In the late 1920s, at the height of American Art Deco, the New York architect Ralph Walker (1889-1973) began to craft a polemical theory of modern design. His theory, based in the “New Humanism” occupying American literary and philosophical circles during the roaring twenties, proposed a new way of thinking about the making of buildings, and par…[Read more]

Gathered in this special issue of Studies in the Decorative Arts are four articles that deal in different ways with the same thesis: that textiles and theories of textile design have a vital place in modern architecture and design. Ranging from the literal incorporation of textiles—curtains, pillowcases, blankets, rugs—into architectural ens…[Read more]

Abstract
The sprawling, polynucleated form of Dallas-Fort Worth presents challenges to traditional notions of civic public space. While it is anchored by two major cities, the metropolitan area is composed of over 200 incorporated cities and towns, each with its own separate local government and town hall. This fragmented pattern of growth is…[Read more]

Since the beginnings of professionalization in the nineteenth century, architects have struggled to find ways to reach a broad public. Leopold Eidlitz, one of the founding members of the American Institute of Architects, published a series of essays in The Crayon in 1858 that attempted, through the use of popular literary forms, to do just that.…[Read more]

This article provides new perspective on architectural training and practice in nineteenth-century America by focusing on the little known efforts by the Prague-born architect Leopold Eidlitz to create a new school of architecture in New York in the 1860s. Eidlitz proposed to establish a polytechnic institute based on the schools of central Europe…[Read more]