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Holly

I now know that I own a gable-front and wing Folk Victorian... This book travels with me on a road trip.

Holly

A Field Guide to American Houses

$28.95 Regular price $45.00
SAVE 35%
(1,388 Reviews)

🏠 More than 50 house styles, from folk houses to today
📸 1,600+ photos and line drawings
🔍 A picture key: start with what you see
📰 "Magisterial." The New York Times
📖 880 pages, revised and expanded edition

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  • Pocket Style Spotter Pocket Style Spotter18 house styles with drawings and clues $0.00$9.99
  • Neighborhood Walk Guide Neighborhood Walk GuidePlan a walk and log every house you spot $0.00$9.99
Will this help with my own house?

Yes. Find your house in the picture key. Then read what makes it that style: the roof, the windows, the doors, the porch.

You'll know which details belong to it. That matters when you buy, repair or restore.

Do I need to know anything about architecture?

No. You don't need a style's name to look it up.

Start with what you can see. A roof shape. A window. A doorway. The picture key sends you to every style that has it.

Who is this book for?

Homeowners. House hunters. Anyone who walks a street and wonders what a house is called and how old it is.

If you've ever said "I love that house" and couldn't say why, this book is for you.

60-Day Guarantee

Read it. If it's not for you, send it back within 60 days for a full refund. No questions asked.

Finally know what you're looking at

You walk past hundreds of houses and can't name a single style. Craftsman, Colonial, Queen Anne. They all blur together.

This book gives you a picture key. Start with what you can see, a roof, a window, a porch, and land on the style.

✓ More than 50 styles, from folk houses to today

See your street with new eyes

Once you know the clues, you can't stop seeing them. Brackets. Dormers. Porch columns.

1,600+ photos and line drawings show you exactly what to look for, house by house.

✓ Written by preservation expert Virginia Savage McAlester

Everything waiting inside...

The field guide first published in 1984, revised and expanded so nothing gets missed:

  • A picture key that starts from what you can see on the house
  • A picture glossary of the parts of a house
  • More than 50 house styles and their variants
  • Seven periods of American houses, from the earliest folk houses on
  • 1,600+ photos and line drawings
  • How streetcar lines and mortgage rules shaped neighborhoods
  • How American houses were built in the 20th and 21st centuries
  • 880 pages in the revised and expanded edition

What readers reported after finishing:

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What Readers Say

If you like to take a walk and look up and around when you do, you need this book.
Vicki S.via Goodreads
One of the best field guides for Human Geography projects. I have often assigned this work to my students or suggested it for projects in historic architecture.
Thomas M.via Goodreads
Representative photographs make this an irresistible... and foundational... volume to have, be the reader a student of U.S. history, a devotee of architecture, someone who'd like to commission a home, or even a budding real-estate agent.
Allenvia Goodreads

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I be able to do after reading it?

Here's what you'll be able to do:

  • Name the style of the houses you walk past.
  • Tell roughly when a house was built.
  • Spot which details belong to its style.

The more you use it, the faster you get.

How is the book organized?

It opens with the picture key and a picture glossary. Then come the styles, grouped by period, from the earliest folk houses to modern homes.

An appendix covers how American houses have been built in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Who wrote it?

Virginia Savage McAlester. She studied at Radcliffe and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

She is an advisor emeritus to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a founding member of Preservation Dallas.

Is this the new edition?

Yes. This is the revised and expanded edition. It adds 600 new photos and line drawings, plus house styles from recent decades.

The guide first came out in 1984 and has been updated since.

How big is it?

880 pages. Paperback, 6¾ by 9⅛ inches.

It's a full reference, not a pamphlet.

Does it make a good gift?

Yes. For a new homeowner, a house hunter, or anyone who slows down to look at old houses.

It's a book people keep.

What if it's not what I expected?

You have 60 days. If it's not for you, send it back for a full refund. No questions asked.

Need help?

Questions about your order? Email us at nordhealth.info@gmail.com and we'll get back to you.

Easy returns

Not what you expected? You have 60 days. Send it back for a full refund. No questions asked.