The Backroad Home

Sources

The builders, architects and landscapers of yesterday's picture-perfect country homes left us a legacy of design ideas and practical building advice. Their words, drawings and designs are as valuable now as they were then. This website presents some of the best ideas from historic sources and from today's experts on traditional designs. 

Internet Resources

Built in America - The Historic American Building Survey  The Historic American Building Survey is a joint effort of the Library of Congress and the National Park Service. Read more about their efforts to preserve America's heritage by visiting their website. To learn more about any of the designs presented on this website, search for it by its card number. 

The Digital Library of Appalachia  The Digital Library of Appalachia seeks to provide online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the southern and central Appalachian region. The thirty-four member libraries, archives, and museums associated with the Appalachian College Association seek to generate interest and encourage continued scholarship for the entire region.

The Old House Web  Explore the world of old house restoration with the Old House Web home improvement site. The Old House Web is your source for everything old house-related, including interior and exterior design, how-to tutorials, yard and garden ideas, and product reviews. In their housing styles section, they present early homes ranging from 17th century vernacular homes through popular early 20th century housing styles.

 Architectural Styles

Blumenson, John G. 1981. Identifying American Architecture: a Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600-1945. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Foley, Mary Mix. 1981. The American House. New York: Harper & Row.

McAlester, Virginia and Lee. 1984. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Walker, Lester. 1981. American Shelter. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press.

Building History and Traditions

Benes, Richard, ed. 1992. New England/New France: 1600-1850. Boston: Boston University/The Dublin Seminar for New England Folk Life.

Brand, Stuart. 1994. How Buildings Learn. New York: Penguin Books.

Brent, Ruth and Benyamin Schwartz, eds. 1995. Popular American Housing: a Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Carter, Thomas and Bernard L. Herman, eds. 1989. Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture III. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

__________. 1991. Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture IV. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

Clark, Clifford Edward, Jr. 1986. The American Family Home 1800-1960. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Cohen, David Steven. 1992. The Dutch American Farm. New York: New York University Press.

Cronon, William. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang.

Cummings, Abbott Lowell. 1984. Architecture in Early New England. Sturbridge, MA: Old Sturbridge Village.

Donald, Elsie Burch. 1995. The French Farmhouse. New York: Abbeville Press.

Drury, John. 1947. Historic Midwest Houses. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Fitch, James Marston. 1966. American Building 1: The Historical Forces That Shaped It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

__________. 1972. American Building 2: The Environmental Forces That Shape It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Glassie, Henry. 1975. Patterns in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

__________. 1975. Folk Housing in Middle Virginia: A Structural Analysis of Historic Artifacts. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Hamlin, Talbot. 1944. Greek Revival Architecture in America. New York: Oxford University Press.

Jakle, John A., Robert W. Bastian and Douglas K. Meyer. 1989. Common Houses in America’s Small Towns: The Atlantic Seaboard to the Mississippi Valley. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Nobel, Allen G. 1984. Wood, Brick & Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape. Vol.1, Houses. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

__________, ed. 1992. To Build in a New Land: Ethnic Landscapes in North America, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Pierson, William H., Jr. 1980. American Buildings and Their Architects: Technology and the Picturesque, The Corporate and the Early Gothic Styles. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.

Pratt, Dorothy and Richard. 1956. A Guide to Early American Homes. New York: Bonanza Books.

Quiney, Anthony. 1990. The Traditional Buildings of England. London: Thames and Hudson.

Ritchie, Thomas. 1967. Canada Builds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press/ National Research Council of Canada.

Rushton, William Faulkner. 1995. The Cajuns: From Acadia to Louisana. New York: The Noonday Press.

Scully, Vincent. 1971. The Shingle Style and the Stick Style. New Haven: Yale University Press. Revised Edition.

