Book Review: Lee Lawrie's Praire Deco [4th ed.] by Gregory Paul Harm

Lee Lawrie’s Prairie Deco [4th ed.]
by Gregory Paul Harm [725.11 Har]

This is an absolutely marvelous updated edition of Harm’s look at the art and architectural details located throughout the Nebraska State Capitol Building in downtown Lincoln. This volume includes a plethora of both B&W and color photos, examining the history of the work of Lee Oskar Lawrie (1877-1963), whom the author describes as “America’s Machine-Age Michelangelo”. Lawrie applied his passion for Art Deco design, combined with Native American and pioneer settler cultural influences, to create the majority of the architectural details that fill the state’s Capitol building. Lawrie’s work also appears in many other places, from the Rockefeller Center in New York City, to the main downtown Los Angeles Public Library, but his best-known work, especially for those of us who’ve grown up in Nebraska, is associated with the building which at times has been identified as one of the “architectural wonders of the world”. The building itself was designed by Bertram Goodhue, but Lee Lawrie’s decorative flourishes are what give it the memorable personality it has expressed for the many decades it has been with us.

The layout of Lee Lawrie’s Prairie Deco, with its many, many color photographs, offset with colorful blocks of highlighted text, is very easy on the eyes. The main B&W blocks of text flow easily, and provide for an simple, uncomplicated read.

If you have every toured the Nebraska State Capitol Building and marveled at the sculpture work, or inscriptions, I strongly encourage you to read this book. The quirky stories shared about the background of each and every piece of architectural artwork will surprise you!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Architectural Wonder of the World: Nebraska’s State Capitol Building (1965), by Elinor Brown, Building a Landmark: The Capitol of Nebraska (1981), by Charles F. Fowler, The Nebraska State Capitol: Restoring a Landmark (2013), by Robert C. Ripley, A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol (1990), by Robert C. Luebke or The Architectural Sculpture of the State Capitol at Lincoln, NE (1926), by Charles Harris Whitaker.] [ official Nebraska State Capitol Building web site ] 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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The Nebraska State Capitol: Restoring a Landmark

The Nebraska State Capitol: Restoring a Landmark
by Robert C. Ripley, Robert Fell, et. al. [725.11 Neb]

This is a nice volume for anyone who loves the Nebraska State Capitol building, or is interested in architecture and restoration. It explains concisely but in interesting detail why the "Tower on the Plains" needed some t.l.c. and how that was accomplished. Many photographs of the work in progress are included, as well as some architectural drawings. The captions and narrative are informative without being too technical and dry. I appreciate the coffee-table-sized format but the layout leaves many pages with much blank space. I really enjoyed learning about the collaborative and careful work that was done on our skyscraper statehouse. -- recommended by Becky W.C. - Walt Branch Library [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol; Lee Lawrie's Prairie Deco: History in Stone at the Nebraska State Capitol; Architectural Wonder of the World: Nebraska's State Capitol Building; City Shapers: Five Events that Defined Lincoln; Building a Landmark: The Capitol of Nebraska; Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties; Twentieth-Century American Architecture: The Buildings and their Makers.]

[ official Nebraska State Capitol restoration web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!