Accents as Well as Broad Effects

Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer (1851-1934) is regarded among architectural historians for her 1888 biography of the 19th-century architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Less well-known are her writings on architecture, decorative art, gardening and landscape design, works that provide a view of cities and rural environments in turn-of-the-century America. This volume is a collection of Van Rensselaer's significant writings, including a chapter from the 1925 edition of "Art Out-of-Doors: Hints on Good Taste in Gardening". An established critic in environmental and literary circles, Van Rensselaer wrote for the general public in such journals as the "Century Magazine" and for a specialized audience of landscape architects in "Garden and Forest". She was a long-time contributor to "The American Architect and Building News", the first architectural journal in the United States. Van Rensselaer's articles on Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Public Library won great praise. Although the only woman in a field that was male-dominated at the time, she was opposed to women's suffrage. David Gebhard is the author of "Romanza: The California Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" and "Los Angeles