Review: Philadelphia Builds: Essays on Architecture

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Book Review| March 01 2023 Review: Philadelphia Builds: Essays on Architecture Michael J. Lewis Philadelphia Builds: Essays on Architecture Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2021, 373 pp., 128 b/w illus. $24.95 (paper), ISBN 9781589881525 Kenneth Finkel Kenneth Finkel Temple University Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2023) 82 (1): 97–98. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2023.82.1.97 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Guest Access Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Kenneth Finkel; Review: Philadelphia Builds: Essays on Architecture. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 March 2023; 82 (1): 97–98. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2023.82.1.97 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search The twenty-two essays in Philadelphia Builds add up to far more than the sum of their parts. While all but two of the essays were previously published elsewhere, here they appear in substantially revised and updated form. Michael J. Lewis, a professor at Williams College, promises a “readable anthology,” but more than that, the book is an essential and often delightful addition to the literature on the architectural history of both Philadelphia and the United States. Lewis writes about his native city as equal parts scholar and observer, “in a spirit of love, exasperation, and (if only for self-preservation) irony” (ix). In so doing, he deftly explains the three-century-long history of the city and its design cultures. Lewis is both an experienced commentator (he writes as an architecture critic for the Wall Street Journal) and a public historian, and he regularly offers up finely honed opinions that illuminate the... You do not currently have access to this content.