A History of American Architecture


Book Description

Why did the colonial Americans give over a significant part of their homes to a grand staircase? Why did the Victorians drape their buildings ornate decoration? And why did American buildings grow so tall in the last decades of the 19th century. This book explores the history of American architecture from prehistoric times to the present, explaining why characteristic architectural forms arose at particular times and in particular places.







Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America


Book Description

Incorporating more than 3,000 illustrations, Kornwolf's work conveys the full range of the colonial encounter with the continent's geography, from the high forms of architecture through formal landscape design and town planning. From these pages emerge the fine arts of environmental design, an understanding of the political and economic events that helped to determine settlement in North America, an appreciation of the various architectural and landscape forms that the settlers created, and an awareness of the diversity of the continent's geography and its peoples. Considering the humblest buildings along with the mansions of the wealthy and powerful, public buildings, forts, and churches, Kornwolf captures the true dynamism and diversity of colonial communities - their rivalries and frictions, their outlooks and attitudes - as they extended their hold on the land.







Essays in Early American Architectural History


Book Description

Introduction. Reshaping the study of early American architecture -- The origins of early American architecture. Early American architecture : a transatlantic perspective -- Adaptation and innovation : archaeological and architectural -- Perspectives on the seventeenth-century Chesapeake -- The English origins of the Jamestown rowhouses -- The design and building process. "An elegant and commodious building" : William Buckland and the design of the Prince William County Courthouse -- The dynamics of architectural design in eighteenth-century Charleston and the low country -- Regional building patterns : ecclesiastical architecture. Anglican church design in the Chesapeake : English inheritances and regional interpretations -- Christ Church, Savannah : loopholes in metropolitan design on the frontier -- "Building is a heavy burden" : the legacy of eighteenth-century church building in the Middle Atlantic colonies -- God is in the details : the transformation of ecclesiastical architecture in early-nineteenth-century America -- Williamsburg. Ornaments of civic aspiration : the public buildings of Williamsburg -- Beaux-arts ideals and colonial reality : the reconstruction of Williamsburg's capitol, 1928-1934 -- The changing perceptions of the restoration of colonial Williamsburg




Town House


Book Description

In this abundantly illustrated volume, Bernard Herman provides a history of urban dwellings and the people who built and lived in them in early America. In the eighteenth century, cities were constant objects of idealization, often viewed as the outward manifestations of an organized, civil society. As the physical objects that composed the largest portion of urban settings, town houses contained and signified different aspects of city life, argues Herman. Taking a material culture approach, Herman examines urban domestic buildings from Charleston, South Carolina, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as well as those in English cities and towns, to better understand why people built the houses they did and how their homes informed everyday city life. Working with buildings and documentary sources as diverse as court cases and recipes, Herman interprets town houses as lived experience. Chapters consider an array of domestic spaces, including the merchant family's house, the servant's quarter, and the widow's dower. Herman demonstrates that city houses served as sites of power as well as complex and often conflicted artifacts mapping the everyday negotiations of social identity and the display of sociability.




Three American Architects


Book Description

''Discusses the individual and collective achievement of the three American architects.''--




Architecture in Early New England


Book Description

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.




The Evolution of Colonial Architecture


Book Description

Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations.--Amazon.com.