__________. 1991. Architecture: The Natural and the Manmade. New York: St.Martin’s Press.

Stilgoe, John R. 1982. Common Landscape of America, 1580-1845. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Upton, Dell and John Michael Vlatch, eds. 1968. Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Vlach, John Michael. 1993. Back of the Big House. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

__________. 1993. "Greek Revival Architecture" and "Gothic Revival Architecture" in Mark P. Leone and Neil Asher Silberman eds. Invisible America: Unearthing Our Hidden History. New York: Henry Holt and Co.

Wells, Camille, ed. 1982. Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture. Annapolis,MD: Vernacular Architectural Forum.

__________. 1986. Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, II. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

Farms and Farm Buildings

Benes, Richard, ed. 1988. The Farm. Boston: Boston University Press/The Dublin Seminar for New England Folk Life.

Hubka, Thomas C. 1984. Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of Rural New England. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.

Kauffman, Henry J. 1975. The American Farmhouse. New York: Hawthorn Books.

Larkin, David. 1995. The Essential Book of Barns. New York: Universe Publishing.

______. 1995. Farm: The Vernacular Tradition of Working Buildings. New York: Monacelli Press.

McMurry, Sally. 1988. Families & Farmhouses in 19th Century America. New York: Oxford University Press.

Nobel, Allen G. 1984. Wood, Brick & Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape. Vol.2, Barns and Farm Structures. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

__________. and Richard K. Cleek. 1995. The Old Barn Book. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Patterson, Emma L. 1940. Munson Family Record. Peekskill, NY. Unpublished history of the Munson family and farm.

Schuler, Stanley. 1984. American Barns. Atglen,PA: Schiffer Publishing.

Sloan, Eric. 1967. An Age of Barns. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Folk and Popular Art

Bishop, Robert . 1979. The World of Antiques, Art, and Architecture in Victorian America. New York: E.P. Dutton.

__________. and Jacqueline M. Atkins. 1995. Folk Art In American Life. New York: Viking Studio Books.

Gillon, Edmund V., Jr. 1971. Pictorial Archive of Early Illustrations and Views of American Architecture. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.

Kogan, Lee and Barbara Cate. 1994. Treasure of Folk Art from the Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art. New York: Abbeville Press.

Lipman, Jean, Elizabeth V. Warren, and Robert Bishop. 1986. Young America: a Folk Art History. New York: Konecky & Konecky/The Museum of American Folk Art.

__________. and Tom Armstrong, eds. 1980. American Folk Painters of Three Centuries. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Pratt, John Lowell, ed. 1968. Currier & Ives: Chronicles of America. New York: Promontory Press.

Simkin, Colin, ed. 1952. Currier and Ives’ America. New York: Crown Publishing.

Vlach, John Michael. 1988. Plain Painters: Making Sense of American Folk Art. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Plan Book Architecture

Grow, Lawrence. 1987. Old House Plans. New York: Universe Books.

Gunter, Robert P. and Janet W. Foster. 1992. Building by the Book. New Brunswick,NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Hitchcock, Henry Russell. 1976. American Architectural Books. New York: DaCapo Press.

Hugo-Brunt, Michael. 1887. "Downing and the English Landscape Tradition," in A.J. Downing. Cottage Residences. Watkins Glen, NY: American Life Foundation. Reprint of the 1842 plan book.

Naversen, Keneth. 1990. East Coast Victorians. Wilsonville, OR: Beautiful America Publishing Co.

O’Neal, William B. 1984. "Pattern Books in American Architecture, 1730-1930" in Mario di Valmarana, ed. Building by the Book. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

Schuyler, David. 1996. Apostle of Taste: Andrew Jackson Downing, 1815-1852. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Shettleworth, Earle G., Jr. 1995. "Edward Shaw, Architect and Author" in Edward Shaw. The Modern Architect. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. Reprint of the 1854 plan book.

Sweeting, Adam William. 1993. Reading Houses and Building Books: Andrew Jackson Downing and the Architecture of Popular Antebellum Literature. New York University doctoral dissertation.

