From Publishers Weekly
Italian Renaissance architect and architectural theorist Palladio (1508-1580), whose superb and influential buildings helped define the renaissance, has been lucky in his commentators. Palladio's unique way of relating art to nature and architecture to surrounding natural forms in order to reinvent ancient classicism has been well described in such previous books as Vincent Scully's The Villas of Palladio. Now Rybczynski (The Look of Architecture, etc.), the University of Pennsylvania professor of urbanism and Wharton Business School professor of real estate, offers a confident look at his own touristic visits to the surviving Palladian villas: 17 out of around 30 remain, such as the Villa Rotunda in Vicenza and the Villa Foscari at Malcontenta. In 10 concise chapters devoted to these and other villas, Rybczynski proves a deeply able and aptly enchanted guide. Actually renting Villa Saraceno at Finale di Agugliaro, he describes in detail how careful proportions foster a sense of "well-being" and make the small villa seem "palatial" "almost like being outside." While Rybczynski doesn't quite generate the personal interest that normally drives a travel diary, his careful observations of everything from climatic conditions to fender benders will have readers eagerly following in his footsteps and finding traces of Palladio everywhere. Illus. not seen by PW.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
One of our most original, accessible, and stimulating writers on architecture builds on some of his earlier, and more personal, publications (e.g., Home: A Short History of an Idea) to offer an appreciation of the residential work of Andrea Palladio (1508-80). Pointing out in the preface that much of the most persistent architectural symbolism associated with houses derives from Palladio's villas, the author provides a detailed analysis, both historical and architectural, of ten of the 30 villas attributed to the architect. With its intriguing biographical detail, precise descriptions of design elements, and engaging insights into daily life in the 16th century, Rybczynski's book is a small but lasting gift to the reader. Despite the sparse illustrations, which consist of plans and elevations from Palladio's own publications and of fine freehand drawings by the author, this volume is an excellent companion to James S. Ackerman's Palladio. For more illustrated material, Manfred Wundram's Andrea Palladio, 1508-1580: Architect Between the Renaissance and the Baroque and Andrea Palladio: The Complete Illustrated Works are essential. Nevertheless, any collection with titles on Palladio or residential architecture should acquire this. Paul Glassman, New York Sch. of Interior Design Lib.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Modern architects are more and more often finding fame as builders of personal houses, instead of from the building of public buildings and spaces. Perhaps the very first architect who found fame almost exclusively through the building of privately owned homes was Palladio, who designed villas in the countryside around Venice and Vicenza, Italy, in the sixteenth century. Rybczynski, a professor of architecture, finds himself smitten with Palladio and the greatness of his work. He takes a tour of his villas, carefully describing each one, and deftly interweaves the story of Palladio's life. And Palladio's villas, though generally small in scale, have had a big influence on some of the best known landmark buildings (and grand private residences) around the world: the White House, Buckingham Palace, and Monticello--all of them derive some of their architectural motifs from Palladio's influence. Rybczynski's fascination comes from the fact "that a handful of houses should have made their presence felt hundreds of years later and halfway around the globe is extraordinary. It makes Palladio the most influential architect in history." Michael Spinella
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Cheryl Mendelson Author of Home Comforts Rybczynski leads us through Palladio's beautiful villas, illuminating each room for its own sake and helping us understand what Palladio thought was ?the perfect house' and where so many of our own ideas on that subject have come from. He puts his great historical and architectural knowledge to work to explain private houses?the small, the intimate, the domestic. The result is a delightful and enlightening book, full of warmth and intelligence.


Book Description
Before Andrea Palladio began designing his simple, gracious, perfectly proportioned villas, architectural genius was reserved for temples and palaces. Palladio elevated the architecture of the private house into an art form, and he not only designed and built, he wrote. His late-sixteenth-century architectural treatises were read and studied by great thinkers as diverse as Thomas Jefferson and Inigo Jones, profoundly influencing the design of Monticello, the tidewater plantation houses of Virginia, and the White House. All across America today, Palladio's influence is evident in ample porches and columned porticoes, in grand ceiling heights and front-door pediments. In The Perfect House, Witold Rybczysnki, whose books on domestic and landscape architecture have transformed our understanding of parks and buildings, looks at Palladio's famous villas, not with the eye of an art historian but with the eye of an architect. He wanted to know why a handful of houses in an obscure corner of the Venetian Republic should have made their presence felt hundreds of years later and halfway across the globe. More than just a study of one of history's seminal architectural figures, The Perfect House reflects Rybczynski's intimacy with and enthusiasm for his subject. He not only reveals why the villas were so architecturally and culturally influential, he also imparts his enormous affection and admiration for the man who designed them. Embracing the elements of Rybczynski's most successful books on domestic architecture, Home and The Most Beautiful House in the World, this charming, revelatory meditation explores the dawn of domestic architecture and provides a new way of looking at every building we inhabit or visit today.


