Grenfell gathers architectural details

Washington, DC, architect Milton Grenfell has gathered 273 architectural details that appeared in the architectural journal Pencil Points from 1932 to 1937 and has supplemented them with a dozen new details from traditional architects practicing today. The resulting collection of measured drawings and photographs of built details appears in Comparative Architectural Details, a 280-page, $59.95 hardcover to be published by W.W. Norton in October.

Among those who produced the work assembled in Grenfell’s book were leading early 20th-century architects such as John Russell Pope, Delano & Aldrich, Grosvenor Atterbury, and Aymar Embury II. The details shown include dormers, fences, gates, radiator enclosures, doors, door hoods, chimneys, overmantels, eaves, gutters, exterior steps, cupolas, bay windows, closets, balconies, and bookshelves, to name a few. The book comes with a companion DVD.