What’s So Great About the Eiffel Tower? 70 Questions That Will Change the Way You Think About Architecture, by Jonathan Glancey. Laurence King, 176 pages, $19.99.
Actually, the question Glancey poses about the Eiffel Tower is “Engineering masterpiece or aesthetic blunder?” He answers amusingly with the outcry against the new edifice in 1887 by Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod, and the painter Bouguereau, going on to discuss the structure’s later usefulness as a transmission tower—not only blocking German signals during WWI but becoming the vehicle for radio and TV broadcasts of the stories of de Maupassant himself. Glancey ends this section by quoting objections made the century before to the “gloomy” medieval cathedral of Notre Dame— in other words, both iconic symbols of the French capital raised outcries at different times. The ironic touch and wealth of information make reading this work by the former architecture critic for the Guardian a sparkling delight. The 70 topics range from Stonehenge (possibly made of wood before erected in stone) to “High Tech: Boy’s Own adventure or revolutionary style for our times?” Along the way, he discusses the extraordinary Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin (1688-94), by Camillo-Guarino Guarini, pointing out that its complexities would be an undertaking to work out “even with today’s computer programs.” Glancey’s behind-thescenes perspective greatly enhances one’s understanding of these buildings and makes you reconsider your own views.
RECORD Recommends: 2017 Summer Reading
Our annual guide for books to take to the beach or the mountains.
Our reviews of books by Jonathan Glancey, Gijs Van Hensbergen, Thomas Fisher, James Crawford, Justin Davidson, Denise Hoffman Brandt, Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, Leslie Earl Robertson, and Jason M. Barr.
