American Pattern Books
Selected List of Architectural Pattern Books in America
Pattern books have existed for thousands of years as style guides to architecture. Vitruvius codified the Greek and Roman classical orders at the beginning of the Roman Empire. Andrea Palladio published another influential pattern book (1570) with his adaptation of classical styles for villas in Italy. Original editions and translations of these works into English were available in the 16th century. After that, numerous British and European pattern books were published.
European books made their way across the Atlantic with early settlers to influence architecture in the New World. Soon, carpenters and gentlemen architects in this country published their own Pattern Books as style guides for houses, cottages and humble residences. The beginning of landscape design can be found in some publications, emphasizing the connection between a home and the natural world.
| Author | Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Biddle, Owen | 1805 | The Young Carpenter’s Assistant (Philadelphia) |
| Benjamin, Asher | 1806 | The American builder's companion : or, A system of architecture, particularly adapted to the present style of building ; illustrated with seventy copperplate engravings. Revised? 1827 |
| Gyfford, Edward | 1806 | Designs for elegant cottages and small villas : calculated for the comfort and convenience of persons of moderate and of ample fortune : carefully studied and thrown into perspective : to which is annexed a general estimate of the probable expense attending the execution of each design |
| Papworth, J. B. | 1818 | Rural residences , consisting of a series of designs for cottages, decorated cottages, small villas, and other ornamental buildings : accompanied by hints on situation, construction, arrangement, and decoration in the theory and practice of rural architecture, interspersed with some observations on landscape gardening |
| Robinson, Peter Frederick | 1823 | Rural Architecture or A series of designs for ornamental cottages |
| Benjamin, Asher | 1833 | Practice of architecture Containing the five orders of architecture and an additional column and entablature, with all their elements and details explained and illustrated, for the use of carpenters and practical men |
| Lafever, Minard | 1833 | The Modern Builder’s Guide |
| Davis, Alexander Jackson | 1837 | Rural Residences, Etc. Consisting of Designs, Original and Selected, for Cottages, Farm-Houses, Villas, and Village Churches: With Brief Explanations, Estimates, and a Specification of Materials, Construction, Etc. (periodical) |
| Lafever, Minard | 1838 | The modern practice of staircase and handrail construction, practically explained, in a series of designs |
| Lafever, Minard | 1839 | The beauties of modern architecture. Illustrated by forty-eight original plates, designed expressly for this work |
| Ruskin, John | 1849 | The Seven Lamps of Architecture |
| Downing, Andrew Jackson | 1841 | A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America |
| Downing, Andrew Jackson | 1842 | Cottage Residences : or, A Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Adapted to North America, 1842; reprinted as Victorian Cottage Residences, Dover, 1981. |
| Downing, Andrew Jackson | 1845 | Fruits and Fruit Trees of America |
| Downing, Andrew Jackson | 1846 | The Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste |
| Benjamin, Asher | 1850 | The architect, or practical house carpenter: Illustrated by sixty-four engravings, which exhibit the orders of architecture, and other elements of the art, designed for the use of carpenters and builders |
| Downing, Andrew Jackson | 1850 | The Architecture of Country Houses |
| Cleaveland, Henry William | 1856 | Village and Farm Cottages |
| Wheeler, Gervase | 1851 | Rural Homes |
| Eastlake, Charles | 1868 | Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details |
| Gowans, Alan | 1986 | The comfortable house : North American suburban architecture, 1890-1930 |