Lake Tahoe is the gem of the Sierra Nevada. Those who visit this beautiful "Lake of the Sky" may share Mark Twain's impression of the place as he camped on its shore in 1861: "As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords." Twain's quote, from Roughing It, includes the trinity of Tahoe's landscape--sky, mountains, and lake--that people still find inspiring. This expla...

Louisiana, the Bayou State, is famous for many things, including savory cuisine, great music, and a resident population whose mantra is laissez les bons temps roulerlet the good times roll! The place is also noted for its historic architecture, which ranges from simple forms such as the shotgun house or the Creole cottage to the celebrated plantation homes along the River Road.Bayou Built: The Legacy of Louisianas Historic Architecture examines th...

With more than 500 ravishing full-color photographs, Asian Style Hotels brings you to the best hotels in Southeast Asia.Hotels from Bali, Java, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are showcased in great detail. The super-deluxe establishments included here are all at the cutting-edge of hotel design and management. Each property has been hand-picked according to a set of criteria that includes a strong design aesthetic, architectural integrity, and a sense of...

San Luis Obispo was founded in 1772 as a mission in the foothills of the Santa Lucia Mountains on California's Central Coast. The city that grew from a rustic pueblo, with its scattering of adobe buildings, today has a wealth of architectural styles. From the simple barns of the outlying farm community, to the grand hotels and lively saloons kept busy by the Southern Pacific Railroad depot, and back full circle to the Mission Revival style edifices of California Polytechnic State Universit...

The fully expanded, updated, and freshly designed second edition of the most comprehensive and widely acclaimed guide to domestic architecture: in print since its original publication in 1984, and acknowledged everywhere as the unmatched, essential guide to American houses.This revised edition includes a section on neighborhoods; expanded and completely new categories of house styles with photos and descriptions of each; an appendix on "Approaches to Construction i...

Touring south to north, from San Diego through Santa Barbara County, this unique compendium takes the reader through the Southern California Mission System as portrayed on vintage postcards. The book elaborates on the missions' myriad functions along the coastal El Camino Real through several centuries as not only isolated centers of civilization in thewilderness and altars of Catholic faith, but also as incursions of empire and politics and the means to convert Native American tribespeopl...

A fascinating journey into the past—and under the ground—that offers "an insightful look at the what-might-have-beens of urban mass transit" ( The New York Times).From the day it broke ground by City Hall in 1900, it took about four and half years to build New York's first subway line to West 145th Street in Harlem. Things rarely went that quickly ever again.The Routes Not Taken explores the often-dramatic stories behind unbuilt or unfinis...

Super Potato Design is the first full-length book to present the work and conceptual ideas of the internationally renowned Japanese design firm Super Potato, founded by Takashi Sugimoto.Super Potato's powerful designs for the interiors of restaurants, shops and hotels, as well as Takashi Sugimoto's designs for tea ceremony spaces and utensils, are richly complex compositions of materials which create simple, strong spaces.Using traditional Japanese...

This Balinese design book, containing over 300 beautiful photos and extensive commentary will add a distinctive tropical flair to your interior decorating and architecture.The phenomenon loosely termed "Bali style" has been the subject matter for countless books on art, architecture, and interior design. In this book, author and architect Gianni Francione showcases the new generation of Bali-style homes, interiors, and artifacts that utilize what he terms a new int...

This Asian interior design and architecture book showcases the best luxury homes and interior spaces of the Pacific region.Asia has emerged in the last couple of decades as the global leader in tropical villa design. With innovative indoor/outdoor architecture engineered to facilitate relaxed, al fresco lifestyles, there are myriad solutions to suit every taste and pocket. Featuring hundreds of homes, garden estates, hotels, restaurants and more from India to Indoc...

In spite of its relentless reputation as a �cow town,� Denver has grown from a dusty prairie burg into a thriving metropolis nestled against the foothills of the great Rocky Mountains. Gold brought the area�s first settlers in the 1850s, and mining camps sprouted up along the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. The first rudimentary structures of canvas, mud, and logs were soon replaced with sturdy buildings made of brick, stone, and wood, in what is now affectionately r...

Spanish colonial missionary settlements established San Antonio as a junction between Mexico and the developing United States in the early 1700s. Because of its remote location amid both countries and its great distance from other cities, San Antonio became a crossroads for commerce, industry, and strategic military position on the wild frontier. Texas independence and the admission of Texas into the United States in the 19th century established a diverse cultural population and distinctiv...