A-Frame: 01/19/25

A-Frame by Chad Randl (2020) is a short history of a style of building popular from approximately 1950 to 1975. It looks at it's origins, the architects who gave it that particular Americana feel, the boom and the bust.

This is another one of my recent reads where I came across the book somehow. I saw the cover advertised or memed or something while I was doing something else. The cover art, a reproduction of a 1950s advertisement for an A-frame stuck with me and I realized I could purchase an ebook version.

A-frame cabins were ubiquitous in my childhood in Southern California. Every mountain community and resort had them. My first time seeing snow was during a stay at such a resort in Idyllwild. I'm pretty sure the one I stayed at is long gone, but A frames are still part of the culture there.

Randl's history is thorough, to the point of being repetitive sometimes. There's a lot packed into this book and it took me numerous passes through some chapters to take it all in. What this book needs is more illustrations to go with the text. There are illustrations but I want more.

That said, the book does provide a list of resources and I'm exploring the architectural rabbit hole. I'm currently reading Your Cabin in the Woods by Conrad Meinecke and Victor Aures (Illustrator) (1945).

Three stars

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