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Press Release
For Immediate Release
September 2010
Contact: Melanie Roth, Marketing Coordinator, Wisconsin Historical Society Press
melanie.roth@wisconsinhistory.org
608-264-6465 TWENTY REMARKABLE HOMES ILLUMINATE THE RICH HISTORY OF RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURURE
What do you see when you look at a stately old home? The exquisite craftsmanship, detailed embellishments, and imposing silhouette of a notable historic home inspire our awe, but also conjure questions of the story behind the structure. We want to know who built this house, what brought them here, why they selected that particular style, and how this historic home has survived when so many succumb to development pressures. "Wisconsin's Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes" ($45.00, ISBN: 978-0-87020-452-4), by M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman with photographs by Zane Williams, opens the door to venerable homes throughout the state, satisfying our curiosity and illuminating the considerable contribution Wisconsin's historic homes have made to American residential architecture.
Authors M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman and the Wisconsin Historical Society researched and carefully considered 1,500 potential houses before narrowing the selection to twenty remarkable residences constructed between 1854 and 1939. Built for captains of industry, a beer baron, Broadway stars, and more, these houses are a mix of public museums you may have visited and private homes you've been hoping for an invitation to explore. These homes are representative of the diverse architectural styles in Wisconsin, including: an Italianate along the Mississippi; an interpretation of a sixteenth-century northern Italian villa overlooking Lake Michigan; an Adirondack-style camp in the North Woods; a fourteen-bedroom Georgian Revival mansion on Lake Geneva. The Prairie School is also represented, with examples by Frank Lloyd Wright and his mentor Louis Sullivan. Elegantly illustrated with the color photography of Zane Williams complemented by historical images and watercolors and line drawings by the authors, "Wisconsin's Own" offers an intimate tour of residential treasures that have endured the test of time.
"In a very real sense, history is just stories about people. This marvelous book uses stories about people — where they came from, what they believed in, what they dreamed of, and especially what kind of homes they built — to present a compelling history of a special part of America. From a quirky octagon of the 1850s to an Art Moderne marvel of the 1930s, the houses on these pages remind us of the richness of Wisconsin's heritage — and the importance of keeping it intact and alive." —Richard Moe, President, National Trust for Historic Preservation "'Wisconsin's Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes' is so visually and intellectually stunning that you can forget the iPad or Kindle. You'll want to hold this exhaustively researched book in your hands. A must-see for lovers of historic homes." —Mary Van de Kamp Nohl, Milwaukee Magazine
"Wisconsin's Own" is generously funded by the Jeffris Family Foundation of Janesville, committed to funding projects that preserve Wisconsin's cultural history through the preservation of regionally and nationally important buildings and decorative arts projects.
The Wisconsin Historical Society Press, publishing since 1855, is the state's oldest publisher. # # #
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