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The Other Modern Movement: Architecture, 1920-1970 by Kenneth Frampton New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, $50 344 pages, 580 duotone illustrations

Kenneth Frampton, the great historian of modernist architecture, has authored books on Tadao Ando, Charles Correa, Steven Holl, and Harry Seidler. He considers the International Style, as identified by HenryRussell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson in their highly influential 1932 MoMA exhibition, to be only part of the modern movement’s story and, with Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as its chief heroes, one “more concerned with appearance than with substance.”

This new book is its antidote, with 19 additional talents who have made their own respectable contributions. Some of these are best known by single works, such as Eileen Gray’s 1929 House E-1027 in Roquebrune-CapMartin, France, and Pierre Chareau’s 1932 Maison de Verre in Paris. Many others are represented by projects that are virtually unknown (at least by this reviewer): Antonin Raymond’s 1932 Golf Club in Asaka, Japan; Evan Owen Williams’s 1939 Daily Express building in Manchester, U.K.; and Alejandro de la Sota’s 1961 Gobierno Civil in Tarragona, Spain.

Frampton, a professor at Colum bia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, leads us to conclude that modernism had a broader foundation, a more varied character, and— perhaps—a more durable future than previously acknowledged, all welcome insights. Happily, he has also provided bibliographies for all 19 of his chosen architects.

What They’re Reading...

James and Hayes Slade

Founders of Slade Architecture

The Stormlight Archive by Brian Sanderson New York: Tor Books, $40

An American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City by Phillip James Dodd New York: Images Publishing Group, $135 412 pages, 330 color illustrations

Here is a big (11 by 14 inches), bountiful, handsomely illustrated book showing 20 exemplary New York buildings and interiors completed between 1870 and 1930—an era of great growth and, for some, great fortunes, known now as the American Ren aissance or the Gilded Age. The Ecole des BeauxArts in Paris, where a lot of the included architects studied, offered a variety of styles to emulate, many of which are represented here. George B. Post’s 1875 Williamsburgh Savings Bank is Florentine Renaissance; the 1899 University Club by Charles Follen McKim is a larger version of an Italian palazzo; Cass Gilbert’s 1907 Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House is inspired by the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris; the 1913 Grand Central Terminal by Reed & Stern with Warren & Wetmore is modeled on Rome’s Baths of Caracalla; the Woolworth building of 1913, also by Gilbert, is Gothic Revival (and was, for a time, the world’s tallest skyscraper). Together they give New York a sense of history and pride while creating a cultured background for the modernism that followed.

A dark cloud above it all, however, is the ghost of McKim’s Pennsylvania Station, built to glorious result in 1910 and destroyed in 1968. Its demise, however, led to the formation of the New York Landmarks Preservation Com mission, without which many of these classical buildings would have been lost.

“Our entire family has been enjoying The Stormlight Archive, Brian Sanderson’s epic futuristic fantasy series that’s at four novels so far. It has been a very interesting and engrossing escape for us all that we can also discuss together, so it’s great fun.

More apropos of our design work, however, we listen to Smartless, the podcast hosted by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes. They typically interview people involved in film and TV, including writers, actors, and directors. We find the discussions of a creative field outside architecture and design enriching, and the interpretation of their work for our own arena is highly rewarding. For example, we especially enjoyed the Ken Burns interview. His process sounded tremendously disciplined while at the same time offering points of looseness and spontaneity. There is incredible attention to every aspect of his documentaries and how each element intertwines to form the final product. Many of his thoughts about his work had analogous insights for our own. We aim to make our spaces multisensory and have taken inspiration from the podcast for several of our current branded retail projects, which are confidential at the moment. But we can say that they tell a narrative across the senses and deliver experiential spaces that are also replicable for different locations. Listening to these interviews forces a re in terpretation, rather than just treading the same, familiar paths, as we celebrate our firm’s 20th anniversary.”

For those with a finer appreciation of the classics.

Classic Metals from Chemetal are an impressive collection of beautiful, bestselling classic metal designs in HPL and anodized aluminum. Here: #901 Polished Aluminum “Fountain” at the National Building Museum.

chemetal.com