The Arts & Crafts Lifestyle and Design

I enjoyed reading this book. Some of the other reviews complained about the way the book discusses on the lifestyle of the people who lived in Arts & Crafts houses and during the time. But I have an engineering mentality, so I need to know the function before the form makes any sense to me at all. The book describes both the space and the purpose of the space used by these rather-formal people. Hearing about servant's quarters and such is a little strange in this time, but it did drive the design of a house -- so it's an important part the architecture of the time. My copy is used, but it was well worth the money I paid for it, and we've been able to get a bunch of neat ideas for Arts & Crafts style tweaks to our modest 1950s house.

The Arts and Crafts Lifestyle and Design is a historical perspective on the design principles and the lifestyle (i.e. how the houses were used) by people involved in this design movement. It is very well written with wonderful photographs. It is, however, organized in a manner as to make using this book for research on the artists or the designs difficult. Rather than highlighting individual artists of the movement and their work, it is arranged by the basic rooms of the houses. For example, dining rooms are discussed using various designers and houses. I would have found it more useful had the individual houses or each artist been discussed more and in the same location in the book. The book does bring to light the changes in the structure of Victorian society and houses with that of the Arts and Crafts Movement.