About the Author
Witold Rybczynski is the author of ten books, including Home, City Life, and the national bestseller A Clearing in the Distance, for which he won a Christopher Award and J. Anthony Lukas Prize. He is a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Review of Books. He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

FROM OUR EDITORS

An exquisite pairing: No architect in history is more revered than the Italian Renaissance master builder and theorist Andrea Palladio (1508–80), and no contemporary writer on architecture has a broader or more enthusiastic audience than Witold Rybczynski. In works such as Home and The Look of Architecture, this University of Pennsylvania professor transmits the excitement of alert observation. In his walking tour through Palladio's villas, he isn't reciting historical footnotes; he's interacting with a builder whose harmonious designs continue to influence contemporary architects.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Before Andrea Palladio began designing his simple, gracious, perfectly proportioned villas, architectural genius was reserved for temples and palaces. Palladio elevated the architecture of the private house into an art form, and he not only designed and built, he wrote. His late-sixteenth-century architectural treatises were read and studied by great thinkers as diverse as Thomas Jefferson and Inigo Jones, profoundly influencing the design of Monticello, the tidewater plantation houses of Virginia, and the White House. All across America today, Palladio's influence is evident in ample porches and columned porticoes, in grand ceiling heights and front-door pediments.

In The Perfect House, Witold Rybczynski, whose books on domestic and landscape architecture have transformed our understanding of parks and buildings, looks at Palladio's famous villas, not with the eye of an art historian but with the eye of an architect. He wanted to know why a handful of houses in an obscure corner of the Venetian Republic should have made their presence felt hundreds of years later and halfway across the globe.

More than just a study of one of history's seminal architectural figures, The Perfect House reflects Rybczynski's intimacy with and enthusiasm for his subject. He not only reveals why the villas were so architecturally and culturally influential, he also imparts his enormous affection and admiration for the man who designed them. Embracing the elements of Rybczynski's most successful books on domestic architecture, Home and The Most Beautiful House in the World, this charming, revelatory meditation explores the dawn of domestic architecture and provides a new way of looking at every building we inhabit or visit today.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Italian Renaissance architect and architectural theorist Palladio (1508-1580), whose superb and influential buildings helped define the renaissance, has been lucky in his commentators. Palladio's unique way of relating art to nature and architecture to surrounding natural forms in order to reinvent ancient classicism has been well described in such previous books as Vincent Scully's The Villas of Palladio. Now Rybczynski (The Look of Architecture, etc.), the University of Pennsylvania professor of urbanism and Wharton Business School professor of real estate, offers a confident look at his own touristic visits to the surviving Palladian villas: 17 out of around 30 remain, such as the Villa Rotunda in Vicenza and the Villa Foscari at Malcontenta. In 10 concise chapters devoted to these and other villas, Rybczynski proves a deeply able and aptly enchanted guide. Actually renting Villa Saraceno at Finale di Agugliaro, he describes in detail how careful proportions foster a sense of "well-being" and make the small villa seem "palatial" "almost like being outside." While Rybczynski doesn't quite generate the personal interest that normally drives a travel diary, his careful observations of everything from climatic conditions to fender benders will have readers eagerly following in his footsteps and finding traces of Palladio everywhere. Illus. not seen by PW. (Sept.) Forecast: Rybczynski's frequent journalistic forays in the New York Times and the New Yorker provide the name recognition that should ensure a lot of attention for this book, though it comes too late for a summer travel read. This title and Julia Blackburn's recent Old Man Goya (Forecasts, Apr. 8) show a resurgence of the art of travel writing and could form the basis of a display. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

One of our most original, accessible, and stimulating writers on architecture builds on some of his earlier, and more personal, publications (e.g., Home: A Short History of an Idea) to offer an appreciation of the residential work of Andrea Palladio (1508-80). Pointing out in the preface that much of the most persistent architectural symbolism associated with houses derives from Palladio's villas, the author provides a detailed analysis, both historical and architectural, of ten of the 30 villas attributed to the architect. With its intriguing biographical detail, precise descriptions of design elements, and engaging insights into daily life in the 16th century, Rybczynski's book is a small but lasting gift to the reader. Despite the sparse illustrations, which consist of plans and elevations from Palladio's own publications and of fine freehand drawings by the author, this volume is an excellent companion to James S. Ackerman's Palladio. For more illustrated material, Manfred Wundram's Andrea Palladio, 1508-1580: Architect Between the Renaissance and the Baroque and Andrea Palladio: The Complete Illustrated Works are essential. Nevertheless, any collection with titles on Palladio or residential architecture should acquire this. Paul Glassman, New York Sch. of Interior Design Lib. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews