> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Marcham
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 11:32 AM


> Can anyone recommend an on-line resource or, perhaps better 
> yet, a sort of a "architectural field guide" for house 
> styles? What I am interested in is a book that can help the 
> relatively unsophisticated layman 

The fatter one is: 

_A Field Guide to American Houses_, Virginia & Lee McAlester;

More compact:

_Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles and
Terms, 1600-1945_, John J.-G. Blumenson.

The problem you will have is that each area has its own idiosyncrasies.
The time lines are general; often local areas lagged the "stylish"
development found in major cities. The toughest to deal with are the
vernacular interpretations that frequently blur the styles by blending
features and motifs.

But these will get you started. "Field Guide" is more academic and will
help you with establishing your local contexts; "Identifying" is a quick
and dirty style book, well-illustrated, and has lots of helpful pictures
on terminology of architectural details, and which typically go with
which style.

_______________________________________________________
Dan Becker,  Exec. Dir.     "The workman ought often to
Raleigh Historic           be thinking, and the thinker
Districts Commission              often to be working."
[log in to unmask]                         -- John Ruskin
919/807-8480 

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