A Field Guide to American Houses

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Summary: A must have for any residential architect or designer.
Review: Still the most thorough compilation of residential styles. Should be in your library - is it?

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Summary: Concise and easy to read.
Review: The McAlesters describe the origins and progression of American architectural styles, and most importantly, demonstrate through diagrams and photos the identifying characteristics of each style.

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Summary: Great Book for Preservationists!
Review: This book has helped me through school! Its a great book to have in your collection if you study preservation or interested in architecture!

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Summary: Guide cuts through confusion
Review: This is a great book if you are in the process of purchasing a home, remodeling a home, or just want to understand housing styles.

This book will help you to understand even the smallest details in homes that categorize them in one style or another.

The book is easy to understand and can be used as a reference, enabling the user to get useful information even without having looked at the book for several days, weeks or months.

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Summary: If you don't know Queen Anne from Adam....
Review: This is a great little book, it's impossible to have as much information as it does, but it does! I don't know how they got it all in there, but it's a fun, fascinating, & nostalgic look at American domestic architecture - the styles, the names, the details, packed with b/w photos, drawings, & diagrams.

If you're an architect, a draftsman, a craftsman, a contractor, a carpenter, a writer, a homeowner, an armchair historian, an antiques dealer, a builder, a remodeler - then you gotta have one of these! It makes any stroll down a shady old street a lesson in architectural history. Maybe if we all paid a little more attention to just how those old-time builders and architects got so much charm and character into a simple home, we wouldn't be so quick to bulldoze and replace with steel and glass or generic tract housing!

Rating:
Summary: If you don't know Queen Anne from Adam....
Review: This is a great little book, it's impossible to have as much information as it does, but it does! I don't know how they got it all in there, but it's a fun, fascinating, & nostalgic look at American domestic architecture - the styles, the names, the details, packed with b/w photos, drawings, & diagrams.

If you're an architect, a draftsman, a craftsman, a contractor, a carpenter, a writer, a homeowner, an armchair historian, an antiques dealer, a builder, a remodeler - then you gotta have one of these! It makes any stroll down a shady old street a lesson in architectural history. Maybe if we all paid a little more attention to just how those old-time builders and architects got so much charm and character into a simple home, we wouldn't be so quick to bulldoze and replace with steel and glass or generic tract housing!

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Summary: A Field Guide to American Houses
Review: This is a keeper book! I keep going back to it month after month. It has home styles as they came thru history grouped by style. It has pictures of house features that help identify what style a home is. It has lots of pictures. The only weakness I can think of is it does not have a lot of information on Home-styles being built right now. [e-mail]

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Summary: Great introduction to American Houses
Review: Wonderful, concise guide to American Homes

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Summary: Invaluable Reference
Review: You will truly value this book if you are interested in the styles of residential architecture in America. After an engaging survey in the introduction, the styles and movements are presented in chronological order. Also included at this point are outline drawings of the various types of houses, illustrating style, basic shapes, elevations, plans, types of materials and building techniques used as well as a pictorial key. In this chapter and the others, are hundreds of black and white photographs which are clear enough to identify their defining features, labelled with city and state. Because the emphasis is on the exterior, there are few interior pictures. The single-family home is targeted, rather than public buildings, multi-family buildings etc.

In addition to text glossaries, there are intermittent glossaries with line drawings of architectural details and keys of applicable terms and design features. These are very helpful in recognizing the defining aspects of each style. Maps point out the principal areas.

The remaining six chapters start with Native American architecture and finish Contemporary Folk of the 1940's. Accompanying the flowing text are more drawings, which clearly illustrate the basic structures and how they are constructed as well as photographs of each style.

One will learn how to identify not only the wealth of house styles, but where they are located and be able to compare and contrast their differences. Also the reader will learn how these styles evolved and the historical trends that influenced them, giving the bonus side effect of an interesting overview of general American history.

What an invaluable volume for anyone interested in architecture and/or history. It appeals to both the novice and professional in its informative text and 'at a glance' reference charts. Not the least of importance is what a handy addition when reading other books on history and architecture books.