The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen Stories Book

Fun. Hollis guides the reader on a number of journeys through the physical, historical, social, political, mythical and often, neurotic aspects of particular structures. All in all he does a great job of infusing life into these sundry built things. Taking such standbys as the Parthenon and Hagia Sofia (or Ayasofya) and less obvious choices such as a strip of the Berlin Wall, a Vegas Casino, and Mary's floating granite childhood abode (or abodes as there are fifty iterations apparently), the author mines the history and often quite dramatic transformations/relocations of these constructs over the years. His essays uncritically weave together the "real" and "myth" and hearsay, frequently utilizing reverse chronology to further heighten the ambiguity of these histories. This is mostly fascinating stuff.

Obviously the author's main point is to expose the "life" of these selections. Their evolutions and re-appropriations trump whatever the original intentions might have been - a much different take than typically offered by architectural histories. Other regular historical texts - those focused on societal, political, economic, religious, etc. issues - tend to eliminate architecture altogether, so this represents a nice fusion of all these things.

I felt his delivery to be well considered. Despite the often zany mythological overlays, Hollis delivers this is an utmost deadpan manner. If I sensed any sarcasm in Hollis's writing I fear it was more a superimposition of my own cynicism rather than a subtle cheap shot on the part of the author. Whatever levity there is in any given story, this is offered by the documented "facts" themselves. The author skillfully provides the structure and connections, capitalizing on the interesting and the bizarre to make this an enjoyable read!