Harlem is known throughout the world as the center of African-American history and culture in the United States. At the end of the nineteenth century, Harlem was an enclave of the upper bourgeoisie, and in the beginning of the twentieth century, it absorbed a great number of new inhabitants displaced from midtown. This era saw the Harlem Renaissance, in which a group of artists, writers, and jazz musicians had an important role in influencing world popular culture. The same period saw a flourishing of architecture and design in beautiful houses, churches, apartment buildings, theaters, and commercial buildings. After a period of decline, largely due to state and federal neglect, Harlem is once again experiencing a revival.
Author, preservationist, and Harlem resident Michael Henry Adams presents in this volume an architectural and social history of Harlem, encompassing great periods of social upheaval and change. Numerous architectural styles were employed by the builders of Harlem, notably neo-Palladianism, and specially commissioned color photographs capture the area as its architecture and interiors are being lovingly restored. Harlem: Lost and Found tells of the history and also of the present of this once ignored and now vibrant metropolitan center.
"Michael Adams' long awaited
Harlem Lost and Found illustrated by Paul Rocheleau richly illuminated Harlem's lapidary architecture. It also gestures at the web of social historical forces underpinning the neighborhood's built environs. It is a lovely book, beautifully produced." - Hope Cooke
|
