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Ghostly Ruins: America's Forgotten Architecture
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List Price:
$29.95
Arts Photography Price: $29.95
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 779.092
EAN: 9781568986159
ISBN: 1568986157
Label: Princeton Architectural Press
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2006-09-28
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Studio: Princeton Architectural Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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We've all seen them but might have been too scared to enter: the house on the hill with its boarded-up windows; the darkened factory on the outskirts of town; the old amusement park with its rickety skeleton of a rollercoaster. These are the ruins of America, filled with the echoes of the voices and footfalls of our grandparents, or their parents, or our own youth. Where once these structures were teeming with life—commuters, workers, vacationers—now they are disused and dilapidated. Ghostly Ruins shows the life and death of thirty such structures, from transportation depots, factories, and jails to amusement parks, mansions, hotels, and entire towns. Author Harry Skrdla gives a guided tour of these marvelous structures at their peak of popularity juxtaposed with their current state of haunted decrepitude. Like a seasoned teller of ghost stories, Skrdla's words and images reveal what lies beyond the gates and beneath the floorboards. There are the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary and Bethlehem Steel factory in Pennsylvania, the Packard Motors Plant and Book-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, and Philip Johnson's New York State Pavilion from the 1964/65 World's Fair. There is the entire town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, where a trash fire set inside an old mine in 1962 morphed into an underground inferno that incinerated the town from underneath; more than forty years later, the subterranean fire still rages. The town is empty now, just as the many other abandoned places in this chronicle. Ghostly Ruins is a record of the souls of yesteryear and a chronicle of America's haunted past.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Must Have!
Comment: Beautiful, haunting black and white photographs, I just love this book, I could not put it down. A book you will look at and read over and over again. Imagine my surprise to see the West Baden Springs Hotel listed! It is 2 miles from my home. Mr. Skrdla, you should see it now!! It is amazing!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Photos from an enthusiatic expert
Comment: Who could not fall for the enthusiasm of Mr. Skrdla? He expertly details the rise and fall of these remarkable ruins, from design to construction to abandonment. He casts a wry eye on how greed often contribute to these ruins' demise. The photographs are very good, particularly when he pairs before-and-after views. Highly recommended for any student of architectural photography, urban affairs, wealth, and just about anything American.
Mr. Skrdla, we need a sequel!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great coffee table book!
Comment: This book is full of interesting places which we all wish we could visit. The photograhy in this book is classic black and white. With the perfect amount of information not to make it boring. I love this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Expands your perspective on the world of architecture.
Comment: Author Skrdla presents his unique vision of the world of abandoned buildings across the USA. Lavishly illustrated in compelling black and white images, the book opens your eyes to the beauty and sadness of the deserted cast-offs of our "throw-away" age.
The book is organized in a series of types of building, from residential to industrial. Skrdla has an ironic and tight writing style which clearly expresses his love for these often dramatic examples of man's ego and confidence. He also makes the reader take stock of the increasingly homogenized, sterile, and industrially functional buildings our society is willing to accept. He makes the stong point that we are losing the pride in civic architecture which is the foundation of lasting meaning and beauty.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappearing fast
Comment: A very impressive photo documentary of buildings and places that have been left to uncertainty, the elements, or destroyed. The brief histories given for each place makes for some interesting reading. The photographs are magnificent, I wish I could step into them and see all the photographer saw at the time the places were photographed. It is sad to think some of these places will be left alone to fall apart or destroyed. This book really brings to mind how precious and unique these places are.
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