The architectural facade addresses and enhances the space of the city, while displaying, or dissembling, interior arrangements. In this book, Charles Burroughs tracks the emergence of the facade in late medieval Florence and then follows the sharply diverging reactions of Renaissance architects to new demands and possibilities for representation in both residential and governmental contexts. Understanding the facade as an assemblage of elements of diverse character and origin, Burroughs explores the wide range of formal solutions available to architects and patrons. In the absence of explicit reflection on the facade in Renaissance architectural discourse, Burroughs notes the theoretical implications of certain celebrated designs, implying mediation on the nature of architecture itself and the society it serves and represents, as well as on the relationship between nature and culture.

"The strength of the book is undeniably Burroughs's methodology and sources outside the scope of traditional architectural studies, and to this end Burroughs accomplishes his goal of writing something that will bridge the gap between practical examinations of Renaissance architecture and theory." Michelle Duran-McLure, University of Montevallo, H-Net

"...no one who studies the facades of Rome and Florence will have read more widely or pack his notes more intriguingly with the latest in cultural studies and architectural theory [than Burroughs]." Renaissance Quarterly

"...a provocative look at secular, mostly domestic, facades as cultural phenomena...at once logical and idiosyncratic, a combination that recalls the speed and serendipity of discourse around a seminar table." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

"...Burrough's interpretive framework offers a welcome and stimulating reconsideration of many subjects." Sixteenth Century Journal, Andrew Hopkins, Villa I Tatti, Florence