Thanks Ralph.   

Birders do seem to be an interesting bunch (flock).   That alone gives credibility to the reference in addition to having you as a student.   Recently, I started a program here called Jewellery for Buildings including a walk-about field trip like a downtown bird walk.   There are a lot of buildings that qualify as English Sparrows (visual nuisance).

Have you ever seen the Field Guide to Roadkill.   A real gem because in addition to the Rorschach-like silhouette patterns of the remains, the text deals realistically with the ecology of the critter in question and why it was on the highway at that moment.   Maybe someone should write a Field Guide to Architectural Roadkill.

cp in bc



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: [log in to unmask] 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 6:38 PM
  Subject: Re: [BP] Style Definition Book


  Cuyler,

  The original source book for stylistic identification of American (and you guys probably count)architectural styles is Marcus Whiffen's American Architecture Since 1780.  I don't know whether it's still available, and I do know that other people have written similar books since then.  As I remember, he was a birder and it occurred to him that just as birds have certain identifying characteristics, so do Historic Buildings.

  However, he was my architectural history teacher, and since I learned this stuff at The Source, as far as I'm concerned, there's no reason to consult somebody else's knockoff book.  

  Ralph