American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home

This book is a great overview of American architecture. It is entertaining for the non-architect but full of detail and histry for those who already have a lot of knowledge of the subject matter. Foster has obviously spent considerable time and energy researching his material. The floorplans are informative and help the reader to visualize a certain style and to understand the practical forces that shaped each architectural style. A must read for anyone with an interest in American architectural history!

Brilliantly researched, "Gerry" Foster manages to build the houses he describes in our minds through his illustrative diction and syntax. With its diagrams and managable set up, this book is a treat for all those who aspire to understand what goes into the frame work of an American home. For those who have read Foster's Field Guide to Trains, I assure you will agree with me when I say that I look forward to more works by this highly talented painter, architect, author, and father. I had the pleasure of recently meeting with his daughter, Shelby Foster, who only confirmed my belief in her father's intelligence, as she was able, eager, and willing to discuss the behind the pages research that went in to this wonderful read. We, the readers, can only hope that her upcoming novel contains as much information seamlessly weaved with a powerful narrative voice as her father's works. In all, a must read for any student, formal or unformal, of modern day American homes, and their history.

The author is the illustrator as well, and his pen and ink renditions are museum worthy. As an artist, and not an academic, his approach is informal and slightly irreverent. The book's emphasis is on the Colonial era, whose styles he divides into New England, Hudson River, Mid-Atlantic, Chesapeake, Southern, French and Spanish. He then sums up the 19th century styles, predominantly Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne and other late Victorian styles, and ends with the Colonial Revival, Bungalow, and Prairie styles (originated in Illinois, the Prairie State). He points out some styles were revived exclusively for the mansions of the turn-of-the-century industrial barons. He has not much to say about more recent houses, only mentioning the International Style, but overall it is still a good book.