A Sketchy Overview of American Architecture

books:


	• What Style Is It?: A Guide to American Architecture, Revised Edition John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers Wiley, 2003 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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Short and to the point!

This is a very handy, pocket sized book which can be easily used in the field! Different historic architectural styles are divided into small chapters with helpful photos for identification. I particularly love the user-friendly "Glossary" which identifies architectural features in a short and to the point manner. Since this is published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a person can feel assured that this is accurate information! Makes a great gift too!

Good for my class...

I'm not that into architecture but this book was pretty good. I had to use it for my local history course. The images were good and helpful in the explanations on each of the pages.

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The Field Guide That Could Have Been

This is the most dissapointing of architectural field guides because it had the potential to have been the very best. John Poppeliers was the head of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and Allen Chambers was an historian with the Historic American Buildings Survey. Quite simply they had access to 51,000 sheets of measured drawings, 156,000 large format black and white photographs and over 20,000 reproductions of individual items. With all of that access, they could have produced the ultimate architectural field guide. Instead they produced a 146 page superficial guide.

The best aspect of this guide are the line drawings produced for the Historic American Building Survey. They are two dimensional drawings that are almost surgical in their precision. The building photographs are also first class.The narrative describing the different elements of the style is short and to the point.

The second edition of this book was published in 2003. In my opinion, if someone is going to introduce a new field guide into this already crowded arena, it has to offer something new. I would recommend sticking with the already proven field guides by Lester Walker, Rachel Carley, Carole Rifkind or Virginia McAllister.

This book is recommended for people with really short attention spans. This book is a dissapointment. Oh, what it could have been. One day, somebody from the HABS project will produce the ultimate architectural field guide.

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A Sketchy Overview of American Architecture

This book is fine if you are looking only for a very brief look at American Architecture. It does not organize architectural styles to give a comprehensive overview of them. It does, however, present example photos of various styles with easy-to-read text briefly describing the styles. If you want a book that is handy and comprehensive, no other book can compare to A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia and Lee McAlester (ISBN 0-394-73969-8). This book will give you a comprehensive framework of the development of American Architecture so that you can build your understanding as you become exposed examples in the field. Everything from windows and doors to contruction techniques are covered. The book is organized in such a way that you can find what you need quickly. It is the cornerstone in the study of American Architecture.

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Architectural style is defined as a definite type of architecture, distinguished by special characteristics of structure and ornament.
This revised edition of What Style Is It? includes new sections on Neoclassical, Romanesque and Rustic Styles. It also provides more examples of how pure styles vary by geographic region across the US.
* Includes sections on 25 of the most significant architectural styles including Early Colonial, Federal and Second Empire
* More than 200 photos and line drawings make this a visually rich resource. 300f photos and drawings are new to this edition
* A glossary offers quick access to architectural terms
* Includes an added guide to using the Historical American Buildings Society online catalogue of more than 30,000 historic structures, giving access to more than 51,000 measured drawings, 156,000 photographs and more than 30,000 original historical reports

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