The Arts and Crafts Houses of Massachusetts: A Style Rediscovered Paperback – May 23, 2019

This is a very engaging book. It focuses on an architectural movement - called Arts and Crafts - that I'd never heard of. What makes the book come alive is the author's use of narratives to tell the history, and the photos that vividly illustrate the characteristics of the style. I especially liked the Field Guide that takes the reader through the features of the Arts and Crafts, from roof to sleeping porch, casement window to relationship to the ground. By the end of the book, I felt I had gained a real understanding of this interesting movement. It's also a beautifully designed book, and would make a great gift for someone interested in architecture.

"Words make a loosely woven net we throw over an idea to try to give it some shape."So begins the end of this fascinating look at Arts and Crafts architecture focused in and around Boston. Through deftly woven research and marvelous pictures, Heli Meltsner gives the reader an overview of the history and response to the Movement, and the American more open response to the English sense of privacy, all in a fantastic overview aimed at both the scholar and the neophyte.As someone who studied historical church architecture, the overall study of housing has been a love of mine. As a New Englander now based in the small city of Syracuse- the home base of Gustav Stickley and in turn, Stickley and Audi, his company, I am well acquainted with Stickley's influence on the American Arts and Crafts movement in both art and simpler homes. I am thrilled to add this to my home library. Highly recommended 5/5[I received this book from the publisher and chose to read and review it]