The first book on the life and work of 19th-century American inventor and entrepreneur James Bogardus, known for his unique grinding mill and other patented devices. However, his enduring claim to fame is his cast-iron structures, forerunners of the modern skyscraper. Modern interest in Bogardus stems from the historic preservation movement. His four surviving buildings in New York are recognized landmarks. Illustrated.

Most extensive, most ambitious, most thoroughly documented primary source of cast-iron architecture in 19th-century America. An architectural classic! 102 plates.

Baltimore was an innovator in the development of cast-iron architecture, but the city's heritage of buildings in this genre, once numbering more than a hundred, has dwindled to only a handful today. The Baltimore region also had a long tradition in iron production, beginning with the colonial era and continuing through the 1950s as Sparrows Point became the single largest steel complex in the world. Baltimore's Cast-Iron Buildings is a celebration of a unique aspect of Baltimore's architectural and industrial history. The authors examine cast-iron buildings in an integrated way to show how the material was fabricated and the buildings erected. They also explore the cast and wrought ironwork used for gates, fences, railings, and ornaments. The heavily illustrated work includes ironwork catalogs from the mid-1800s.