Out of Season: The Vanishing Architecture of the Wildwoods

Wildwood, New Jersey: thanks to a combination of economics, geography, and chance, this Jersey Shore vacation spot has, for more than four decades, been home to a wealth of immaculately preserved midcentury motels. These jewels of neon and bright colors remained frozen in time until recently; now, a substantial number have been demolished and many that remain face an uncertain future. Determined to preserve them, photographer Mark Havens has captured their unique style over 10 years, sometimes shooting motel facades while workers were demolishing the backs. With essays by Joseph Giovannini and Jamer Hunt and evocative photographs, Out of Season celebrates the architecture of a bygone era of Jersey Shore summers.

Mark Havens’s photographs have been published and exhibited internationally. Reviews of his work have appeared in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Paris Review. He is a professor at Philadelphia University.
Jamer Hunt is Director of the Transdisciplinary Design Graduate Program at Parsons the New School for Design. He is a design blogger for Fast Company and co-founder of DesignPhiladelphia, now the largest city-based design festival in the US.
Joseph Giovannini has written on architecture and design for three decades for such publications as the New York Times, Architectural Record, Art in America, Art Forum, and Architecture Magazine. He has also served as the architecture critic for New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.