. Here too are the famous convention halls, parks, and racetracks of a great American...
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11 Works 635 Members
Cultural historian David Garrard Lowe is author of the prize-winning Lost Chicago; Beaux Arts New York; and Stanford White's New York, Mr. Lowe's articles on architectural and social history have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, American Heritage, and House & Garden, among many others. President of the Beaux Arts Alliance, show more Mr. Lowe lectures widely in the United States and Europe at well-known venues such as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, The American Academy in Rome, and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Lowe lives in New York show less
Common Knowledge
- Important places
- Chicago, Illinois, USA; Cook County, Illinois, USA; Illinois, USA; USA
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- Members
- 279
- Popularity
- 115,447
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.30)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 2
