Academics

Carol Gayle with Margot Gayle
Cast-Iron Architecture in America
New York: WW Norton, 1988

An overview of the development of cast-iron architecture combined with a biography of James Bogardus (1800-1874), one of the pioneers of the medium. The first book on Bogardus's life and work, Cast-Iron Architecture in America, describes how this uniquely American mode of construction flourished in the commercial districts of cities and towns across the land in the mid-19th century.  Cast iron, cheap and fire-resistant, was molded into prefabricated units that were bolted together to create ornate facades, looking for all the world like Italian Renaissance palazzos.  These weight-bearing facades were stepping stones to the modern steel-framed skyscrapers, which displaced cast-iron construction by the end of the century.