ARTH 403 The American House (Not offered 1999-2000; to be offered 2001-2002)
The American house is one of the principal achievements of American architecture. Shaped by many factors, including extremes of climate, the availability of materials and a culture which placed value on both individual and community, the American house had achieved a distinctive identity by the seventeenth century. This course examines the American house in history, looking at it from the standpoint if architectural, social, and cultural history. Major domestic architects will also be examined, including Bruce Price, Frank Lloyd Wright, H. H. Richardson, Greene & Greene, and Wilson Eyre. The readings will cover primary sources on the American house (Andrew Jackson Downing and Samuel Sloan) as well as recent scholarship on domestic architecture (Gwendolyn Wright and Henry Glassie). Possible research topics might include: regionalism and the American house; floor plans and changing social structure; style, symbolism and identity; the city house and the country house; the vernacular house; formality and informality. Students will prepare a research paper during the semester, reporting on their progress regularly in class discussions. Prerequisites: ArtH 101-102. No prerequisites for American Studies majors.