Product Description

Here is a sumptuously illustrated, authoritative introduction to the principal architectural and decorative styles of the American house from colonial times to the mid-20th century. In this beautifully produced volume, the authors identify the landmark houses that best exemplify America's major architectural and decorative styles since Colonial times. Each of the 25 houses included is illustrated with specially commissioned colour photographs of interior and exterior views, drawings and floor plans, and historical paintings and photographs. The text emphasizes the personalities and lifestyle of the period, architect-client backgrounds and relationships, technological innovations and sources of design elements. Because the featured houses were built by the country's leading architects - from Alexander Jackson Davis and Richard Morris Hunt to McKim, Mead and White, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Greene Brothers and Walter Gropius - and owned by some of its most celebrated citizens including Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Jay Gould, the Guggenheims, the Phipps, and the Vanderbilts, the book is a cultural history as well as an architecutural study. Located all over the United State, most of the houses are open to the public, and the book provides a listing of their addresses and visiting information.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #586526 in Books
• Published on: 1994-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 348 pages

From Library Journal
Architecture buffs and decorators will enjoy visiting these 25 noteworthy American houses, selected partly because they are open to the public. What at first glance appears to be a coffee-table title turns out to be a useful guide to the various architectural styles of the American home, replete with floor plans for each dwelling and schematic diagrams that point out representative architectural characteristics of the style in question. Each chapter also includes a tour of the interior of its house, with significant illustrations of interior detail highlighted. About half the homes are located in the Northeast, and most of the rest can be found east of the Mississippi; Monticello is the most famous house represented. Rounding out the book is a section explaining how to arrange a visit to any of these splendid residences. The McAlesters (A Field Guide to American Houses, LJ 8/84) are columnists for Country Home magazine; McLean is a freelance photographer. Recommended for architecture collections and large public libraries.
Edward B. Cone, New York
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

This book has been very helpful.
I'm an architect and I refer to this book often. The book gives good examples of various types of traditional American architecture. Each example is of a famous house and the author gives a history and a breakdown of the details for each home.
At the end of each chapter the author goes into further discussion of the details with hand sketches pointing out the important aspects of these details.

Well done all around.
You could think of this as a coffee-table version of the McAlester's Field Guide to American Houses (which I also recommend.) In this case each house is an historical landmark as well as an exemplar of an architectural style, and the photos are suitably sumptuous. I like coffee-table books that also give you solid information as well as pretty pictures, and this one succeeds admirably on both counts. It may not have every artist's or magnate's house you can think of, but it has a lot of them. A modern classic.

Beautiful photos and excellent information
My wife and I love this book. It explains architectural styles by profiling oustanding examples found throughout the United States. The McAlesters not only explain the architectural elements that make a house extraordinary, they also give the fascinating history of the homes and their owners, which include Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, and Thomas Edison. In each profile, they also include simple line drawings that clearly identify the features of the style. Since buying this book, we have visited eight of the 25 houses and plan on seeing them all. This book will not gather dust on your coffee table.