The first book on Bogardus's life and work, Cast-Iron Architecture in America describes how iron architecture remade the face of American cities in the mid-nineteenth century, following the appearance of cast iron on the industrial scene in eighteenth-century England and Europe. It documents the role played by Bogardus, who patented his method for cast-iron construction in 1850 and championed its use in America's growing cities.

Cast iron fell out of favor, supplanted by the steel frame; cast-iron buildings languished, decayed, and fell to the bulldozers of urban renewal in the 1950s and '60s. Only in recent decades has nineteenth-century urban architecture, including cast iron, come to be fully appreciated, and the surviving buildings rescued, restored, and reused. Four by Bogardus are recognized as landmarks.