Creating a New Old House: Yesterday's Character for Today's Home

Rating:
Summary: FINE BOOK - WONDERFUL PICS - INSIGHTFUL WRITING
Review: As we all look for something authentic in a country washed over in a sea of fakery and bogus iconography; it is refreshing to see that there are artists and crafts people (and architects) still capable of creating space that is authentic. This is a book for anyone who is considering creating a space that is populated by not just a lot of "authentic looking" details but details that reflect the substance of the structure itself. The structures that are reviewed are not multimillion dollar, 45,000 sq. ft. mansions; rather they are a mix chosen for illustrating Versaci's message.

I read this book and as I embark on yet another new home building project feel a real sense of excitement. Time to find myself an architect who share's Versaci's enthusiasm for an authentic American architecture that is true to itself right down to the foundation.

If you are looking around your home and it appears visually shallow this book will be a real watershed for your vision of the "next" house. I bought several copies for friends who are looking at a possible "next" homes and it has really started them thinking in an all new way about their projects.

Nice book to look at and read.

Rating:
Summary: A simply beautiful concept sourcebook
Review: Creating A New Old House: Yesterday's Character For Today's Home by Russell Versaci (an experienced home designer and a founding member of The Institute for Traditional Architecture) is an impressively organized and presented guide to recapturing images, impressions, and positive virtues drawn from past traditions of interior decor in today's homes. Superbly showcasing full-color photographs in order bring interior design principles and ideals to light, Creating A New Old House is a simply beautiful concept sourcebook for adding a strong touch of enduring flavor to one's dwelling and a welcome addition to professional, academic, and community library Interior Design reference shelves.

Rating:
Summary: Traditional Aesthetics with Modern Conveniences
Review: I have an academic and working background in architectural design, and I recently began designing a house for myself and my family for the very first time. While having a pretty solid education in modern architecture, I confess to have always been in love with more traditional design aesthetics and architectural history. A few months ago, I was searching for a book like this to aid in designing my home, but I could NOT find anything like this. I wanted a home that was rich in architectural tradition yet the home design also had to meet modern day demands in space and utility. I was ecstatic to come across a review for this book at another website announcing the book's publishing date. . . I was concerned at first that this book would be nothing but SLICK coffee table fodder because of the beautiful pictures, but upon receiving the book, I found the book to contain pertinent information that guides the reader/designer on how to accomplish a design that integrates traditional aesthetics and feeling with modern day needs and wants. This book is more than just pretty: it spells out how to achieve a historical, traditional look without mocking the past or being trite. . . and at the same time encourages the designer to meet modern needs.

Rating:
Summary: Traditional Aesthetics with Modern Conveniences
Review: I have an academic and working background in architectural design, and I recently began designing a house for myself and my family for the very first time. While having a pretty solid education in modern architecture, I confess to have always been in love with more traditional design aesthetics and architectural history. A few months ago, I was searching for a book like this to aid in designing my home, but I could NOT find anything like this. I wanted a home that was rich in architectural tradition yet the home design also had to meet modern day demands in space and utility. I was ecstatic to come across a review for this book at another website announcing the book's publishing date. . . I was concerned at first that this book would be nothing but SLICK coffee table fodder because of the beautiful pictures, but upon receiving the book, I found the book to contain pertinent information that guides the reader/designer on how to accomplish a design that integrates traditional aesthetics and feeling with modern day needs and wants. This book is more than just pretty: it spells out how to achieve a historical, traditional look without mocking the past or being trite. . . and at the same time encourages the designer to meet modern needs.

Rating:
Summary: Great source of inspirations. Great photographs.
Review: I love older homes. And when it came to renovating our newer home we were challenged to put the old into the new. I've been a magazine junkie, culling pictures here and there. But this book is a one-stop shop for classic American styles and details. I love that these houses are not lavishly large (for the most part) but intimate. The strength is in their high quality details.
My husband and I really love this book. We have been able to visually resolve some ideas about mantels, flooring, and window styles to compliment our New England home. The side bars and floor plans are easy to follow. And notice how light plays in the interiors. Sumptuous!

(I just wish I could find an old stlye interior pattern book, complete with example photos, dates and locations. Hint, hint!)

