Tag: architecture
“Robin Ward, a graduate of the celebrated Glasgow School of Art and respected architectural critic and author, does justice to that inheritance. He has added to the comprehensive yet accessible guidebooks he has written singly or collaboratively, including on Victoria and Vancouver, in this province. The photography is excellent and selection of buildings and civic statuary or artwork both astute and appropriate to exploring the built environment of Canada’s one-time leading metropolis.” Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe reviews Exploring Montréal: 151 Best Buildings, by Robin Ward (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $29.95 / 9781771624619
Debut author blends memoir, mall history, and critique with a “self-effacing love letter to her hometown’s most famous institution.” —Logan Macnair reviews Big Mall: Shopping for Meaning, by Kate Black (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2024) $23.95 / 9781552454725
First published March 22, 2018. Canada: Modern Architectures in History by Rhodri Windsor Liscombe and Michelangelo Sabatino London: Reaktion Books, 2016. £20.00 / 9781780236339 Reviewed by Martin Segger * This survey of Modernism in Canada is the thirteenth volume in a series of country-by-country studies of twentieth century architecture. This one has long been anticipated…
Read more #270 Starchitects, 1886 onwards
Binning House by Matthew Soules (text) and Michael Perlmutter (photography) Novato, California: ORO Editions, 2017 UBC SALA/West Coast Modern House Series $24.95 (U.S.) / 9871939621665 Reviewed by Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe First published Feb. 19, 2018 * Architecture critic Adele Weder is now trying to preserve the much-admired house that was built and designed by Bert Binning…
Read more #249 West Vancouver modern
Essay: The Mysterious and Difficult Hermann Otto Tiedemann by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor First published November 26, 2017 * In this essay written specially for The Ormsby Review, Robert (Rob) Ratcliffe Taylor provides biography of Hermann Otto Tiedemann (1821-1891), the German-born surveyor, engineer, architect, and artist. He was one of thousands attracted to Victoria by the…
Read more #211 From Prussia to Victoria
Commemorating Canada: History, Heritage, and Memory, 1850s-1990sby Cecilia Morgan Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016$26.95 / 9781442610613 Reviewed by Mike Starr First published October 4, 2017 * Cecilia Morgan’s Commemorating Canada is a good place to start when examining the role of historical commemoration in Canada. The book is part of the Themes in Canadian History…
Read more #177 Monumental tasks
Under Vancouver 1972-1982 by Greg Girard, with interviews by William Gibson and David Campany Toronto: The Magenta Foundation, 2017 $50.00 / 9781926856100 Reviewed by Bill Jeffries * Born in 1955, Greg Girard grew up in Burnaby and started photographing Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 1972, when he was still in high school. Girard moved to Hong…
Read more #137 Glimpses of pre-Expo Vancouver
Fred Herzog: Modern Color texts by David Campany, Hans-Michael Koetzle, Jeff Wall Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2016 €38.00 / 9783775741811 Reviewed by Bill Jeffries First published May 22, 2017 * Fred Herzog, who is 87 years old in 2017, had to wait until 2011 for a substantial book (Fred Herzog Photographs, Douglas & McIntyre) illustrating…
Read more #128 Fred Herzog’s genius
REVIEW: Lost Vancouver: an Unexpected Art Deco TourAn exhibit at Space Gallery at 552 Clark Drive, Vancouver Reviewed by Michael Kluckner * Between April 11 and April 23 2018, Space Gallery hosts an exhibit, Lost Vancouver: an Unexpected Art Deco Tour. Michael Kluckner, who visited the exhibit for The Ormsby Review, appraises the work of Anne…
Read more #119 Bike ride & Art Deco
Glorious Victorian Homes: 150 Years of Architectural History in British Columbia’s Capital by Nick Russell Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2016 $29.95 / 9781771511865 Reviewed by Larry McCann First published Jan. 16, 2017 * Glorious Victorian Homes is vintage Nick Russell, written with verve, wit, and deep insights about Victoria’s architectural heritage. Well-known and highly regarded for…
Read more #74 Street views before Google
Thomas Fuller: Architect for a Nation by Dorothy Mindenhall [Victoria:] Lakehill Books, 2015 $45.00 / 9780994809513 * Imagining Uplands: John Olmsted’s Masterpiece of Residential Design by Larry McCann [Victoria:] Brighton Press, 2016 $55.00 / 9780995066304 A joint review by Harold Kalman First published Dec. 6, 2016 Two stimulating additions to the literature on the Canadian…
Read more #59 From Civil Gothic to Modern