Nineteen essays, by a diverse group of historians and others who experience and study Gilbert's buildings in their professional lives, detail the intricate relationship between Gilbert's work and the longstanding tradition of public architecture in America. This volume examines Gilbert's work in five unique categories: the building of a national practice, an evaluation of his Minnesota State Capitol as "a defining moment" in American civic architecture, his New York career, his response to civic ideals in his plans for towns and universities, and his work in the public domain.

American architect Cass Gilbert built many of the major monuments of his generation. Inspired by design throughout the ages, he created buildings for the sites, clients, and programs of his own time. Gilbert began his architectural career in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1885. In 1895, Gilbert won the competition for the Minnesota State Capitol.

The story of noted architect Cass Gilbert and his early career in Minnesota, culminating in his commission to design the state capitol building in St. Paul.

A photographic tour of the Detroit Public Library’s rich art and architectural history. For the last century, the Detroit Public Library has ranked as one of the most beautiful buildings in Detroit—an important landmark as well as a significant monument serving generations of Detroiters.The Detroit Public Library: An American Classic was born out of "Discover the Wonders," an art and architectural tour of the main library that began in December 2013. Since the tour's inception, around seven thousand people have visited this structural gem. The Detroit Public Library was the result of numerous requests for a book that showcases the library's many artistic and architectural wonders. As the photographs in this book reveal, the Detroit Public Library stands as an enduring symbol of the public library, one of the most democratic institutions in America. The design of the Detroit Public Library was Cass Gilbert's vision for Detroit's Early Italian Renaissance-style library. This book honors his work with a chronological and photographic timeline of the conception and building of the 1921 Woodward Avenue Library, the 1963 Cass Avenue addition, and the library as it is today. The book goes through the library's transformative years, documenting the contributions of local and national artists such as Mary Chase Perry Stratton, Gari Melchers, and John Stephens Coppin, and includes photographs of the rooms they have decorated with murals, mosaics, painted windows, bronze works, architectural elements, and ornamentation. In preparing The Detroit Public Library, the authors had two fundamental desires, as they note in their preface. The first was to celebrate the main library's design using both historic and contemporary images, the latter contributed by a number of photographers presently working in Detroit. The second was "to share with the world the beauty and elegance of a grand building in a great city that, even through the most difficult times, has sustained one of the most magnificent neo-classical buildings in the country." The Detroit Public Library unites the interests of history buffs, art enthusiasts, library lovers, and Detroit-area locals with a tribute to one of the city's most impressive structures. This book will appeal to those looking to learn about the builders, the history, and the stories that brought the Detroit Public Library to fruition.

A gem of American urban planning history that would become a benchmark in discussions about the shape of the new American city

Of all building types, the skyscraper strikes observers as the most modern, in terms not only of height but also of boldness, scale, ingenuity, and daring. As a phenomenon born in late nineteenth-century America, it quickly became emblematic of New York, Chicago, and other major cities. Previous studies of these structures have tended to foreground examples of more evincing modernist approaches, while those with styles reminiscent of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe were initially disparaged as being antimodernist or were simply unacknowledged. Skyscraper Gothic brings together a group of renowned scholars to address the medievalist skyscraper—from flying buttresses to dizzying spires; from the Chicago Tribune Tower to the Woolworth Building in Manhattan. Drawing on archival evidence and period texts to uncover the ways in which patrons and architects came to understand the Gothic as a historic style, the authors explore what the appearance of Gothic forms on radically new buildings meant urbanistically, architecturally, and socially, not only for those who were involved in the actual conceptualization and execution of the projects but also for the critics and the general public who saw the buildings take shape. Contributors: Lisa Reilly on the Gothic skyscraper ● Kevin Murphy on the Trinity and U.S. Realty Buildings ● Gail Fenske on the Woolworth Building ● Joanna Merwood-Salisbury on the Chicago School ● Katherine M. Solomonson on the Tribune Tower ● Carrie Albee on Atlanta City Hall ● Anke Koeth on the Cathedral of Learning ● Christine G. O'Malley on the American Radiator Building