Architecture Books Every Library Should Have

by Gene Waddell

This selection of architecture books attempts to represent the best Western buildings and architects in proportion to their merit. These books emphasize design methods, sources of design, types of materials, and methods of construction. They generally treat individual buildings as primary sources in their own right and include design drawings, record drawings, and building accounts. Most have illustrations that show proportions and details well enough to be useful for study. They have permanent value for research, and they deserve to be emulated as models of research and presentation.

Books that are more about history than architecture have been omitted as belonging more to the category of history than to architectural history. I have studied and written about social history, indigenous peoples, and vernacular architecture, and I am well aware of the importance of these subjects for studying the development of architecture. I regret being unable to include books on indigenous and vernacular architecture, but these types of buildings relate more to anthropology and should be in other lists rather than this one. For example, American Indians produced numerous great monuments, but their buildings were mostly of perishable materials and simple construction with no spaces comparable the best buildings in the history of architecture. I am not among those who consider every igloo better than the Pantheon.

I know of many books better researched, written, illustrated, and produced than some that I have included, but they are about less significant buildings or architects. Such excellent books deserve to be represented in large libraries, but not in all libraries. Vanity press books about living architects deserve the lowest priority for acquisition funds. I hope someone who knows more about Asian architecture than I do will prepare a list similar to this one.

Many titles that are included have been reprinted less well than they were originally printed. It would be ideal to have first editions of every title, but more useful to have editions that can be circulated. Research libraries should, of course, make available copies of key titles in their original language when it is other than English, but my list was prepared for the general reader with a serious interest in the design and construction rather than for specialists.

This list is intended partly to help create a demand for standard works that are in many cases out-of-print, that have never been made available in English translation, or that have never been made available at a moderate price. All of these titles deserve to be as widely available as possible and to be kept in print indefinitely.

Many great buildings have not had great books written about them. Many deserve to be represented by better books, but in my opinion, all of the books listed have permanent value.

Greek

Audiat, Jean

1933 Trésor des Athéniens. Fouilles de Delphes, vol. 2. Paris: De Boccard.

Balanos, Nikolaos

1938 Monuments de l'Acropole; Relèvement et Conservation. Paris: C. Massin.

Berve, Helmut; Gottfried Gruben; and Max Hirmer

n. d. Greek Temples, Theatres, and Shrines. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Cooper, Frederick A., ed.

1996 Temple of Apollo Bassitas. 4 vols. Princeton: American School of

Classical Studies at Athens.

Coulton, J. J.

1977 Ancient Greek Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design.

Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

Dinsmoor, William Bell

1950 [1975] Architecture of Ancient Greece: an Account of Its Historic

Development. New York: Norton.

Dörpfeld, Wilhelm

1881 Ausgrabungen zu Olympia. Ed. by Ernst Curtius and Friedrich Adler;

vol. 5 on the Temple of Zeus. Berlin: E. Wasmuth.

Major, Thomas

1768 [1969] Ruines de Paestum ou de Posidonie dans la Grande Grece.

London: Gregg International.

Mertens, Dieter

1984 Temple von Segesta und die Dorische Tempelbaukunst des Grieschischen

Westens in Klassischerzeit. Manz am Rein: P. von Zabern.

1993 Alte Heratempel in Paestum und die Archaische Baukunst in

Unteritalien. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern.

Orlandos, Anastasios K.

1976-1978 I architektoniki tou Parthenonos. 3 vols. Athens: Archaiologike

Hetaireia.

Penrose, F. C.

1888 [1973] Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Architecture; or, the

Results of a Survey Conducted Chiefly with Reference to the Optical Refinements Exhibited in the Construction of the Ancient Buildings at Athens. Washington: McGrath Pub. Co.

Stuart, James; and Nicholas Revett

1762, 1787, 1794 [1980] Antiquities of Athens. New York : Arno Press.

Traulos, Ioannes N.

1971 Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens. Deutsches Archäologisches

Institut. Publication. New York: Praeger.

Roman

Beltrami, Luca

1898 Il Pantheon... coi Rilevi e Disegni dell’Architetto Pier Olinto Armanini.

Milan: Tipografia Umberto Allegretti.

Choisy, Auguste

1873 L’Art de Batir chez les Romains. Paris: Ducher et Cie, Ēditeurs.

Clérisseau, Charles Louis, and J. G. LeGrand

1778 Antiquités de la France, [part] I: Monuments de Nisme. Paris: P. D.

Pierres.

