Immigrant Architect

Rafael Guastavino Sr. was 39 when he left a successful career as an architect in Barcelona. American cities-densely packed and built largely of wood-were experiencing horrific fires, and Guastavino had the solution: The soaring interior spaces created by his tiled vaults and domes made buildings sturdier, fireproof, and beautiful. What he didn't have was fluent English. Unable to win design commissions, he transferred control of the company to his American-educated son, whose subsequent half-century of inspired design work resulted in major contributions to the built environment of America.

Immigrant Architect is an introduction to architectural concepts and a timely reminder of immigrant contributions to America. The book includes four route maps for visiting Guastavino-designed spaces in New York City: uptown, midtown, downtown, and Prospect Park.

“"Starred Review "An exceptional STEAM title.""”

"Starred Review  "An exceptional STEAM title."" -- Angela Leeper - Booklist
"Read this as a picture book, to spark discussion, or use it to expand options for biography assignments in elementary schools. There’s great potential in this story. VERDICT Beautiful, informative, and fascinating, this is a great addition to school and public library biography collections. Recommended. " -- School Library Journal
"If you build it, they will marvel... This charming homage is a resounding tribute to immigrants' contributions. The text is narrated by Rafael in a proud, awestruck voice that makes both characters and their work come alive. A pictorial guide to the important architectural terms readers will encounter prefaces the book. Many of the lively, colorful, appealing illustrations prominently display tiled arches... A firm foundation for building interest in architecture and a solid STEM resource." -- Kirkus Reviews
"An esoteric architectural detail—the Guastavino vault—anchors this chatty, information-dense biography. In first-person narration, the authors share the story of Rafael Guastavino Moreno through his son, Rafael Guastavino Expósito. After the pair emigrated to the U.S. from Spain in 1881, the elder Guastavino “patented tiled vaults and domes as a fireproof construction system” (at the time, “fires were common in America’s growing cities”). Engaging the same concepts used in pizza and bread ovens, the Guastavino vault proved enormously successful, and “the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company... built curved ceilings in more than one thousand buildings.” (Though many were demolished, vaults survive in Grand Central Terminal and the main hall at Ellis Island, among other locations.) Through a fluke of fate, an architecture professor rescued the company’s drawings from a dumpster, thereby ensuring the Guastavino legacy. Lorente’s retro-mod illustrations, washed in teal, yellow, and rust, portray undulating tiled vaults, grand spaces, and dapper architects at work. Ages 8–up." -- Publishers Weekly

Berta de Miguel is a trained architect specializing inthe restoration of historic structures who works as Vertical Access New YorkCity Branch Manager. This position has allowed her to work regularly inGuastavino-designed spaces. Part of this interaction with Guastavino isincluded in the documentary El Arquitecto de Nueva York, by Eva Vizcarra, whichwas selected for the Gold Dolphin at the Cannes Festival and for Best Biographyrecognition in the New York Festival World’s Best TV & Films Festival. Kent Diebolt is the Founding Partner of VerticalAccess LLC, an industrial rope access company dedicated to the inspection,investigation, and documentation of monumental historic buildings. Formerpresident of the Association for Preservation Technology, he is an expert inGuastavinoprojects throughout the United States. Virginia Lorente is an architect based in Valencia,Spain, who has written, illustrated, and published the children’s book onarchitecture My Favorite Houses, which won the Serra d’Or prize in Spain in2013.

Booklist Starred ReviewNamed to the 2022 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List The Spanish architects Rafael Guastavino Sr. and hisson, Rafael Guastavino Jr., designed more than one thousand iconic spaces across New York City and the United States, such as the New York City Hall Subway Station (still a tourist destination though no longer active), the Manhattan Federal Reserve Bank, the Nebraska State Capitol, the Great Hall of Ellis Island, the Oyster bar at Grand Central Terminal in New York, the Elephant House at the Bronx Zoo, the soaring tiled vaults under the Queensboro Bridge, the central dome of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, and the Boston Public Library. Written in the voice of the son, who was eight years old in 1881 when he immigrated to America with his father, this is their story.

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