The Architectural Legacy of Alfred Giles, Selected Restorations (review)

2oo7 Book Reviews105 from the Library ofCongress, the Colorado Historical Society, and similar repositories . While there are no footnotes or other citations in die text itself, an excellent bibliography and detailed index permit easy identification of specific sources for the many brief quotes, observations, and reported events. This book is a fun read. The events themselves, at least in retrospect, are often humorous, sometimes inevitable, frequendy improbable, and occasionally fatal. It is remarkable how often a wreck or fall seems like it should be fatal but is not. But then the victim ofa fatal accident is rarely able to tell the story. The most charming characteristic of this book is Dearen's use of the cowboy's own words. One cowboy observing another take a particularly spectacular fall observed, "I thought at first he was hurt, . . . but I heard him sayin' something which was not his Sunday school lesson, and I knew he was all right" (p. 106). Keen insight into people, animals, or circumstances coupled with a little irony and the cowboy habitual economy of words can make a point sharply, as in the phrase "a taut lariat might sooner yank another bend in the river than free a snared animal" (p. 1 20) used to describe the hold of quicksand on a cow trapped in the Pecos River. The book opens with a section called Cowboy Lingo, an interesting lexicon that I made a game of. I read the word or phrase and then guessed the meaning before I read the meaning Dearen provided. Ijust flat missed six entries and might sort of argue two others. Words and their meanings change rapidly and some fall out of the language entirely. It is useful to have these caught in time and to know their meanings in that time. As one cowboy described horses, "There's good ones, and mean ones and sorry ones" (p. 7). I'll say ofbooks that there's good ones, ordinary ones, and really bad ones. This is a good one. Texas State University-San MarcosRollo K. Newsom The Architectural Legacy ofAlfred Giles, Selected Restorations. By Mary Carolyn Hollers George. (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2006. Pp. 176. Foreword, acknowledgments , illustrations, appendixes, index. ISBN 159534019X. $60.00, cloth.) English born, educated, and trained, Alfred Giles (1853-1920) came to San Antonio in 1873 and opened an architectural practice three years later. Soon he became the favored designer for some of the area's wealthiest clients, designing many prominent late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century architectural landmarks in Texas, primarily in San Antonio and the Hill Country. Few would doubt that his picturesque buildings, usually of local limestone, contribute much to the region's charm. Giles's pioneering professionalism also contributed to the tradition of exceptional architecture in Texas. The last book-length treatment of the subject was Alfred Giles: An Enghsh Architect in Texas andMexico (Trinity University Press, 1972). Now the same author has given us a second look. As Mary Carolyn Hollers George notes, her earliervolume did much to raiseappreciation ofGiles'swork,which led to the preservation and restoration ofmany ?o6Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuty ofhis buUdings. This newbook celebrates twenty-two ofthose restorations, all ofwhich are in Texas. It is a handsome coffee-table book profusely illustrated with archival images and beautiful newcolorphotographs by the author's husband, W. Eugene George. Scholars will find the documentation sections inferior to footnotes, however. Readers familiar with the 1972 book may experience déjà vu perusing the present volume. It is laid out in much die same manner, opening with background information on Giles and San Antonio. Those seeking a new biography will be disappointed to find paragraphs from the earlier book repeated nearly verbatim. The author adds some new detail, notably regarding the architect's family and work in Mexico, but clearly this book is more about restoration projects than about significantly advancing information on Giles. Nevertheless, George's scholarship remains the essential source on the architect. Next come individual discussions of the featured buildings and restorations. While uneven, these essays can be fascinatingand will be ofspecial interest to preservationists , urban planners, restoration architects, and developers. For instance, the discussion ofthe Sullivan Stable and Coach House (San...