De Fine Licht, Kjeld

1966 Rotunda in Rome: a Study of Hadrian’s Pantheon. Jutland

Archaeological Society Publications VIII. Copenhagen.

DeLaine, Janet

1997 Baths of Caracalla: a Study in the Design, Construction, and

Economics of Large-scale Building Projects in Imperial Rome. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series Number 25. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology L. L. C.

Desgodetz, Antoine

1682 [1972] Ēdifices Antiques de Rome. Portland, Oregon: Collegium

Graphicum.

D’Espouy, H.

1896; 1905 Fragments d’Architecture Antique d’Après les Relevés &

Restaurations des Anciens Pensionnaires. 2 vols. Paris: Charles Schmid, Ēditeur.

1906 Monuments Antiques Relevés et Restaurés par les Architectes

Pensionnaires de l’Académie de France à Rome. 3 vols. Publication de l’Institut de France. Paris: Ch. Massin.

Ēcole Francaise de Rome; Ēcole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Parigi; & Comune

di Roma Assessorato alla Cultura

1985 Roma Antiqua. Paris: L’Académie

de France à Rome; l’Ēcole Française de Rome; l’Ēcole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris.

1992 Roma Antiqua: “Envois” degli Architetti Francesi (1786-1901): Grandi

Edifici Pubblici. Roma: Edizioni Carte Segrete.

Lanciani, Rodolfo

1893-1901 [1990] Forma Vrbis Romae. Rome: Edizioni Quasar.

1897 Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome. New York: Houghton Mifflin &

Co.

1901 Destruction of Ancient Rome; a Sketch of the History of the Monuments.

London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd.

MacDonald, William L.

1982 Architecture of the Roman Empire, I: An Introductory

Study. Revised edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Middleton, J. Henry

1892 Remains of Ancient Rome. 2 vols. London: Adam and Charles

Black.

Nash, Ernest

1961 Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome. 2 vols. Rome: Deutsches

Archaeologisches Institut; London: A. Zwemmer Ltd.

Piranesi, Francesco

1790 Raccolta de’Tempj Antichi [Pantheon]. Vol. 2. Rome: Presso l’autore.

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

2000 Giovanni Battista Piranesi: the Complete Etchings/ Gesamtkatalog der

Kupferstiche/ Catalogue Raisonné des Eaux-fortes / Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Köln: Taschen.

Rivoira, G. T.

1925 Roman Architecture and Its Principles of Construction Under the Empire

with an Appendix on the Evolution of the Dome Up to the XVIIth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Vitruvius

1999 Ten Books of Architecture. Trans. by Ingrid D. Rowland;

commentary and illustrations by Thomas Noble Howe ; with additional material by Ingrid D. Rowland and Michael J. Dewar. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Wilson Jones, Mark

2000 Principles of Roman Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Medieval

Baines, F.

1914 Westminster Hall: Report to the First Commissioner of H.M. Works, &c.,

on the Condition of the Roof Timbers of Westminster Hall, with Suggestions for Maintaining the Stability of the Roof. London: H.M.S.O.

Branner, Robert, and Shirley Prager Branner

1989 The Cathedral of Bourges and Its Place in Gothic Architecture. New York,

N.Y.: Architectural History Foundation; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Crosby, Sumner McK., and Pamela Z. Blum

1987 Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis: from Its Beginnings to the Death of

Suger, 475-1151 (with a separate roll of drawings). New Haven: Yale

University Press.

Fitchen, John

1961 Construction of Gothic Cathedrals; a Study of Medieval Vault

Erection. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Harvey, John

1950 Gothic World: 1100-1600; a Survey of Architecture and Art. London: B.

T. Batsford Ltd.

1972 Mediæval Architect. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Mainstone, Roland J.

1988 Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure, and Liturgy of Justinian's Great

Church. New York: Thames and Hudson.

Pugin, Augustus Charles; Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin; James Edward Willson,

and T. L. Walker

1850 Examples of Gothic Architecture Selected from Various Ancient Edifices in

England: Consisting of Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Parts at Large...Accompanied by Historical and Descriptive Accounts. 3 vols. London: H. G. Bohn.

Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore

1853 [1969] True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture: Set Forth in

Two Lectures Delivered at St. Marie’s Oscott. 2nd ed. Oxford: St. Barnabas Press.

1841 [1969] Contrasts. Leicester, Leicester University Press.

Stoddard, Whitney S.

1966 Monastery and Cathedral in France: Medieval Architecture, Sculpture,

Stained Glass, Manuscripts, the Art of the Church Treasuries. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Van Nice, Robert L.

