Building America

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

What at first appears to be simply a book on American architectural
styles through 400 years actually has much more depth and does very well
as a historical overview of that period for young readers. From the
first settlers, circa the early 16th century, through to the present,
various prominent architectural styles, as represented by individual
buildings, are presented in historical context. A helpful timeline of
architectural styles, a glossary, and an index provide further
information.

The chapters appear in chronological order, but because this is
essentially a book about the development of architecture, they also
follow the progress of settlement west—a particularly good approach
for the student of social history. The chapters progress from life in
the original Eastern seaboard colonies, through the age of evolution,
the age of commerce, going west, the ribbon of steel expansion (the
railway), the jazz age, the dirty ’30s, and the space age.

Interspersed among the historical chapters are separate chapters
describing the architectural styles and developments that went with that
particular age: halls of power in the age of commerce, Frank Lloyd
Wright’s prairie style associated with a new century, homes of
grandeur in the jazz age, suburban living (cookie-cutter suburban
bungalows with garages) in the ’50s, and postmodernism in the era of
space age expressionism. Although many of the representative buildings
are famous (Harvard College, Fallingwater, Hearst Castle, the Getty
Center, etc.), the reader’s knowledge and appreciation is broadened by
the inclusion of less well-known examples.

There are no photographs. All of the buildings are depicted as color
illustrations, sometimes as stand-alones, sometimes in the context of
their immediate environment. Each is accompanied by a caption describing
why it is representative of its particular period and/or school of
architecture. Recommended.