Overall: highly recommended for anyone who wants a broad and dirty rundown of American domestic architecture. There's some very brief touches on it: the use of a central receiving hall disappearing from early Colonial and Federal styles, only to reappear with the Millennium Mansion how back elevations changed with the normalization of refrigerators and washing/drying machines how 'living spaces' were defined by the activities therein (bedroom vs. My one wish-and perhaps this is completely out of line with the scope of the book-is that there could have been some examination and discussion about interior architecture and how that was evolving along with the exterior. How technology made housing easier, and faster, and less unique. How the stately houses in the south, all sprawl and living porch, faded into the snug two-story shingle-style houses of the north. And I began to understand the development and evolution of housing in America. The behemoth that arrived on my doorstep was intimidating: 800-odd pages, black-and-white photographs, and so very many houses. So with those Very Important Dreams in hand, I purchased my very own copy of A Field Guide to American Houses. And if I own a house, I want to be able to say with some certainty what style it is.
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