Customer Reviews

Federal Style Patterns 1780-1820 with CD-Rom

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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Oh, this is an elegant book, with highly detailed drawings of every molding, mantels, doors, room designs, etc. that you can imagine, all in the beautiful American Federal Style. In this book, you can 'invade' historic homes and 'walk out' with measured detailed drawings of all of the best features -- without anyone catching you in the act.

"Federal Style Patterns 1780-1820" is the culmination of an astounding research project. The detailed drawings are based on design elements from homes built during the Federal Era in the New England region, and include detailed images of cornices, door and window casings, chair rails, baseboards and more.

All drawings are captured in a variety of formats on a CD-ROM that comes with the book, which is a helpful tool for modern day designers hoping to faithfully reproduce the elegance of Federal Style architecture.

For some time now, I have been fascinated with the Federal Style, so much so that I decided to decorate and furnish my new office as if it were a page from history, circa 1815. I was a bit confused how to adapt a door arch to my particular circumstance, so I e-mailed the authors of this book, MaryBeth Mudrick and Lawrence D. Smith, for advice. I was most pleased with the prompt and professional reply I received from them. Throughout the duration of my project, which stretched out for many months, MaryBeth and Lawrence provided invaluable guidance at many critical junctures, always with patience and a friendly touch. With my copy of their text close by at all times, these pros led me toward a Federal Style look that far exceeded my original expectations. Thomas Jefferson would have felt right at home!

The book is well illustrated and true to the topic. I thought a little too much time was spent on the dimensions of the illustrated work in how the book need to be adjusted for the size of the book and not any time spent explaining how the woodworkers of the time accomplished the work, Example how was a flute cut with the top end round and the bottom end flat. How are tongues added to a fluted column? There are no explanations of the wonderfully illustrated woodworking just where the work is located and how to measure the work.

Highly recommend this book great to use if one is renovating a period house or likes period decorations.

This book is a pattern book. If you are looking for a coffee table book with lots of glossy photos, this is not the book you want; if you are looking for a history book on the Federal Style, this is also not the book you want.

This is a book that is similar to other pattern books that have been written and published in the Nineteenth Century to facilitate carpenters wishing to build attractive houses that are correctly detailed. Asher Benjamin's "The American Builder's Companion" immediately comes to mind as one such example of a pattern book. Not everyone could afford to hire an architect, who was trained to design correctly detailed houses, so carpenters would assume the role of designer and would use pattern books, along with their prior experience working with architects, to inform them on how to properly detail buildings. Not much has changed. Many people still are unable to afford an architect, home builders and carpenters often have to assume the role of designers when an architect is not used, and nostalgia for the architecture of the past remains high. The ratio of amateur designed houses to architect designed houses is getting ever larger because most architects have abandoned the residential market because of its increasing demand for nostalgia architectural styles, and because architects are no longer trained to properly detail traditional residences, there is no useful knowledge that a builder can gain from working with an architect. A builder wishing to carry the traditional design ball that architects have punted, and produce competent traditional detailing must therefore rely on a pattern book. What distinguishes this book from the nineteenth century pattern books is that this book contains a CD ROM that allows the designer to directly import the drawings and "patterns" directly into their designs.

This book has a very narrow focus; it is a pattern book on the Federal Style, specifically the style as it was practiced in New England, and not much else. What about Georgian, or Greek Revival, or Gothic Revival, or Colonial Revival style patterns? It is my hope that the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, put this volume out as a first of, hopefully, a series of volumes that take on the variety of other styles and "patterns" that exist in our built environment.

Our built environment has suffered as a result of the uneducated designers and architects. It is hoped that the re-education process can be started with this book and others like it.

This is an invaluable addition to my resource library. Beautifully articulated and well documented examples of New England Federal patterns. The authors put forth an incredible effort, and I look forward to collecting additional books in the series!

While one reviewer describes this book as exhausting, it is in fact a review of New England Federal/Adams and European Empire period architecture. Those seeking examples from the rest of the United States will be very disappointed. While there are lovely examples from New England, I could not find a single example from outside that region. About half the examples are from Massachusetts, a quarter are reprints from Asher Benjamins' books and about 15% are from England and other European sources. Given the fabulous examples from South Carolina and Virginia and the leading role that Thomas Jefferson played in defining an architecture for the "New Republic", I think the omissions are inexcusable.

While the authors open with a description of classical orders, there are no examples of columns and full entablatures that are to be found in the rooms of many Federal style homes and building, including several of the historic examples they cite. This strikes me as another significant omission and a second disappointment.

If you are seeking information on the narrow expression of Federal interior architecture on New England, you will find this a rich if narrowly focussed resource. If you want examples of the broader expression of architecture that arose in the newly formed United States, you'll likely be disappointed at an expensive purchase without any examples from the rest of the New Republic