As an architect, H. P. Berlage (1856-1934) created a series of buildings that witnessed the gestation and birth of architectural Modernism. As an architectural philosopher, he created a body of writings that probed the problems and possibilities of this new style. But whereas his Amsterdam Stock Exchange, with its rational mastery of materials and space, has long been celebrated as a seminal influence on the architecture of the new century, Berlage's passionate and equally influential writings on architecture have often been neglected. Berlage's principal texts are brought together here in English translation for the first time. The critical introduction by Iain Boyd Whyte demonstrates that one corpus of work cannot be understood without the other: Berlage's writings inform his architecture to the same extent that his buildings reflect his aesthetic deliberations.

Iain Boyd Whyte is professor of architectural history and theory at the University of Edinburgh. His publications include Bruno Taut and the Architecture of Activism and Emil Hoppe, Marcel Kammerer, Otto Schönthal: Three Architects from the Master Class of Otto Wagner.

Wim de Wit is head of special collections at the Getty Research Institute. He is the editor of The Amsterdam School: Dutch Expressionist Architecture, 1915-1930 and Louis Sullivan: The Function of Ornament.

This title is out of print. Please look for it at your local libraries and/or used bookstores.

Series: Texts & Documents

See: Contents