What Style Is It?: A Guide to American Architecture

When was it built?

Why does it look that way?

What style is it?

What Style Is It? provides a portable, easy–to–use guide to identifying American architecture on the road or in your own community.

This Revised Edition presents new photographs and line drawings, a concise, illustrated glossary, and accessible information on twenty–two major styles of American architecture from the past 300 years. Organized chronologically to put information at your fingertips, What Style Is It? presents succinct summaries of architectural styles, discusses their development and notable characteristics, and mentions where real–world examples can be found.

This essential guide is packed with more than 200 descriptive photographs and illustrations, accompanied by nontechnical explanations that help you quickly identify the most significant styles of architecture from Early Colonial, Federal, and Second Empire to Neoclassical, pre–Civil War Romanesque Revival, and late nineteenth– and early twentieth–century Rustic styles.

What Style Is It? is the definitive, concise guide to the captivating structures and history of American architecture.

Acknowledgements v

Preface vi

Introduction viii

Early Colonial 2

Georgian 12

Spanish Colonial 20

Federal 26

Neoclassical 32

Jeffersonian 36

Greek Revival 39

Gothic Revival 46

Romanesque Revival 54

Italianate 57

Exotic Revivals 62

Second Empire 66

Stick Style 70

Queen Anne 72

Shingle Style 75

Richardsonian Romanesque 78

Rustic 84

Beaux– Arts 90

Classical Revival 98

Chicago School 100

Bungalows 106

Prairie Style 110

Period Houses 115

Art Deco 120

International Style 127

Coda 132

Glossary 133

Further Reading 140

Information Sources 144

About HABS/HAER 146

Index 147

S. ALLEN CHAMBERS Jr. is an architectural historian based in Washington, D.C., and former historian with the Historic American Buildings Survey. An active contributor to the historic preservation field, he serves on the boards of the Foundation for the Preservation of Historic Georgetown and the Tudor Place Foundation.