An American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City

An American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City, written by Phillip James Dodd with photography by Jonathan Wallen, is a sumptuous book on an era–roughly from the 1870s to the 1930s–when New York acquired and displayed its wealth and sophistication with complete confidence. The titans of American finance and industry were patrons of the arts in their private mansions, public institutions, and business establishments. An American Renaissance focuses on 20 of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the city and recalls the lives of those who commissioned, designed, and built them. Some of the buildings and monuments are world-renowned landmarks, while others are more obscure and seldom visited. The opulence of the Gilded Age is stunningly captured in this oversized and extravagantly illustrated volume.

The book is introduced with an essay by Julian Fellowes, the acclaimed creator, writer, and executive producer of the beloved British series Downton Abbey. Photographer Jonathan Wallen has been the principal contributor on more than twenty books on architecture, including titles on McKim, Mead & White, Warren and Wetmore, and John Russell Pope.

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Phillip James Dodd is an international authority of classical architecture and interiors and the author of The Art of Classical Details: Theory Design & Craftsmanship (2013) and An Ideal Collaboration (2015). Born and raised in the U.K., he graduated from the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture in London. He moved to the U.S. more than two decades ago and began to work with well-known American classical architecture firms. In 2015, he established his eponymous firm, Phillip James Dodd: Bespoke Residential Design LLC, based in Greenwich, Connecticut.