This beautifully illustrated tour of America's houses begins in 1640 with the early roots of American style -- a combination of European skill and attitude combined with American know-how. This architectural journey continues on through the 18th and 19th centuries, through the Greek Revival, the Americanization of the Gothic Revival, and the early Colonial Revival. The houses of the 20th century are the main attraction as House Styles in America delves into the major movements in the Romantic Revivals of the 1920s and 1930s: English, French, and Spanish. Replete with 200 color photographs, this architectural journey is an essential and beautiful guide for realtors, tourists, and students of architecture.

America has an abundance of fascinating and varied house styles, as fascinating and diverse as its people. This unique book will allow readers to recognize the architectural features and style of virtually any house they encounter.

A tour of the approximately twenty styles of domestic architecture common to the United States identifies and defines each style--including Colonial, Craftsman, Modern, and Deco--providing historical summaries, sample photographs, and regional information. 20,000 first printing.

Have you ever been intrigued by a beautiful building and wondered when it was built? Identifying American Architecture provides the answer to such questions in a concise handbook perfect for preservationists, architects, students, and tourists alike. With 214 photographs, it allows readers to associate real buildings with architectural styles, elements, and orders. Identifying American Architecture was designed to be used--carried about and kept handy for frequent reference. Every photograph is keyed to an explanatory legend pointing out characteristic features of each building's style. Trade bookstores order from W.W. Norton, NY

How and where did different architectural styles develop?

"This is a book about American house styles, and they are discussed in twenty-one chapters and illustrated with over 200 color plates and line drawings." "Neither a comprehensive history of American residential architecture nor a compendium of America's "greatest" houses, this fascinating and useful book looks instead at broad trends in domestic building from the first days of European settlement on this continent through the Great Depression and beyond - from saltboxes to split-levels. There are certainly mansions to be found here, for they help to define certain styles. Yet the chief focus is not on grand houses but on typical ones - examples that capture the essence of the everyday rather than the extraordinary."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"Hubka argues that even "vernacular architecture" scholars tend to embrace a model for understanding home forms that relies on iconic architects and theories about how ideas proceed downward from aesthetic ideals to home construction, even though this model fails to adequately characterize the vast majority actual homes that people live in, particularly in recent times after the widespread growth of suburban America. This controversial book proposes new ways to categorize houses"--