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It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Winchester resident Maureen Meister since her new book — “Arts and Crafts Architecture across America” — was released on Nov. 18.
Except that on this roller coaster, the ride has been an upward trajectory.
On Dec. 16, the book hit number one on Amazon.com’s new releases list for architecture history. It’s been either first or second for a few weeks now.
“I’m excited,” Meister said, of the book. “There are a lot of picture books out there, but this is not just a book with pictures. There’s content so it’s meant to be read. A lot of books in this category tend to be just picture books.”
But this book — Meister’s fifth — is also an academic book, one that will be used as a text for students.
Because that’s how the entire idea for the book started. Around 2018/19, Meister was contacted by Oxford University Press to write a detailed annotated bibliography about the Arts and Crafts Movement.
The Arts and Crafts Movement was a late 19th century design philosophy that blended decorative and fine arts. The movement started in Great Britain and spread across the rest of Europe and into the United States.
Meister jumped at the chance.
“After I finished the bibliography, I recognized I had a good understanding of the field and that no one else could write it with the same interest,” she said. “I decided to write a comprehensive book.”
Why this particular movement?
“You could say the buildings are beautiful,” she said. “But I love the way the architecture uses materials and I find it interesting because there are a lot of ideas and ideals behind it. Some of those ideas still ring true.”
First and foremost, Meister said, is the interest and appreciation by architects for including nature. Because of the Industrial Revolution’s spread, these people could see the harm being done to the environment.
“Another of their ideals was working with the building materials that belong to a specific region,” she said.
The English movement
The Arts and Crafts Movement started when architects in England started to question whether they should adopt their own English tradition instead of Greek and Roman. Inspired by Medieval houses and churches, they rejected the classical designs.
Meister said because architects traveled back and forth between Europe and America, the movement took hold in Boston and started to spread across the U.S.
She added in the Middle Ages, architects and craftsmen worked together to create elaborate designs. That can be seen throughout the architectural examples in Meister’s book.
“It was an ideal to have a group effort in working on these buildings,” Meister said.
She said restraint was an important ideal because no one wanted these buildings to be “pompous or pretentious.”
“Their idea was that classical architecture was not only alien to Anglo culture, but it was also pretentious,” Meister said. “The shared Arts and Crafts view was that buildings should look modest, inviting and warm.”
Favorite moments
The manuscript for the book took 3 ½ years to complete. Meister said she enjoyed the process.
“My favorite moments were when I found connections among the people I had already encountered, including the architects, but also the craftsmen and the clients and the relationships with English architects,” she said. “These relationships were made possible because of the dramatic expansion of the rail system.”
Was there one house or area she loved more than the others?
“I loved all of them,” Meister said. “But I have special memories of the people in these communities. By the time I was done with the manuscript, I felt as if I had been traveling coast to coast.”
So, what’s next?
“I’ll be returning to the annotated bibliography for the editor at Oxford,” she said. “They have asked if we’re ready for an update.”
In the meantime, Meister will enjoy watching her book sitting at the top of the new releases list. Anyone who would like to order her new book, can do so at Amazon.com, the Concord Bookshop, the Brookline Booksmith or Book Ends.
Nell Escobar Coakley has been a journalist for more than 30 years. She is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Gotta Know Medford and editor of Winchester News. She can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
