A lovely book about country houses on Long Island. Filled with gorgeous photos of the exteriors and interiors of 15 farm and manor houses, the author gives us the stories and histories of each home, bringing them to life.

#Americana #NetGalley

Americana is a well curated in-depth look at 15 stately Long Island homes and farms. The author, Kyle Marshall, has a design background as well as experience and in depth knowledge of the subject matter and his enthusiasm shines through in the text.

Released 28th Sept 2019 by Schiffer, it's 208 pages and available in hardcover.

Whilst this is certainly a niche book, in that it is limited to a specific geographical location, the gorgeous photography, architectural detailing, interior shots, structural layouts (including historical renovation notes), and broad choice of house subjects will make this an appealing choice for any historical home enthusiast.

These are really gorgeous homes, some brought back from disrepair, some owned, well-loved, and maintained throughout their history. The history and architecture of each of the houses is detailed by the author, interspersed with coordinated exterior and interior room shots. The details are well elucidated by the author, many of which I would have missed without the 'guided tour'. At least some of the included properties are privately held and not (generally) open to the public, so the inside looks are rarefied and exclusive.

I loved seeing the interiors as well as the garden shots. There are wonderful period details, leaded glass windows, beautiful carpets, wonderful antique furniture and more.

This would make a lovely coffee table book as well as an inspiration book for anyone who enjoys interior design. Approximately half of the houses have included floorplans which were enlightening for me, especially seeing where the original structures had been changed and rearranged and rebuilt.

Four stars, some breathtaking photography and masses of detail here (included a further reading list and links which made me swoon).

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you NetGalley.

beautiful book. beautiful photos. beautiful art.

check it out.

I'm in love with Americana style: music, art, home... This book was a pleasure to sink into and I recommend it highly to others.

Americana showcases homes of historic Long Island. The author tells of the owner and architectural history of the homes along with many colorful photos. I had no idea that some of these homes had such bold colors until reading this book. He goes into detail about how some of the homes evolved over time and why. Would definitely recommend for anyone interested in historic homes. One complaint I have is the layout of some of the pictures but that is probably just the formatting on the Kindle.

I adore historic homes. I work in one. If I could visit one historic home every day for the rest of my life, it wouldn't be enough. I also find myself drawn to the east coast, and New England in particular (I realise that New England doesn't include New York as a rule, but the sentiment stands for the general area). As a Canadian, that seems a bit odd, I'm fascinated not just by the architecture but by the whole atmosphere in general. The sea and the history. This is certainly a niche book - I cannot see anyone who isn't acutely interested in the historic homes of Long Island picking this one up, but it is fascinating. It is clearly impeccably researched. Perhaps it's because America as a civilisation has a much longer history that goes much farther back than my own Western Canada does (my city itself is only 144 years old, and has only spent 125 years as an actual city), but I am blown away by the amount of detail in each of the write-ups about each of the houses, especially when their history goes back hundreds of years. They aren't the homes of super important people, while certainly well-off and would have been known at the time, the fact that their histories have been kept throughout the centuries until they could be published in this book is thrilling to me. Even if you only pick up this book to flip through the photographs I think would be worth it, because while they may not be the homes of the Vanderbilts, they are still really cool to look at.

A lovely book a guided tour of these historic homes Americana at its best.Perfect for students of design or anyone who enjoys looking at interesting home.#netgalley#schifferpublishing.

Are you a person who likes to visit historic homes? Do you go inside and imagine what it might have been like to live there? Do you ever see a house and daydream about it being yours? If, like me, you answer yes to these questions, you may well enjoy Americana. This book showcases the farmhouses and manors of Long Island, New York. Homes have been on Long Island since the 1600s when early emigrants settled there. This book shows the evolution of a number of these homes both their outsides and interiors; in addition, one sees the landscapes that these homes enjoyed. There are essays to accompany the photos.

Some reviewers have noted faults and inconsistencies in this book. That is true but, nonetheless, it is a wonderful volume to look at and imagine where a person might live.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book, while full of lovely photographs, is very flawed. I can easily understand the interest in putting together a book that showcases the vernacular architecture of Long Island, but it would be nice if Marshall did not assume that we were intimately familiar with the geography and topology of Long Island as well as being intimately familiar with technical architectural terms.

Then there is the problem that the pictures were seemingly picked without reference to the essays that accompany them. An essay will talk about aspects of the facade, but there is no picture of the entire house. It will discuss a soaring music room, when there is no picture of any soaring rooms. Architectural features are discussed at length and never shown. Gardens are mentioned but the landscape pictures are of woods, trees, and swimming pools. And nothing speaks more of historic vernacular architecture than a modern swimming pool.

All this is bad enough, but when you combine it with the fact that the pictures have no captions it gets worse. The reader has no idea what these are pictures of. You an assume the house name and its town but not much else. When you consider that the majority of these homes are not open to the public, giving the reader uncaptioned pictures is a major shortcoming.

If you don't care to know what you look at, if you just want to look at the pretty pictures, or if you know the subject well, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise it is just an exercise in frustration.

A definite reference book for any interior designer or architect interested in iconic Americana design. Lots of beautiful photographs of interiors and exteriors. Also floor plans of classic layouts.

A fascinating book full of wonderful pictures. I loved to see the places and I think this book should be amazing in hard covers.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The author obviously has a passion for the subject, which he shares with great style. GIves lovely insight into a rarified world.