Sketches of Early American Architecture

These 53 magnificent drawings by a distinguished architect recapture landmarks of colonial America. Originally published in 1922, Otto Reinhold Eggers’ portfolio of pencil sketches depicts historic structures in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore as well as those of smaller towns in Connecticut, Virginia, and elsewhere. Images of churches, municipal structures, homes, and other architectural gems range from the majesty of St. Paul’s Chapel, Manhattan’s oldest surviving church, and the grandeur of George Washington’s Mt. Vernon residence to a Dutch farmhouse in New Jersey and a Newport street lined with quaint eighteenth-century buildings.Otto Reinhold Eggers (1882 - 1964) was one of the architects of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D. C., and his seven-decade career in architecture included a 30-year association with John Russell Pope, first as a draftsman and eventually as a partner. Eggers’ meticulously rendered sketches, photographic in their detail and effect, offer fascinating perspectives on some of America’s architectural treasures. Extensive captions for each of the illustrations by William H. Crocker, editor of The American Architect, provide fascinating historical background.