by John Milnes Baker
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Product Description
America has a wide variety of house styles, and this text aims to allow readers to recognize the architectural features of virtually any house they encounter. John Milnes Baker leads the reader through a series of plans and different characteristics to establish the different architectural styles. Each section begins with a historical overview of the period, followed by commentary. Baker shows how the different styles developed and what influenced their development. Through an understanding of earlier styles, insights into the architecture of our own era can be developed. This study of architectural styles should allow readers to make informed judgements about what is being built at the beginning of the 21st century.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Not enought detail, 2008-06-22
I had higher expectations for this book when I bought it. I was looking for a book that covered in depth the different design details used in the different styles of homes. The coverage is rather shallow.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 American House Styles, 2006-02-21
Great book to sort out the various styles in american architectural houses. The history of each house is given well and concise. The language is appropriate and the illustrations are excellant.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 It sells out fast at the book store, 2003-06-28
This is a great way to study the different elevations/styles that can be applied to the same basic floorplan. Also a quick reference for the many Architectural styles of the U.S.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
A good, quick introduction, 2002-12-09
This fascinating book is a quick introduction to the evolution of house styles across the history of the United States. Each chapter has a short introduction to the era in American history, and then launches into a description of the house styles, complete with excellent sketches of a typical house and floor plan of that style. I found this to be a fun and educational read. I enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Causes of Architecture, 2002-10-21
In the beginning of this book the author points out that a culture is reflected in its buildings. Then he goes on to identify the events that caused the various styles--the War of 1812 that stopped our imitation of English architecture, the change to stud framing and the effects of industrialization that mark the Victorian era, the nationalistic spirit of the 1876 Centennial that spawned the revival in Colonial archictecture at the end of the 19th century, etc.--in such a professional style of writing you'd never suspect he was also an architect. A history professor maybe. All of which explains the subject better than the usual bare chronological sequence.
What helps in a book like this are the odd bits of information casually thrown out that show mastery of the subject.
Colonial homes were never white; Greek Revival were never anything but. A particular cornice is usually done incorrectly, compared to the true Classical version.
He also make the sensible point that you can only compare styles within limits, that at some point you're really discussing altogether different building types, as in ranches, bungalows, and certainly octagon houses. And early on he boasts he can design a modern four bedroom house in any style. Then he proceeds to do it, providing a front elevation and a repeating ground floor plan (front: LR, center hall, DR. rear: family room, kitchen, mud room) with added porch, tower, fireplace, chimney, as needed. Not so much to explain the architectural features, I think, but to give the prospective homebuilder something that actually could be built today.
Where most authors stop around WWII, he continues up to the present. His next-to-last chapter shows the recent builder's styles which will be familiar to anyone who's driven through any of those "Vinyl Village" developments with the Olde English names: the Townes, Pointes, Glenns, and Harbours. Here he doesn't hesitate to criticize the tastless examples, and continues his tirade into last chapter, where he argues against the Post-Modern assault on tradition in favor of a return to order and careful design.
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