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Thursday, March 30, 2023

SAXON HENRY

Author | Journalist | Content Strategist | The Modern Salonnière
SAXON HENRY
Author | Journalist | Content Strategist | The Modern Salonnière
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Category: Architecture

As a design and architecture journalist for more than two decades, I have seen quite a few built environments in my career so it takes quite a special project to get me excited. When I see something that stands out to me, I enjoy writing about it.

I would say about half of the architecture I’ve written about is modern. In fact, my only architecture book is titled Four Florida Moderns and it is a survey of how modernism founded by the great modernists made its way to Florida. Le Corbusier is one of these greats, of course, and his book Creation is a Patient Search is a wonderful read for anyone who wants to know how a visionary of his stature thought. I find the book in the Bienenstock Furniture Library at High Point and use it as inspiration for a post featuring his tiny cabin—Cabanon in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France—and his thoughts on creativity.

One of the architects in my book, Alberto Alfonso, was an avid believer in Corb’s version of modernism and I was able to witness a powerful piece of architecture he created at Streamsong near Tampa, the building so robust, it inspired a poem from the architecture’s point of view. An Italian modernist that I had the great pleasure of interviewing, Michele De Lucchi, impressed me greatly with his quite wisdom. My diary entry sharing the conversation with my readers is indeed A Conversation of Soul.

When I received the Rizzoli book Grand Bordeaux Châteaux, I was bowled over by the way architects had gracefully added modern additions to the grand neoclassical châteaux in Bordeaux so I knew I had to write about them so I could share the stunning visuals. The only question was whose literature would fit with the idea? When I found out the intrepid Stendhal had visited one of the wineries, I knew his travel writing about touring the area would be perfect (and it was); for proof take the time to read Architecture with Heart in Bordeaux!

Interior view of the Jewish Museum in Berlin by Libeskind.
Architecture Books DesignLabs

The Age of Genius

Saxon Henry January 5, 2015 architectural storytellingauthenticitydesign industry leadersdesign narrativesEmotionality of ArchitectureGroundbreakerslibrariesMedieval TimesMichelangeloNew York CityphilosophersShakespeare

“Ordinary facts are arranged within time, strung along its length as on a thread,” writes Bruno Schulz in his short story The Age of Genius.…

View More The Age of Genius
Roger Crowley Dream of Venice
Architecture Books Travel

Dream of Venice

Saxon Henry December 10, 2014 actors and actressesAmerican poetsarchitectural storytellingauthenticitydesign industry leadersEmotionality of ArchitectureHenry JamesItalynonfiction writersnovelistsPeggy GuggenheimpoetryVenice

When JoAnn Locktov asked me to contribute a poem to the book she was planning to publish in collaboration with photographer Charles Christopher, I didn’t…

View More Dream of Venice
Saxon Henry photographed a Lion door knocker in Parma
Architecture Books DesignLabs

The Sense of Beauty

Saxon Henry September 16, 2014 architectural storytellingauthenticityEmotionality of ArchitectureEnglandEzra PoundGreat Britainmemoirsnonfiction writers

I am guessing this will not come as much of a surprise to anyone but me. As I was digitizing the majority of my design…

View More The Sense of Beauty
The chapter of “Staircases: the Architecture of Ascent” covering 1600-1800 is titled “A Theatre of Power” and illustrated with this sumptuous image of Jean-Léon Gérôme’s “Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles” [1878], courtesy of The Vendome Press and Musée d’Orsay/Hervé Lewandowski.
Architecture Books Interior Design

Summer Reading with Carmen Natschke

Saxon Henry August 3, 2014 architectural storytellingdecorating historydesign industry leadersFrancegrand residencesItalyLondonpaintersParisphilosopherssummer reading listVersailles

For those of you who think Carmen Natschke, of The Decorating Diva fame, is merely a glamorous gadabout holding court in the design stratosphere, there…

View More Summer Reading with Carmen Natschke
JoAnn Locktov at Streamsong
Architecture DesignLabs Nature Writing

Poem at Streamsong

Saxon Henry June 26, 2014 American poetsarchitectural storytellingauthenticitydesign industry leadersdesign narrativeskeeping diariesliterary design encounters

I’m visiting Streamsong Resort near Tampa to experience the natural beauty and incredible architecture, the latter created by Alberto Alfonso, who was featured in my…

View More Poem at Streamsong
Le Corbusier's Cabanon
Architecture Books

Creation’s Patient Search

Saxon Henry May 25, 2014 architectural storytellingauthenticitydesign narrativesEmotionality of ArchitectureFranceGroundbreakersHigh Point Marketlibrariesnonfiction writerspoetry

The title of this post references a book penned by the lauded Swiss architect Le Corbusier, first published in 1960. In all honesty, it’s more…

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Book cover of The Modern Salonniere by Saxon Henry

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Stranded on the Road to Promise

Stranded on the Road to Promise

Anywhere But Here

Anywhere but Here, one of Saxon Henry's newest books

Four Florida Moderns

Four Florida Moderns

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