Otago University Press, hbk, $80
At right is one of Ted McCoy's many drawings and photographs from A Southern Architecture: The work of Ted McCoy.
During his 50-year career, McCoy has designed numerous houses and public and institutional buildings, from Aquinas Hall, his first commission at the age of 25, through the development of Otago Boys High School, a new sanctuary for St Paul's Cathedral, and the Hocken (Richardson) building, to the redevelopment of Otago Museum in 2000.
Most of his work has been in Dunedin and Otago, and he has won numerous awards and honours, including a gold medal from the New Zealand Institute of Architects for lifetime achievement in architecture.
He recorded his work in numerous photographs, which are reproduced in this book, along with plans and sketches and brief captions.
There is an introduction by Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins and a preface by McCoy explaining his philosophy and influences, which he illustrates with some striking photographs of some of Dunedin's iconic buildings such as First Church and the railway station.
Although trained in modernism, a school of thought which disparaged Victorian architecture, McCoy was well aware of the richness of Dunedin's past and its cityscape.
Despite the varying quality of some of the earlier photographs, this is a magnificent visual record of one of the country's leading architects who has shaped much of Dunedin just as Dunedin has shaped him and his work.
