Early American Architecture: From the First Colonial Settlements to the National Period

by Hugh Sinclair Morrison

Hailed as "a model of scholarship" by the Saturday Review, this comprehensive survey of domestic and public architecture ranges from early settlers' primitive cabins to Greek Revival mansions of the early 1800s. Nearly 500 illustrations complement the text, praised by The New York Times as "entertaining, vigorous, and clearly written."

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction

619 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1985

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turner for the first 350 pages (out of 580), then it bogs down a bit describing individual Georgian building the various areas of the colonies. Nonetheless, you will come away from this book with a gut understanding of Georgian architecture in America. Unfortunately, the photos, although plentiful, are not good quality. The photographs are of much better quality in the American Buildings and their Architects series, and the volume “The Colonial and Neoclassical Styles” has the many of the same photos reproduced much more clearly. Morrison is more conversational, however, and he gives more background on the social life in colonial cities and on the people who commissioned the buildings.

[Particle_Person · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty decent book, but it's quite old and dated. There are the usual biases for books from the 50s and 60s: a tendency to ignore non-Europeans and to use male pronouns everywhere. The book also lacks information about some important discoveries that happened after its publication. This is not its fault, naturally, but readers should beware. In particular, earthfast houses (also called "post in hole") are not mentioned, although the case has been made (especially by Henry Glassie) that they were fairly common in the mid-Atlantic region in colonial times. There are other errors of fact that have been corrected through more recent research, some of which are mentioned at this website:
http://www.milaminvirginia.com/Links/...