'WPA Buildings: Architecture and Art of the New Deal' by Joseph Maresca is a look at the art and architecture of federal buildings that were built in the 1930s and 1940s.

This book looks at blocky imposing goverment buildings and sees them in a new light. With lots of pictures, the similarities of a style called Moderne becomes evident. Inside details are looked at as well, including a whole chapter on new deal murals featured in these buildings, many now hidden from the public.

I gained a whole new appreciation for these boxy buildings that were built to bring a sense of weight and purpose to a country that desperately needed it.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Schiffer Publishing Ltd. and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

The author has exhaustively researched the architecture and art of the New Deal during the 30s. The book offers a brief overview of the WPA/PWA program under FDR. The author then presents many examples of the civic buildings that were built and the art that decorated them. There are lots of photographs to accompany the text. Since many of these buildings are no longer open to the it is wonderful to see this hidden art. The author does repeat himself but the book is easy to read. The photographs really make this a beautiful book. It is written for a general audience so the book will appeal to anyone interested in architecture, art and The New Deal History. Enjoy

Very well illustrated book. Tells the interesting history of all those substantial public buildings you see in many cities across the US.

I love architecture and books that include lots and lots of pictures of really cool architecture are some of my favorites. This book features WPA Buildings - buildings that were funded by the Works Progress Administration. I've seen some buildings in this style before, so it was nice to learn some more about them and how they came about and some of the murals and details inside of them.

I received a free e-copy to review this book, I was not otherwise compensated.

I liked this book. I learned a lot from it, and would browse through it again.

Until you stop and look it isn't obvious just how much of modern America we owe to
the WPA Era, but once you do it's staggering the amount of architectural marvels we still have with us from that brilliant idea
This book is filled with gorgeous images of the Art Deco style prevalent in the early 20th Century.
Breathtaking and stunning with it's sweeping lines, and serenely minimalist use of open space and a vague futuristic feel Art Deco still resonates today

The author's love of the subject is clearly evident; the architecture is well researched, nicely presented, thoroughly documented, and thoughtfully discussed. The text is nicely written to be personable yet informative with great analyses on one of the great building periods in the US. Even more interesting, readers would be hard pressed not to recognize buildings in their own neighborhood since the period was so prolific.

What I gleaned from the book:
- Many of these buildings were civic in nature - built by the government for government facilities. Now called federal moderne. But other smaller construction items were also included: bridge details, bathhouses, to auditoriums.
- They are easily recognized because so many looked like a simple carved block. Attention to detail, clean lines, and solid mass is the hallmark of a WPA building.
- This period produced so many buildings as part of the New Deal and a way to put American men back to work after the great depression.
- Neo Classicism was the influence but they were very modern for their time, never slavish in their use of historical influences.
- They were meant to present an image of solidness - to give Americans faith in their government. Never ostentatious and yet always an aura of importance and permanence.
- They were very masculine to inspire confidence (as opposed to e.g., theaters of the time, which were very feminine in their ornateness). Yet unlike other 1930s designs internationally (e.g., German), they were built to inspire and not intimidate.
- To highlight their ideals, murals were used extensively to showcase modern American artists.
- This is definitely not art deco, which had already had its hay-day.
- The mural artistry was an interesting process and a story in and of itself

I greatly enjoyed reading WPA Buildings. The book contains a large assortment of drawings, plans, details, historical images, and creatively shot modern images. I appreciated that the inside of the building was discussed as much as the outside.

If I had two nitpicks:

I wish the author would have stayed general in the paragraphs and then had call outs for each of the buildings and their images/details for more specific information. Too many paragraphs were discussions of buildings that didn't have accompanying images at that point so it was hard to visualize what the author was discussing. As well, this caused duplicates of images and buildings throughout.

And admittedly, the author did repeat himself frequently throughout. Again, this is owing to a paragraph text format rather than allowing for callouts or discussion of certain buildings at the end. The text goes from general to specific, general to specific, ad nauseum that can be very frustrating.

And yes, I have a soft spot for the Marine Terminal in La Guardia airport, which to me always epitomized the era's buildings (I only saw the terminal by chance, when my flight was rerouted to take off from there the morning after Hurricane Sandy). But it wasn't mentioned in the book at all, to my disappointment.

In all, very informatively, friendly writing that isn't boring, and many great images to illustrate the points. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.