Power in Buildings: An Artist’s View of Contemporary Architecture

A welcome republication of a scarce title from America’s greatest architectural draftsman. First published in 1953 and long out of print, the sixty bold drawings and informed text trace Ferriss’s personal odyssey through the modern architecture of America from 1929 to 1953. Dams, bridge anchorages, grain elevators, skyscraper projects, and viaducts are delineated in Ferriss’s rich and somewhat brooding chiaroscuro style, while he surprises us with illustrations of such landmarks as the Johnson Wax building, Taliesin West, Lever House, and the then-unbuilt United Nations Headquarters.