From the first stirrings of modernity in the early twentieth century to the present, the house has served as a test bed of design experimentation, the place where architects have sought to create new forms and to offer new domestic lifestyles. Alvar Aalto, Buckminster Fuller, Rudolph Schindler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Charles Gwathmey, Carlo Scarpa, Herzog & de Meuron: most great architects of the past hundred years have begun or catalyzed their careers with an iconic house.



The introduction looks at the historical and social motivations behind epoch-making residential architecture, showing in sidebars twenty of the most important early examples. Then eighty houses--sixty of which have been specially photographed--are presented chronologically. The text describes the all-important relationship between architecture and client, the physical context in which the house is set, and the pivotal role the house played in the development of the architect's career and architecture in general.



Concise architect biographies and a list of key buildings accompany each house, while photographs and easy-to-read plans bring the words to life.