Dwelling in Possibility: Searching for the Soul of Shelter - Softcover

Mansfield, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0872331679 ISBN 13: 9780872331679

Publisher: Bauhan Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

The mystery that attracts Howard Mansfield's attention is that some houses have lifeare home, are dwellings, and others aren't. Dwelling, he says, is an old-fashioned word that we've misplaced.
When we live heart and soul, we dwell. When we belong to a place, we dwell. Possession, they say, is nine-tenths of the law, but it is also what too many houses and towns lack. We are not possessed by our home places. This lost quality of dwellingthe soul of buildingshaunts most of our houses and our landscape.

Dwelling in Possibility is a search for the ordinary qualities that make some houses a home, and some public places welcoming.

Table of Contents

Introduction: House Hunting
Dwelling in the Ordinary
Pages From an Ice Storm Journal
The Age of Clutter
Finding Heaven in the Most Hated House on the Block
The Perilous Career of a Footpath
Dwelling in Destruction The Hut on Fire
Keep the Home Fires Burning
The Storm After The Storm
Dwelling in Possibility
Counting Houses
Sheds
The Beginner's Book of Dwelling
Bibliography
Acknowledgments

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Dwelling inPossibilityis a search for what makes some houses a home, and some public placeswelcoming.

Howard Mansfieldlooks at things that were once ordinary in the home, like the hearth and roomswithout clutter, and he looks at homes swept away by disasters and war. Hevisits a relief effort in the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to get asharper sense of the fragility of our dwellings and our strong commitment tomaking a home. He confronts the legacy of the World War II firebombingcampaigns that left Europe in ruins and gave rise to three distinctly differentwriters who sought to restore the sanctity of home. On footpaths and in thehidden lives of many sheds, Mansfield courts the spirit of good places thatChristopher Alexander calls "the quality without a name." We can recognize thiselusive quality, and yet we find it very difficult, if not impossible, tocreate this feeling in our new houses and in our towns and cities.

In short, HowardMansfield opens many doors, just as he did when he was a census taker who hadhis own set of questions: "I could go from house to house clear across thecountry, knock on doors, and ask, Can I come in? Look around? What's yourfavorite room? Your latest house project? I'd like to see them all."

About the Author:

Howard Mansfield is the author of nine books about preservation, architecture, and history, most recently Summer Over Autumn (Bauhan 2017). He has contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, Historic Preservation, and Yankee. He and his wife, writer Sy Montgomery, live in a 130-year-old house in Hancock, New Hampshire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bauhan Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0872331679
• ISBN 13: 9780872331679
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240