Rating:
Summary: Great source of inspirations. Great photographs.
Review: I love older homes. And when it came to renovating our newer home we were challenged to put the old into the new. I've been a magazine junkie, culling pictures here and there. But this book is a one-stop shop for classic American styles and details. I love that these houses are not lavishly large (for the most part) but intimate. The strength is in their high quality details.
My husband and I really love this book. We have been able to visually resolve some ideas about mantels, flooring, and window styles to compliment our New England home. The side bars and floor plans are easy to follow. And notice how light plays in the interiors. Sumptuous!

(I just wish I could find an old stlye interior pattern book, complete with example photos, dates and locations. Hint, hint!)

Rating:
Summary: Latest in a series...no end in sight
Review: If you've read any of the Taunton Press house books you'll not be shocked by what you see here. It follows their proven formula and maintains their exemplary look. This one is slanted toward traditional styles--Cape, Spanish Colonial, Greek Revival, Craftsman--giving an example of each, then discussing its architectural features in an easy-to-read style that assumes no prior knowledge. There's the obligatory Eight Rules of Good Houses, which oddly seem to always require expensive materials used in expensive custom designs. If you don't have a problem with that, I'm sure you'll enjoy all these beautifully photographed homes.

Rating:
Summary: A great source of ideas and inspirations
Review: In this wonderful book, widely acclaimed architect Russell Versaci tells the reader how to capture the character of an old house in a new house, tailored for today's needs. The author, who is well known for this sort of designing, starts out with his "Eight Pillars of Traditional Design", and then shows you how to put them into practice. Taking eighteen houses found throughout the country (and reflecting the traditional regional style), he uses a combination of brightly colorful pictures and highly informative text to take you around and through the houses, giving you an insiders look into what was done and why.

Having grown up in an old house, I have always found the boxy/characterless/styleless post-World War 2 houses to be nothing short of depressing. My wife and I now own a 1916 house, and wish to add in the character that makes an old house a gem. Well, we found this book to be a great source of ideas and inspirations. If you like the style and grace of well-made older houses, and want to incorporate that style and grace into your own home, then you must read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful houses! I want one!
Review: My husband and I like old houses, and we had been thinking of buying a new Victorian in a subdivision. I say "had," because ever since we bought this book, we feel that the houses we have been considering are hollow imitations of the real thing. They just pale in comparision to the "new old" houses shown in this book. In short, we have become inspired to build our own "new old house." Thank you, Russell Versaci! We love this book!

Rating:
Summary: One of those rare books that shouldn't get lost in the crowd
Review: This is a lovely book, of the sort that can restore one's faith. I've had regular flareups of interest in residential architecture since I was a boy, and have been known to grouse that an utter lack of aesthetic sensibility on the part of my fellow citizens can be seen on every residential street. There are times when I simply despair even of the literature: I used to bring stock photography catalogs to my photography classes and challenge my students to find three good pictures; I sometimes feel like I'm engaged in the same exercise with house designs when I look through those "250 Bestselling House Plans!" books. Although there is evidently much fine bespoke work being done somewhere--based on pictures I've glimpsed in books--the state of traditional housing design is benighted. People don't seem to realize that you EITHER must capture the gestalt of a traditional design, OR depart from it sufficiently that it becomes something original, with its own energy. To understand WHICH you are doing, you really must go back and look, really look, at the authentic examples.

I've recently been looking into log homes, which is instructive. These seem to be almost an exaggerated parody of the state of housing in general. A few manage to hew to a sense of traditional styles, and a few manage to be original and fresh, and some in between are tasteful and well laid out. But some of them are just so alarmingly awful that it makes one wonder if their builders haven't had the bits of their brains in charge of taste, restraint, and proportion carved out with a scalpel and tossed onto the scraps bin. Tract houses made of logs, flagrant appropriations of wholly wrong stylistic cues, and above all, no sense or understanding of the classic form.

Sorry, I'm ranting. What this book shows us is what is possible in traditional forms when the architect and builder really understand not just the obvious surfacey tropes of an older style, but its "deep feel;" as a result, they're not fakes, not bad copies--they've become something vibrant again.

I guess I need add no more. It's nice to see some of these much-abused styles given authentic life again. I found this quite a satisfying book.