In the introduction to this beautifully designed and highly readable book, Alice Friedman asks: “Why were independent women clients such powerful catalysts for innovation in domestic projects?” (15). The most compelling answer she provides is that these clients’ goals were a close fit with the designers’ desire to completely rethink the home, “a redefinition of domesticity that was fundamentally spatial and physical” (16). Friedman outlines a variety of housing that women clients sought when turning to modern architects: some as showplaces for artistic, political, or social activism; others as experiments in non-traditional living, such as single women, lesbian couples, and various cooperative schemes. The core of the book is six chapters focusing on six houses that pivot on the client/architect relationship. Presented in chronological order are the Hollyhock House, the Schröder House, and the Villa Stein-de Monzie, which were built for women with families, in addition to the Farnsworth House, the Perkins House, and the Vanna Venturi House, which were designed for single women. These houses’ functions were addressed by shifting the balance between public and private spaces, designing rooms for work and leisure activities freed from traditional family living patterns. Friedman argues in the introduction that when a household...