Product ID: 69787

Release Date: 1984-05-12
Publication Date: 1984-05-12
Author(s):Virginia McAlester
Binding: Paperback
Number of Pages: 544
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0394739698
ISBN13: 9780394739694

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SKU	0394739698
Weight	0.82 Kgs
Price:	HK$220.00

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US Warehouse 1	3 item(s) available	2nd December 2008 (Tue)
US Warehouse 2	1 item(s) available	5th December 2008 (Fri)
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Description

Product Description

The guide that enables you to identify, and place in their historic and architectural contexts, the houses you see in your neighborhood or in your travels across America. 17th century to the present.

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Author: Guest
This is a really great book, and all of the praise it's received in other reviews is justified. This book's particular strength is presenting the evolution of the styles of American house.

My very minor quibble with the book lies with the emphasis it places on earlier, more respectable American housing styles. I found that material interesting, but what I really bought this book for was to get some sort of vocabulary for the houses down my street and in my neighborhood. I live in a suburb in the Midwest, and it's walking around where I live that got me interested in the subject. I feel like they're a little disparaging of the places where normal people live (today), and that perhaps their loyalties lie more with 'Great American Houses'. And sometimes it seems like they went out of their way to take pictures of unusually ugly new homes.

A good book, though somewhat unsympathetic to current American housing culture.

Author: Guest
Easy and very informative for the beginner in this area.

Author: Guest
I was not impressed. I ordered a hardback and received a paperback and then I had to send the book back at my own cost. The seller was very nice, but the whole point of ordering the book was to get a hardback version for my collection. I used to own the paperback.

Author: Guest
I found this book quite complete on the information displayed. It has been a pleasure and relief to get this quality data.

Author: Guest
At 525 pages, Virginia and Lee McAlester's "A Field Guide to American Houses" is an exhaustive study of the different styles of American domestic architecture. They identify and categorize 39 different architectural styles. This is much more than most field guides.

I have been collecting architectural field guides for a number of years. The only thing I do not like in this well prepared book is the over-reliance on black and white photos of homes. The quality of the photos vary significantly. The photos are not of the same high caliber as the photos taken for Historic American Building Survey.(HABS)

I believe the best field guides are made up line drawings. Line drawings get to the point and the different archiectural features can be labled. The best line drawings really help in clarifying stylistic points. Photos can be distracting because trees, power lines and vehicles end up in many of the photos. There are line drawings in this book at the beginning of each section. Unfortunately, the line drawings are the weakest part of the book.

This is a great book and you cannot go wrong with purchasing it. However, as a devotee of these types of books, I would recommend purchasing Lester Walker's "American Shelter". His illustrations are really beautiful and very informative.

A Field Guide to American Houses :: 0394739698

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