The Perfect House

This book takes the reader on a tour of ten villas built by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Palladio's buildings married the influences of civilized Roman antiquity with the functional rusticana of 16th-century Italian country estates; they were so loved by Goethe that he wrote of them: 'there is something divine about his talent... comparable to the power of a great poet'. Their impression on the history of architecture has been vast (Buckingham Palace and the White House are both obviously Palladian), their impression on Rybczynski even more so: he extols the virtues of these perfectly formed dwellings with infectious zeal. One might think that a book describing the form and construction of what are, essentially, fairly unremarkable Italian homesteads would be massively uninteresting - and one would be right, were it not for the ease with which Rybczynski evokes the time, place, and, most importantly, subtle perfection of Palladio's work. This is done most effectively by the absence of photographs: the reader is encouraged to flesh out original plans with the aid of Rybczynski's competent prose and sketches. The buildings are thus presented in terms of increasing complexity: first, a plan; a brief description; next, a wandering discourse on rooms, levels, materials, construction; and, finally, the embellishments - the frescoes and friezes. All of this is helped by a glossary of architectural terms, which though not completely comprehensive is certainly robust. The book is emphatically not a biography of the architect; rather, it is an attempt to identify that which Goethe so admired: an excellence that has caused these 16th-century villas to be echoed in some of the grandest structures of modern times. One thing is for certain: after reading this book, you'll spot Palladian buildings everywhere. (Kirkus UK)