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Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America
The evolution of housing in America.
This book is concerned essentially with the model of domestic environment in this country, as it has evolved from colonial architecture through current urban projects. Beginning with Puritan townscape, topics include urban row housing, Big House and slave quarters, factory housing, rural cottages, Victorian suburbs, urban tenements, apartment life, bungalows, company towns, planned residential communities, public housing for the poor, suburban sprawl.
This book is concerned essentially with the model of domestic environment in this country, as it has evolved from colonial architecture through current urban projects. Beginning with Puritan townscape, topics include urban row housing, Big House and slave quarters, factory housing, rural cottages, Victorian suburbs, urban tenements, apartment life, bungalows, company towns, planned residential communities, public housing for the poor, suburban sprawl.
329 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 27, 2022
Though older, still an insightful look at the social, racial, economic, etc. underpinning of the current housing and gentrification crisis in the US and around the world. Good to keep around, look back and compare notes with referenced and subsequent works.
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January 24, 2018(2/5 but the rating is for my enjoyment level, not for the quality of the material. The material is very important and should be read.)
Almost a truism these days, housing in America is never just about housing. Housing in America tells us about family stability, community life, social and economic equality, and public policy. By looking at domestic architecture, Gwendolyn Wright's Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America is concerned with the "ordinary homes," the "model homes" Americans built, the prototypes they discussed, and what they tell us about residential architecture, prevailing attitudes and beliefs, and the time period. As a history of residential architecture, Wright examines 13 different types of dwellings -- the Puritan house, uniform row houses, slave quarters, factory towns, small, detached cottages, Victorian suburban houses, urban tenements, upper class apartments, bungalows, company towns, planned residential communities, public housing, and postwar suburban houses -- to discuss what they reveal about the family and society.
For example, row houses and their simplistic, uniform design were meant to display a facade of egalitarianism that hid the social and economic stratification of its residents. The regularity and uniformity of factory towns in the early 19th century were meant to promote an orderly, utopian industrial development with a pure, moral environment. When upper-class apartments came under attack by the middle class, they adopted signs of domesticity -- the fireplace, emphasis of each unit's separateness, and individual installations of technology, rather than centralized units -- to make them more acceptable. Planned residential communities celebrated individual houses within a homogenous neighborhood. Public housing and segregation, in their own ways, followed an anti-urban sentiment, endorsed class and racial segregation, and promoted a temporary nature to public housing, while elevating a timeless quality to the suburb.
These explorations of the various kinds of housing throughout American history attests to the planning, policy, and promotion of ideals and beliefs that lay behind the building of American homes.
Almost a truism these days, housing in America is never just about housing. Housing in America tells us about family stability, community life, social and economic equality, and public policy. By looking at domestic architecture, Gwendolyn Wright's Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America is concerned with the "ordinary homes," the "model homes" Americans built, the prototypes they discussed, and what they tell us about residential architecture, prevailing attitudes and beliefs, and the time period. As a history of residential architecture, Wright examines 13 different types of dwellings -- the Puritan house, uniform row houses, slave quarters, factory towns, small, detached cottages, Victorian suburban houses, urban tenements, upper class apartments, bungalows, company towns, planned residential communities, public housing, and postwar suburban houses -- to discuss what they reveal about the family and society.
For example, row houses and their simplistic, uniform design were meant to display a facade of egalitarianism that hid the social and economic stratification of its residents. The regularity and uniformity of factory towns in the early 19th century were meant to promote an orderly, utopian industrial development with a pure, moral environment. When upper-class apartments came under attack by the middle class, they adopted signs of domesticity -- the fireplace, emphasis of each unit's separateness, and individual installations of technology, rather than centralized units -- to make them more acceptable. Planned residential communities celebrated individual houses within a homogenous neighborhood. Public housing and segregation, in their own ways, followed an anti-urban sentiment, endorsed class and racial segregation, and promoted a temporary nature to public housing, while elevating a timeless quality to the suburb.
These explorations of the various kinds of housing throughout American history attests to the planning, policy, and promotion of ideals and beliefs that lay behind the building of American homes.
May 11, 2021
Gwendolyn Wright takes you through the complexities of collectivized housing in America, the shapes it took on (successful and unsuccessful), its role in social development, and all the challenges it has faced from both the private and public sector. She is not afraid to tell it how it is in exposing the inequities and oppression produced by housing developments (eg. “Housing reformers saw themselves as a moral police force, using environmental change to enforce propriety”), and this voice is helpful in identifying the intentions of those in power over housing.
In tandem to the development of social housing, which was necessitated by the popularization of other forms of housing, this book provides great insight on the phenomenon of suburbs that defines American housing -- projected from a federal level and seduced Americans through a cult of domesticity that perpetuates traditional family values ; “As Americans sought to protect their investments in suburban real estate, family life, and social status, they introduced new forms of control over their residential neighbourhoods.” I also appreciate that she highlights that the housing experience is not the same for all Americans -- describing the stories and experiences of communities of colour. Each chapter flows well into the next, spinning the story of social housing as dominated by philanthropic reformists, federal housing policies, urban renewal, exclusionary home-ownership, redlining, and much more. A good read for architects, planners, or anyone interested in understanding the built landscape and why we live where we live.
In tandem to the development of social housing, which was necessitated by the popularization of other forms of housing, this book provides great insight on the phenomenon of suburbs that defines American housing -- projected from a federal level and seduced Americans through a cult of domesticity that perpetuates traditional family values ; “As Americans sought to protect their investments in suburban real estate, family life, and social status, they introduced new forms of control over their residential neighbourhoods.” I also appreciate that she highlights that the housing experience is not the same for all Americans -- describing the stories and experiences of communities of colour. Each chapter flows well into the next, spinning the story of social housing as dominated by philanthropic reformists, federal housing policies, urban renewal, exclusionary home-ownership, redlining, and much more. A good read for architects, planners, or anyone interested in understanding the built landscape and why we live where we live.
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October 30, 2023don’t mind me just shelving all these materials as I revise for my midterms
January 3, 2009
An account of housing in the United States from the early Puritan settlers of New England, up until the energy crisis of the 70's and the diversified housing market of the 80's (when this book was written). The book is divided into 14 essays, each on a different housing type or historical development, including slave housing, industry-owned towns in the 19th century, late 19th c. suburban expansion, tenement housing, post-WWII suburban expansion, urban high-rise development, and government-subsidized housing for the poor (and also government subsidies for the relatively wealthy through tax incentives). The author presents each topic in a range of context- economic, cultural, architectural, political, and always social. This is also the story of American nationalism, parochialism, racism, class-war, patriarchy, and the "American Dream". An excellent resource for anyone interesting in exploring the complex social issues raised by the "problem" of housing.
June 3, 2015
This is a really great history of housing (suburban and urban) in the United States. "The history of American houses shows how Americans have tried to embody social issues in domestic architecture, and how they have tried, at the same time, to use this imagery to escape a social reality that is always more complex and diverse than the symbols constructed to capture it.”
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March 4, 2017The link between the emphasis of Theodore Roosevelt's New Deal on construction & "urban renewal" in the 1960s is neatly introduced here.
March 27, 2008
great history of the evolution of american housing
June 8, 2010
Provided a lot of interesting social history on a variety of different housing types.
March 19, 2012
Not too bad!
December 27, 2013
An excellent history of housing in the US that focuses on specific types of housing and the social functions/impacts of each.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews