The Decoration of Houses

Edith Wharton · Ogden Codman

Apr 2015 · Courier Dover Publications

About this ebook

Thousands of books on interior design have come and gone since the 1897 publication of this pioneering manual, but The Decoration of Houses remains, thanks to the insightful and inspiring advice of its co-authors. Before she became the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton was a society matron, remodeling a summer home in Newport, Rhode Island. With the able assistance of architect Ogden Codman, Jr., Wharton assembled this corrective to the rampant vulgarity of her nouveau riche neighbors. Wharton and Codman defied the excesses of the Gilded Age, counseling readers to reject the popular penchant for clutter in favor of simplicity and balance.
More than an engaging item of period charm, this historic guide offers examples of design rooted in architectural principles. Black-and-white photographs illustrate the authors' ideals of classic beauty, depicting grand ballrooms and spacious boudoirs as well as the elements common to homes of every size and era: doors and windows, walls and ceilings, floors, halls, and stairs. One of the genre's most important and influential titles, this volume sparked a Renaissance in American interior design, and its sound advice and practical approach remain forever in style.

About the author

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer. Nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, she received the Pulitzer Prize for "The Age of Innocence" in 1921. Wharton drew upon her privileged social position to create witty and psychologically insightful novels and short stories.Ogden Codman, Jr. (1863-1951) was a noted American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts tradition. His many famous designs include Wharton's residences Land's End and The Mount as well as her Park Avenue townhouse; the Vanderbilts' Newport home, The Breakers; and the Codman-Davis House in Washington, D.C.