"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."
- Winston Churchill
Physician, author, historian, and more... Dr. Marc Matrana divides his time between a busy medical career and researching and writing about the history and architecture of the South.
Southern Splendor
Saving Architectural Treasures of the Old South
Explore almost fifty houses built before the Civil War that have been authentically restored or preserved.
Featuring over 275 stunning photographs, as well as dozens of firsthand accounts and interviews with those involved in the preservation of these historic properties, Southern Splendor describes the leading role the South has played, since the nineteenth century, in the historic preservation movement in America.
Lost Plantations of the South
The great majority of the South's plantation homes have been destroyed over time, and most have long been forgotten.
In Lost Plantations of the South, Marc R. Matrana weaves together photographs, diaries and letters, architectural renderings, and other rare documents to tell the story of sixty of these vanquished estates and the people who once called them home.
Lost Plantation:
The Rise and Fall of Seven Oaks
The story of a Louisiana mansion, a planter's empire, and a preservation battle lost to bulldozers.
By analyzing one failed effort, the story of Louisiana's Lost Plantation provides insight into the complex workings of American historical preservation efforts as a whole, while illustrating how southerners deal with their multifaceted past, often simultaneously honorable and shameful.