1966, 1987 Santa Sophia in Istanbul: an Architectural Survey (portfolio issued

in two parts). Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine

Studies.

Viollet-le-Duc, M. [Eugène-Emmanuel].

1858 Dictionnaire Raisonné de l’Architecture Française du XIe au XVIe Siècle.

10 vols. Paris: B. Bance, Ēditéur.

Renaissance and Baroque

Ackerman, James S.

1961 Architecture of Michelangelo. 2 vols. London: A. Zwemmer Ltd.

Alberti, Leon Battista

1988 On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Trans. by Joseph Rykwert, Neil

Leach, and Robert Tavernor. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Bertotti Scamozzi, Ottavio

1968 Le Fabbriche e i Disegni di Andrea Palladio. New York: Architectural

Book Pub. Co.

Bruschi, Arnaldo.

1977 Bramante. London: Thames and Hudson.

Chettle, George H.

1937 Queen’s House, Greenwich, Being the Fourteenth Monograph of the

London Survey Committee. (London: the Committee.)

Condivi, Ascanio

1976 Life of Michelangelo. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

Cook, Sir Theodore Andrea, and Frederick H. Evans

c. 1915 Twenty-five Great Houses of France. London: Country Life.

De Tolnay, Charles

1975 Corpus dei Disegni di Michelangelo. 4 vols. Novara: Istituto geografico

De Agostini.

Letarouilly, Paul Marie

1840 [1984] Ēdifices de Rome Moderne, ou, Recueil des Palais, Maisons,

Ēglises, Couvents, et Autres Monuments Publics et Particuliers les Plus Remarkables de la Ville de Rome. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press.

1953 Basilica of St. Peter/La Basilique de Saint-Pierre. London: A. Tiranti.

Marder, T. A.

1998 Bernini and the Art of Architecture. New York: Abbeville Press

Publishers.

Palladio, Andrea

1570 [1997] Four Books on Architecture. Trans. by Robert Tavernor and

Richard Schofield. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Schiavo, Armando

1949 Michelangelo Architetto/Michelangelo as an Architect. Rome: Libreria

dello Stato.

Serlio, Sebastiano

1544-1547 [1996] Sebastiano Serlio on Architecture : Books I-V of Tutte l'Opere

d'Architettura et Prospetiva' by Sebastiano Serlio. Trans. and annotated

by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Vasari, Giorgio

1550, 1568 [1963] Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. 4 vols. Ed.

by William Gaunt. London: Dent.

Wurm, Heinrich

1984 Baldassarre Peruzzi Architekturzeichnungen. Tübingen: Verlag Ernst

Wasmuth.

Zorzi, Giangiorgio

1959 Disegni delle Antichità di Andrea Palladio. Venice: N. Pozza.

1965 Opere Pubbliche i Palazzi Privati di Andrea Palladio. [Venice]: N.

Pozza.

1967 Chiese e i Ponti di Andrea Palladio. [Venice]: N. Pozza.

1969 Ville e i Teatri di Andrea Palladio. [Venice]: N. Pozza.

Neoclassical

Adam, Robert, and James Adam

1778 [1980] Works in Architecture of Robert & James Adam. New York:

Dover Publications.

Bolton, Arthur T.

1922 The Architecture of Robert & James Adam (1758-1794). London: Country

Life (reprinted 1984; [London]: Antique Collectors' Club).

Fleming, John

1962 Robert Adam and His Circle, in Edinburgh & Rome. London: J. Murray

Gibbs, James

1728 Book of Architecture Containing Designs of Buildings and Ornaments.

London.

Kimball, Fiske

1916 [1968] Thomas Jefferson, Architect; Original Designs in the Coolidge

Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society, with an Essay and Notes. Cambridge: New York: Da Capo Press.

1922 [1966] Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early

Republic. New York: Dover Publications.

Krafft, J. Ch.

1801, 1812 [1992] Plans, Coupes, Ēlévations de Plus Belles Maisons et des

Hôtels Construits à Paris et dans les Environs (tome premier); Recueil d'Architecture Civile Contenant les Plans, Coupes et Ēlévations des Chateaux, Maisons de Campagne et Habitations Rurales, Jardins Anglais, Temples, Chaumieres Situés aux Environs de Paris et dans les Departments (tome second). Paris: Auteur, Treutell et Wurtz (reprinted Nordlingen: Alfons Uhl.

