Rolf Achilles – författare

The birth of the skyscraper in Chicago in the mid-1880s introduced a new direction for city architecture: upwards. But how—and why— was it that Chicago set the standard for high-rise buildings, not only across the USA but all over the world? Rolf Achilles here introduces the style of the First Chicago School from 1880 to 1910, explaining the innovative use of iron frames for strength, height and openness, and the ubiquity of gridded window arrangements. With reference to such famous architects as William Le Baron Jenny and Frank Lloyd Wright, and colorful pictures of, among many others, the Reliance, Brooks and Marquette buildings, this book is a fascinating exploration of the structures that helped to give Chicago its identity, and the world a new way of building.

From Nickelodeons and penny arcades in the 1890s to sophisticated, grand movie palaces in the 1920s and '30s, the evolution of American movie theaters was as dramatic as the films they showed. These were the places that gave many millions of Americans their first glimpses of glamor, romance and adventure, and which took them on previously undreamed-of roller-coaster rides of action, thrills and drama. While film stars became gods and goddesses and films became ever more spectacular, movie palaces rose up across the nation and matched the grandeur of these new cinematic worlds with their architectural spectacle, adopting the exotic styles of everything from Egyptian temples to Chinese pagodas to Italian villages. This book identifies the main styles of decoration, the most brilliant examples, the architects and designers behind them, and conjures up the experience of actually sitting in one as the lights dimmed and the music swelled.

The birth of the skyscraper in Chicago in the mid-1880s introduced a new direction for city architecture: upwards. But how-and why- was it that Chicago set the standard for high-rise buildings, not only across the USA but all over the world? Rolf Achilles here introduces the style of the First Chicago School from 1880 to 1910, explaining the innovative use of iron frames for strength, height and openness, and the ubiquity of gridded window arrangements. With reference to such famous architects as William Le Baron Jenny and Frank Lloyd Wright, and colorful pictures of, among many others, the Reliance, Brooks and Marquette buildings, this book is a fascinating exploration of the structures that helped to give Chicago its identity, and the world a new way of building.