Villas and Cottages. A Series Of Designs Prepared For Execution in the United States.

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First edition of this influential pattern book, a pioneering work on suburban American architecture and taste, a book that would come to define the standards for Victorian Gothic architecture. The work presents thirty-two designs. As each new design is introduced they become increasingly complex. Initial designs are for a simple suburban cottage; terminal designs are for a large-scale villa (hence the title). Previous to the publication of this work, architect and landscape designer Calvert Vaux (1824–1895) had partnered with A.J. Downing. Villas and Cottages is dedicated to Andrew and Caroline Downing, Andrew having drowned in a steamboat accident. Vaux would subsequently partner with Frederic Law Olmsted and be instrumental in such design work as that implemented in the creation of Central Park in New York and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. A very pleasing copy. [ANB]

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