American House Styles

America has an abundance of fascinating and varied house styles, as fascinating and diverse as its people. This unique book will allow readers to recognize the architectural features and style of virtually any house they encounter.

This beautifully illustrated tour of America's houses begins in 1640 with the early roots of American style -- a combination of European skill and attitude combined with American know-how. This architectural journey continues on through the 18th and 19th centuries, through the Greek Revival, the Americanization of the Gothic Revival, and the early Colonial Revival. The houses of the 20th century are the main attraction as House Styles in America delves into the major movements in the Romantic Revivals of the 1920s and 1930s: English, French, and Spanish. Replete with 200 color photographs, this architectural journey is an essential and beautiful guide for realtors, tourists, and students of architecture.

"Noted illustrator A. G. Smith has rendered over 40 extant structures in crisp, detailed drawings. Ranging from the Taos Pueblo ... to a striking contemporary design ..., the houses represent a host of native and European-inspired styles"--Back cover.

This book is a delightful guide to understanding and identifying architectural styles for kids and their parents Why do houses look the way they do? Why do dome have small windows, while others seem to be all glass? Why do some hug the landscape, while others are tall with very steep roofs? Why do dome people live in mansions, while others live in mobile houses? Can you imagine a house that looks like an elephant or a shoe? Children and adults will learn about the history of domestic architecture, the styles of the houses we live in, and the terms for the architectural elements that compose the buildings. Use the pictorial field guide to investigate your own house, then take it along on family outings to identify different architectural details. Under Every Roof features more than 60 houses from 30 states and the District of Columbia that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places; many of these are house museums that are open to the public. Kids need to understand the house they live in, so the book also includes a wide variety of regional styles and architectural types. The full-color, watercolor illustrations add a unique, gentle humor to the text.

American Houses is a historical guide to the architecture of the American home. While other architectural field guides show only façades, this book includes floor plans, showing how the form of a house arises from its function. Photographs and drawings of exteriors illustrate the significant field marks of each style and help pinpoint the key elements that can identify a house even when it has been remodeled beyond recognition. Beautifully illustrated, clearly written, and impeccably researched, American Houses is an essential reference for anyone interested in the history of American residential architecture.

American Homes is the classic work of American house architecture. From the Dutch colonial, to the New England Salt Box, to the 1950s prefab, this unrivaled reference and useful guide to 103 building styles pays homage to our country's housing heritage. American Homes opens the window onto the rich landscape of all the places we call home. Award-winning architect Lester Walker examines hundreds of styles of homes—more than any other survey of American domestic architecture—and helps us understand the history of each style, why it developed as it did, and the practical and historical reasons behind its shape, size, material, ornament, and plan. Hundreds of sequenced drawings illustrate the evolution of our most beloved housing styles, like the colonial English Cottage, which grows before our eyes from a simple square of posts and beams to a fully constructed home with hand-split cedar clapboards and an intricately thatched roof. There's also the Italianate, whose roof displays its intricate carved brackets and is topped with a cupola that serves to filter light to the interior of the home. Annotated floor plans offer insight into the structure of these homes, and with it, a good measure of inspiration. No wrought-iron railing, white stucco wall, or gingerbread gable goes neglected. Every idiosyncratic detail and decoration of each of these uniquely American designs is delicately drawn. American Homes is the perfect reference for enthusiasts of architecture, history, and American studies. It is also the ideal inspiration for anyone who lives in or dreams of living in a classic American home.

A tour of the approximately twenty styles of domestic architecture common to the United States identifies and defines each style--including Colonial, Craftsman, Modern, and Deco--providing historical summaries, sample photographs, and regional information. 20,000 first printing.

About 1912, a renaissance of interest in early American architecture occurred that claimed the attention of a broad cross-section of the culture. It was demonstrated not only by being a popular topic in books and magazines, but also by the public's passion for collecting American antique furniture, and by students and architects traveling through different regions of the nation and photographing the most notable architectural examples. In the 1930s, the classic constructions from this earlier time mingled with the new materials and efficient designs, and the great American country house was born. This treasury showcases some of the finest American country houses produced during that unusually fruitful period. Culled from many of the best architectural firms of the time, the volume includes numerous detailed floor plans, lively sketches, and breathtaking photographs of exteriors and interiors. From simple cottages to functional family homes to sprawling estates, a wide variety of styles is represented. Celebrating the stately form, quiet technique, and balance and simplicity that is at the heart of every well-built American country house, anyone interested in history, art, and architecture will find in this collection an inspiring vision.