New York Interior Design, 1935-1985, Vol. 1: Inventors of Tradition
by: Gura, Judith

Hardcover. NY, Acanthus Press , 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 320 pages, color plates. Volume I, Inventors of Tradition, highlights the careers and showcases the work of the designers who translated and then transformed European period styles into a new vocabulary for America. In addition to the work of celebrated taste-makers Billy Baldwin, Mario Buatta, and Albert Hadley Gura uncovers the interiors of once-influential, now-obscure designers whose work played an important role in the development of the New York look. Among these practitioners are William Pahlmann, the pioneer of contemporary eclecticism; the glamorous Melanie Kahane, with a fondness for shocking pink and tasteful pizzaz; and the epitome of the southern civility, Joseph Braswell, who believed that a beautiful environment could make its occupants into better people.