Table of Contents

How to Use This Book
Preface
Pictorial Key and Glossary
 
LOOKING AT AMERICAN HOUSES
Style: The Fashions of American Houses
Form: The Shapes of American Houses
Structure: The Anatomy of American Houses
Neighborhoods: The Groupings of American Houses
 
FOLK HOUSES
Native American
Pre-Railroad
National
Manufactured
 
COLONIAL HOUSES (1600–1820)
Postmedieval English
Dutch Colonial
French Colonial
Spanish Colonial
Georgian
Federal
Early Classical Revival
 
ROMANTIC HOUSES (1820–1880)
Greek Revival
Gothic Revival
Italianate
Exotic Revivals
Octagon
 
VICTORIAN HOUSES (1860–1900)
Second Empire
Stick
Queen Anne
Shingle
Richardsonian Romanesque
Folk Victorian
 
ECLECTIC HOUSES (1880–1940)
 
English and Anglo-American Period Houses
Colonial Revival
Neoclassical
Tudor
 
French Period Houses
Chateauesque
Beaux Arts
French Eclectic
 
Mediterranean and Spanish Period Houses
Italian Renaissance
Mission
Spanish Revival
Monterey
Pueblo Revival
 
MODERN HOUSES (1900–present)
 
Early Modern
Prairie
Craftsman
Modernistic
 
Bankers Modern
Minimal Traditional
Ranch
Split-Level
 
Mainstream Modern
International
Contemporary
Shed
Other 20th-Century Modern
21st-Century Modern
 
STYLED HOUSES SINCE 1935
Mansard
Styled Ranch
Millennium Mansion
New Traditional
American Vernacular
 
APPENDIX
Approaches to Construction in the 20th and 21st Centuries
 
Notes
For Further Reference
Acknowledgments
About the Illustrations
Photo Credits
Index 

About the Author

VIRGINIA McALESTER, was educated at Radcliffe and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a founding member and past president of Preservation Dallas and also of Friends of Fair Park, the support group for a National Historic Landmark. She serves as an advisor emeritus for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She is the author ofThe Making of a Historic District- Swiss Avenue, Dallas, Texas, a 40-page booklet "how-to" published by the National Trust in 1975 that historic groups across the country have used as a guide in creating their historic districts. She is coauthor ofThe Homes of the Park Cities, Dallas- Great American Suburbs.

Reviews

“The most authoritative dictionary of the language spoken by the built environment . . . McAlester’s book is excellent for the layperson who wants to wander about the neighborhood with a bit more authority, or perhaps for the homeowner who can’t decide what kind of windows might look best. It’s also useful to those of us who study preservation professionally, to bring our insistence that buildings are just as alive as plants—and just as worthy of careful, affectionate attention—into the broader cultural conversation about urban spaces. That conversation, in which the most mundane elements of building design are cast as characters in the story of a city, turns the streetscape into something greater than the brick and limestone it’s made of. It’s alive, noisy—and demands our close attention.”
 —Angela Serratore, The New York Times Magazine


"Magisterial . . . The illustrated story of why our houses—great and humble and everything in between—look the way they do."
—Michael Tortorello, The New York Times
 
"Once you've pored through Virginia McAlester's photo-packed bible of American home design, you'll be able to identify the saltboxes, Dutch colonials, and brownstones lining your own street, and you'll understand the historical significance of each one."
—Tina Jordan, Entertainment Weekly
 
"The go-to resource for architecture spotters."
—Peter Terzian, Elle Décor
 
"Chronicles the past 400 years of American styles, from wigwam to mobile to modern."
—Alexandra Wolfe, The Wall Street Journal
 
"A classic."
—Pilar Viladas, House Beautiful
 
"Encyclopedic . . . For lovers of historic homes, this is a rich trove of not just details, but reasons for them."
—Susan Clotfelter, The Denver Post
 
"880 pages of scholarly wonder."
—D Magazine
 
"The definitive guide to American housing styles."
—Jim Weiker, The Columbus Dispatch
 
"Outstanding . . . Expanded and completely revised . . . Both scholars and average readers will find much to enjoy in this volume."
—Rebecca Vnuk, Booklist (starred review)