Laugier, Marc Antoine

1977 Essay on Architecture. Trans by Wolfgang Hermann. Los Angeles:

Hennessey & Ingalls.

Pierson, William H., Jr.

1970 American Buildings and Their Architects: the Colonial and Neoclassical

Styles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Summerson, John Newenham

1946 Georgian London. New York, C. Scribner's Sons.

Tadgell, Christopher

1978 Ange-Jacques Gabriel. London: A. Zwemmer.

Greek Revival

Ledoux, Claude Nicolas

1847 [1983] Architecture de C.N. Ledoux: Premier Volume, Contenant des

Plans, Ēlévations, Coupes, Vues Perspectives ... : Collection qui Rassemble Tous les Genres de Bâtiments Employés dans l'Ordresocial. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Architectural Press.

Hamlin, Talbot

1944 [1964] Greek Revival Architecture in America: Being an Account of

Important Trends in American Architecture and American Life Prior to the War Between the States. New York: Dover Publications.

1955 Benjamin Henry Latrobe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.

Lafever, Minard.

1833 [1969] Modern Builder's Guide. New York: Dover Publications.

Schinkel, Karl Friedrich, 1781-1841

1989 Collection of Architectural Designs: Including Designs Which Have Been

Executed and Objects Whose Execution Was Intended [Sammlung Architektonischer Entwürfe]. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Beaux Arts

Blomfield, Regnald, ed.

1919 Architectural Water-Colours & Etchings of W. Walcot. London: H. C.

Dickens.

Butler, A. S. G.; George Stewart; and Christopher Hussey

1950 [1989] Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens. 3. vols. Woodbridge, Suffolk:

Antique Collectors' Club

Chicago Tribune

1923 International Competition for a New Administration Building for the

Chicago Tribune, MCMXXII, Containing All the Designs Submitted in Response to the Chicago Tribune’s $100,000 Offer Commemorating Its Seventy-Fifth Anniversary, June 10, 1922. Chicago: Chicago Tribune.

Garnier, Charles

1876-1880 : Nouvel Opéra de Paris. Paris, Ducher et cie.

McKim, Charles Follen; William R. Mead; and Stanford White

1973 Monograph of the Works of McKim, Mead & White, 1879-1915. With an

essay by Leland Roth. New York: B. Blom.

Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler

1967 Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works. Park Forest, Ill.: Prairie School

Press.

Modern

Caramel, Luciano Caramel, and Alberto Longatti

1987 Antonio Sant’Elia. New York: Rizzoli.

Erickson, Arthur

1975 Architecture of Arthur Erickson. Montreal: Tundra Books.

Ford, Edward R.

1990, 1996 Details of Modern Architecture. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass: MIT

Press.

Garnier, Tony

1932 [1990] Une Cité Industrielle. Milan: Editoriale Jaca Book spa.

Hine, Lewis W.

1998 Empire State Building. Munich: Prestel.

Nervi, Pier Luigi

1956 Structures. New York: F. W. Dodge Corp.

Pommer, Richard, and Christian F. Otto

1991 Weissenhof 1927 and the Modern Movement in Architecture. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Sullivan, Louis

1924 Autobiography of an Idea. New York: Press of the American Institute of

Architects.

Wright, Frank Lloyd

1910 [1983] Drawings and Plans of Frank Lloyd Wright: the Early Period

(1893-1909) [Wasmuth portfolio]. New York: Dover Publications.

1911 [1982] Early Work of Frank Lloyd Wright; the "Ausgeführte Bauten"

of 1911. New York: Dover Publications

1977 An Autobiography. New York: Horizon Press.

General

Colvin, Howard

1995 Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840. New Haven:

Yale University Press.

Fletcher, Banister

1958 History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. 16th ed. New York:

Scribner.

Choisy, Auguste

1899 Histoire de l'Architecture. 2 vols. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.

Guadet, J.

1905 Éléments et Théorie de l'Architecture; Cours Professé à l'École Nationale

et Spéciale des Beaux-arts. 4 vols. Paris, Librarie de la Construction

Moderne.

Gwilt, Joseph

1903 Encyclopedia of Architecture: Historical, Theoretical, & Practical.

Rev. by Wyatt Papworth. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

Mainstone, Rowland J.

1975 Developments in Structural Form. Cambridge, MA: M. I. T. Press.

Gene Waddell is an architectural historian; College Archivist, College of Charleston; and author of Charleston Architecture, 1670-1860 (Charleston: Wyrick & Co., 2004).

Published in Against the Grain 17 (Apr. 2005): 53-56.