Review by Choice Review
Comprehensively and thoroughly researched, Tolles's book provides a valuable treatise on the establishment, development, and demise of the grand resort hotels of the White Mountains, which flourished from the 1880s to WW I before their decline. Substantiating their development, Tolles considers the socioeconomic aspects with the rising industrialization of the railroads. Importantly, the cultural influences are evidenced in the stylistic designs of the architecture, decorative interiors, landscaping, out-of-door activities, and desired vistas. The author has isolated and established six periods in which to identify the resorts with given styles, even though some were rebuilt on their original sites. There were 30 hotels built within a nine-mile radius with only five extant, the others having succumbed to flames, wind, or the wreckers. The opus is accompanied by an exhaustive bibliography, pamphlets, the author's collection, two appendixes, various indexes, and more than 200 black-and-white and 20 color illustrations. As interesting and enlightening as the text is, the reading becomes arduous when pagination is abandoned with references made only to chapters. General readers. R. R. Henry; formerly, Pine Manor College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Combining architectural history and popular culture, this exhaustive study of the grand hotels of the White Mountains uncovers a fascinating piece of Americana. In the late nineteenth century, the monied classes of the Northeast began to crave escape from their increasingly hectic urban lives. They wanted the beauty of nature, but they also needed the formality and luxury they had come to expect from life. A group of talented architects gave them what they wanted and needed in the grand hotels of New Hampshire's White Mountains--enormous structures, stunning in both scope and detail. Tolles describes the lavish buildings virtually down to their foundations, comparing the work of the various architects, and he supplies fascinating historical and cultural background. Specialists will recognize this impeccably researched volume for the invaluable historical document it is; general readers will prefer to browse, savoring the cultural material and reveling in the evocative illustrations. An essential purchase for regional collections in the Northeast; a tempting luxury, like the hotels themselves, for libraries elsewhere. --Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
