Improbable Metropolis

Bradley conveys [the story of Houston through its buildings and places] in an even and accessible writing style...Improbable Metropolis is a visual treat...the book object would hold its own on any Houstonian’s coffee table. ~Cite Magazine

[Improbable Metropolis] is big, beautiful and comprehensive...starting with the startling book jacket, which shows the downtown skyline from an unexpected angle at night, it is a feast for the eyes...I cannot imagine how much labor went into this magnificent book. ~Austin American Statesman

Although Houston has been the fourth-largest city in the United States since 1969, it does not receive the scholarly attention from historians that its size deserves; Bradley’s handsome volume helps rectify this neglect...Bradley’s deep familiarity with her subject will enthrall lay readers and will inspire specialists to enrich Houston’s story by exploring numerous topics further. ~Journal of Southern History

In this wonderful book, Barrie Scardino Bradley documents unexpected abundance and beauty in the evolution of Houston’s architecture, as the city’s built environment reflects and shapes its economic, social, and political history. In rich photographic detail, informed by an architect’s expert eye, we watch Houston advance from 1836 to 2017, with no zoning to guide development and no mountains or lakes to interrupt the sprawl, its growth shaped almost exclusively by real-estate developers rather than planners or government officials. It’s a story that is at once inspiring and disconcerting as we consider the challenges that lie ahead. ~Stephen L. Klineberg

From frontier commercial buildings to postmodern houses, Improbable Metropolis lays out the unique architectural history of Houston, the “un-zoned” city. Bradley makes a compelling case that one of the most defining elements of Houston’s development—its drive for growth—has been translated by generations of architects into the city’s buildings. Capturing the angles and stories of Houston’s buildings with both narrative and rich images, Bradley also shows with every page the pressing need to preserve the city’s past and even its present as it changes by the day. ~Kyle Shelton

As a transplant to Houston from Los Angeles ten years ago, I could have used Barrie Scardino Bradley’s Improbable Metropolis. There was a great architecture guidebook, and several books on the history of Houston, but few books that attempted to delve into the culture of this complex city. What I appreciate most about this book is the way the author weaves the evolution of Houston’s urban personality into the chronology of its development. For someone trying to simultaneously grasp Houston’s history and its ethos, this book fills in the gaps. ~Patricia Belton Oliver

Improbable Metropolis explores key episodes in Houston’s unfinished journey from an opportunistic real estate venture on the Gulf Coast to a vibrant and fecund city that continues to attract immigrants from all over the world. Barrie Scardino Bradley joins in the ongoing effort to document and understand Houston’s development and its place in the history of architecture and urbanism. ~Rafael Longoria

Throughout Improbable Metropolis, Bradley intertwines Houston’s two dominant and diverging narratives of southern gentility and aggressive economic policies to reveal an often contradictory and yet incredible architectural history that challenges our assumptions about the generative principles of a metropolis. ~ARRIS

Bradley has spent a lifetime dedicated to architecture, planning, and historic preservation in Houston and her encyclopedic knowledge of the city makes this ambitious work possible. The text is richly accompanied by a wealth of color maps and photographs that increase the depth of documentation...Improbable Metropolis provides further argument that Houston should not be treated as a regional subject, but one that reflects the central importance of private capital, rather than public planning, in shaping the modern American city. ~Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum