How Old Is This House?: A Skeleton Key to Dating and Identifying Three Centuries of American Houses

Provides a plethora of items that will give the house detective an understanding of any house

This is a brief guide on how to read the evidence of the past in older American houses. Focus is on three areas of investigation for the homeowner and renovator: identifying building materials and construction techniques, ascertaining architectural styles, and searching for deeds and other documentation. Although useful as an identification key and primer on gathering historical information, this work is most interesting as a narrative on the house as artifact. Howard's notes on such topics as identifying saw marks, chronology of nails, and the history of plaster distinguish his book from other manuals, though fuller study on the dating of architecture and its decoration is still needed. Recommended. Photographs and drawings not seen. --Douglas G. Birdsall, North Dakota State Univ. Lib., Fargo
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.