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 of The 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 of The Homes of the Park Cities, Dallas- Great American Suburbs.
"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 Decor "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)
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