Overview

The renowned architectural historian and critic, beloved Yale professor, and outspoken public activist Vincent Scully (1920–2017) emerged in the 1950s as a guiding voice in American architecture. This intellectual biography of Scully’s life and career traces the formative moments in his thinking, mapping his relationships with a constellation of architects, artists, and cultural personalities of the past one hundred years. Scully charted an unlikely course from postwar modernism to postmodernism and New Urbanism, overturning outdated beliefs and changing the face of the built environment as he went. A teacher for more than 60 years and a figure of immense importance in the field, he was central to an expansive network of associations, from Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, and Robert Venturi to Robert Stern, Harold Bloom, and Norman Mailer. Scully’s extensive body of work, with its range spanning centuries and civilizations, coalesced around the core beliefs that architecture shapes and is shaped by society, and that the best architecture responds, above all else, to the human need for community and connection. This timely appraisal provides a platform for reassessing the legacy of these values as well as how we write and think about architecture in the twenty-first century.

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9781350298378

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Reviews

Krista Sykes’s carefully-researched book on Vincent Scully beautifully captures his unparalleled ability to ignite the imagination of his students with his eloquence, passion for architecture, and concern with social justice that made his lectures electrifying and his writings a call to action. * Esther da Costa Meyer, Professor Emerita of Architectural History, Princeton University, USA and Visiting Professor at Yale University, USA * The story of an era, Vincent Scully’s biography illuminates our understanding of the state of architecture and cities today. Beloved professor and public intellectual, he was dedicated to initiating the public into the sometime arcane world of architecture and architects. He exerted an unprecedented influence as a historian on the turn of events of his own time, with expansive knowledge and empathy for his subjects, and the conviction that past and present are one. * Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Professor of Architecture, University of Miami, USA *

A carefully researched biography written with sympathy and style by A. Krista Sykes, allow[ing] all of us to witness the impact of a teacher upon the lives of his students. * Architectural Record * Drawing on interviews she conducted with Scully during his lifetime, unprecedented access to his personal papers, and a deep familiarity with the architectural culture of the 20th century, Sykes treats Scully’s long career with intelligence, compassion, and admirable clarity. * The Architect's Newspaper * Krista Sykes’s carefully-researched book on Vincent Scully beautifully captures his unparalleled ability to ignite the imagination of his students with his eloquence, passion for architecture, and concern with social justice that made his lectures electrifying and his writings a call to action. * Esther da Costa Meyer, Professor Emerita of Architectural History, Princeton University, USA and Visiting Professor at Yale University, USA * The story of an era, Vincent Scully’s biography illuminates our understanding of the state of architecture and cities today. Beloved professor and public intellectual, he was dedicated to initiating the public into the sometime arcane world of architecture and architects. He exerted an unprecedented influence as a historian on the turn of events of his own time, with expansive knowledge and empathy for his subjects, and the conviction that past and present are one. * Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Professor of Architecture, University of Miami, USA * [A] crisply written and highly accessible biography ... while acknowledging Scully’s unique impact, Sykes does not shrink from the complexities of his character and the choices he made that cloud his legacy. * Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians *

A carefully researched biography written with sympathy and style by A. Krista Sykes, allow[ing] all of us to witness the impact of a teacher upon the lives of his students. * Architectural Record * Krista Sykes’s carefully-researched book on Vincent Scully beautifully captures his unparalleled ability to ignite the imagination of his students with his eloquence, passion for architecture, and concern with social justice that made his lectures electrifying and his writings a call to action. * Esther da Costa Meyer, Professor Emerita of Architectural History, Princeton University, USA and Visiting Professor at Yale University, USA * The story of an era, Vincent Scully’s biography illuminates our understanding of the state of architecture and cities today. Beloved professor and public intellectual, he was dedicated to initiating the public into the sometime arcane world of architecture and architects. He exerted an unprecedented influence as a historian on the turn of events of his own time, with expansive knowledge and empathy for his subjects, and the conviction that past and present are one. * Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Professor of Architecture, University of Miami, USA *

Author Information

A. Krista Sykes is an independent architectural writer, editor, and researcher. Her previous publications include Constructing a New Agenda: Architectural Theory 1993-2009 (2012) and The Architecture Reader: Essential Writings from Vitruvius to the Present (2007).

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