Customer Reviews

House Styles in America: The Old-House Journal Guide to the Architecture of American Homes

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House Styles in America is a well constructed collection of american houses dating back to the old Ironworks houses, Like the Turner house and Bacons Castle,but this book also contains modern houses, like Phillip Johnson's glass house. This book is a great addition to anyones growing architecture library.

So why is it out of print? (Had no trouble getting one though.) This book is based on a series of magazine articles for Old Home Journal, so the style is informal. The carefully chosen color pictures set it apart from its competition, A Field Guide to American Houses, by the other husband and wife team. But mostly it's the authors' ability to explain in simple language the events that caused the rise and fall of the various styles: the switch to stud framing, the widely circulated pattern books, the Arts and Craft movement, World War I and the various European styles brought home by the soldiers, etc.

This book has lots of color pictures and interesting historical text about each style. It does not have any representative floor plans, which would have been nice. If you are interested in studying or identifying housing styles, this book would be a good purchase. I prefer books that have both pictures and floor plans, but the pictures and text in this book are first rate. I have other books that do have typical floor plans for most styles, but poor or mediocre pictures. This book is a great complement to those.

It is a great book for the introduction of the history of American house styles.