By: Andrea Schuch
Upon perusing the design blogs this morning, I came across an article on Things That Inspire http://www.thingsthatinspire.net/2010/08/my-favorite-architecture-books.html on her favorite architecture books. This immediately made me think of my favorite design bookstore Prairie Avenue Books http://www.pabooks.com/ in downtown Chicago. Causing me much sadness, Prairie Avenue has closed due to the economy. None the less, this inspired me to look for more bookstores that specialize in our great niche.
One of the great things about Prairie Avenue is they had books that were rare or out of print for sale. I found two stores locally that have that – but don’t specialize in design books, they both do have architecture sections which often times encompasses design. Plain Tales Books www.plaintalesbooks.com is in Arlington Heights and Rain Dog Fine Prints and Books http://www.raindogbooks.com/?page=shop/index in Winnetka both have great websites where you are able to search by architecture books only but seems to be only online ordering.
Anther great thing about Prairie Avenue was the ability to hang out and talk to people who were so knowledgeable about the design industry and just loved working there and getting to see all these great books all the time. I guess modern day blogs are taking over for this in our niche. Unfortunately, at this time, I haven’t been able to find a replacement brick and mortar store for my dearly departed Prairie Avenue Books but hopefully, soon enough, there will be these niche bookstores popping up again. In the meantime, check out Things That Inspire’s blog on great books, I especially like A Pattern Language.
One of the great things about Prairie Avenue is they had books that were rare or out of print for sale. I found two stores locally that have that – but don’t specialize in design books, they both do have architecture sections which often times encompasses design. Plain Tales Books www.plaintalesbooks.com is in Arlington Heights and Rain Dog Fine Prints and Books http://www.raindogbooks.com/?page=shop/index in Winnetka both have great websites where you are able to search by architecture books only but seems to be only online ordering.
Anther great thing about Prairie Avenue was the ability to hang out and talk to people who were so knowledgeable about the design industry and just loved working there and getting to see all these great books all the time. I guess modern day blogs are taking over for this in our niche. Unfortunately, at this time, I haven’t been able to find a replacement brick and mortar store for my dearly departed Prairie Avenue Books but hopefully, soon enough, there will be these niche bookstores popping up again. In the meantime, check out Things That Inspire’s blog on great books, I especially like A Pattern Language.
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