Building by the Book Pattern Book Architecture in New Jersey

Guter, Robert P., and Janets W. Fosher

ISBN 10: 0813518482 / ISBN 13: 9780813518480

Published by Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992

About this Item

Photographs by Jim DelGiudice. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, (1992). FIRST EDITION SIGNED. 4to. 260 pages including Index. Navy blue cloth, gilt lettering. Book in near fine condition. Dustjacket unclipped, slightly rubbed, short tear to top edge of front cover panel. Signed & inscribed on the half-title by DelGiudice to fellow photographer, Jack Boucher, in full: "January, 1997 To Jack Boucher - Teacher, Artist, Gentleman! Best regards, Jim DelGiudice." Plans, drawings, photographs throughout. Jack Boucher (1931-2012) was a full-time photographer for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) , a Division of the National Park Service. In his life-time he took more than 55,000 large-format photographs of over 7,000 historic structures. ISBN 0813518482; B&W Photographs; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 260 pages; Signed by Photographer.

Seller Inventory # 51

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Building by the Book Pattern Book Architecture in New Jersey
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813518482
• ISBN 13: 9780813518480
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Illustrated by Jim DelGiudice
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

In Building by the Book, Robert P. Guter and Janet W. Foster examine one important aspect of New Jersey's architectural history, the influence of "pattern books" on the state's residential architecture. By matching period illustrations to surviving houses, Guter and Foster explain why that old house next door looks like one down the street - or at the other end of the state. Drawing on New Jersey's rich pattern-book legacy, they demonstrate how architectural ideas from books and popular periodicals shaped New Jersey's built landscape from the colonial era to the advent of World War II.
Although it presents a wealth of Gothic cottages, Italianate villas, Craftsman bungalows, and Sears "ready-cuts," Building by the Book is far more than a catalog of architectural styles. By relating the work of architects and pattern-book authors to the experiences of ordinary people who hungered for beautiful surroundings, Guter and Foster assess the impact of the art of architecture on everyday life in New Jersey. Their account of how styles and building technologies evolved with the help of published sources emphasizes New Jersey's importance as a laboratory for architectural change. From Minard Lafever's The Young Builder's General Instructor (1829) to Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Houses (1909), New Jersey architects and designers have influenced both home-grown architecture and national trends through their books.
Building by the Book is unusually well written and copiously illustrated. By letting readers hear the voices of New Jersey women and men through diaries, letters, and published writings, Janet Foster and Robert Guter make abundantly clear the role of architecture as the art that is lived in. Their research reveals how for the last two hundred years pattern-book architecture, in particular, expressed the ideas, aspirations, and pretensions of New Jersey homeowners.

Synopsis

Demonstrates how architectural ideas from books and popular periodicals helped shape New Jersey's landscape from the colonial era to World War II.