Stilgoe, John R. 1988. Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820-1939. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Upton, Dell. Summer/Autumn,1984 "Pattern Books and Professionalism: Aspects of the Transformation of Domestic Architecture in America, 1880-1860." Winterthur Portfolio 19, Nos. 2/3

Van Dine, Alan. 1977. Unconventional Builders. Chicago: J.G.Ferguson Publishing.

Old Times

Adams, James Truslow, ed. 1945. Album of American History. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Benes, Richard, ed. 1990. House and Home. Boston: Boston University Press/The Dublin Seminar for New England Folk Life.

Berg, Donald J. 1988. The Door Yard. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

__________. 1987. The Kitchen Gardeners’ Guide. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Countryman, Edward. 1996. Americans: a Collision of Histories. New York: Hill and Wang.

Hawke, David Freeman. 1988. Everyday Life in Early America. New York: Harper & Row.

Larkin, Jack. 1988. The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840. New York: Harper & Row.

Leone, Mark P. and Neil Asher Silberman, eds. 1995. Invisible America: Unearthing Our Hidden History. New York: Henry Holt and Co.

Levine, Bruce, Stephen Brier, David Brundage, et.al., eds. 1989. Who Built America?: Working People and the Nation’s Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society. New York: Pantheon Books.

Maas, John. 1967. The Gingerbread Age. New York: Bramhall House.

Sellers, Charles. 1991. The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sutherland, Daniel E. 1989. The Expansion of Everyday Life: 1860-1876. New York: Harper & Row.

Wolf, Stephanie Grauman. 1994. As Various As Their Land. New York: Harper & Row.

Original Sources

Allen, Lewis F. 1852. Rural Architecture. New York: C.M. Saxton Agricultural Book Publisher.

Atwood, Daniel T. 1871. Atwood’s Country and Suburban Houses. New York: Orange Judd & Co.

Bailey, L.H. 1898. Garden Making: Suggestions for the Home Grounds. Norwood, MA: The Norwood Press.

Baker, Z. 1857. Modern House Builder. Boston: Higgins Bradley and Dayton.

Barber, George F. 1894. New Model Dwellings and How Best to Build Them. Knoxville, TN: George F. Barber & Co.

Bicknell, Amos J. 1874. Bicknell’s Village Builder & Supplement. New York: A.J.Bicknell & Co.

__________, ed. 1875. Wooden and Brick Buildings with Details. New York: A.J.Bicknell & Co.

__________. 1879. Specimen Book of One Hundred Architectural Designs. New York: A.J. Bicknell & Co.

Birkback, Morris. 1818. Notes on a Journey to America. London: Severn and Company.

Brunner, Arnold W., ed. 1884. Cottages or Hints on Economical Building. New York: William T. Compstock.

Carleton, Will. 1873. Farm Ballads. New York: Harper Brothers.

__________. 1875. Farm Legends. New York: Harper Brothers.

__________. 1885. City Ballads. New York: Harper Brothers.

Cleaveland, Henry W., William Backus and Samuel D. Backus. 1856. Village and Farm Cottages. New York: D. Appleton and Company.

Comstock, William T., ed. 1881. Comstock’s Modern Architectural Designs and Details. New York: William T. Comstock.

__________. 1883. American Cottages. New York: William T. Comstock.

Downing, Andrew Jackson. 1841. A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening. New York: Wiley & Putnam.

__________. 1842. Cottage Residences. New York: Wiley & Putnam.

__________. 1850. The Architecture of Country Houses. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

__________. 1853. Rural Essays. New York: G.P. Putnam & Co.

Flint, Charles L. 1882. The American Farmer. Hartford, CT: Ralph H. Park & Company.

Fowler, Orson Squire. 1848. A Home for All: or, The Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building. New York: Fowlers and Wells.

Gay, William, ed. 1882. Gay’s Standard Encyclopaedia and Self Educator. New Haven: William Gay & Company.

Halstead, Byron D. 1881. Barn Plans and Outbuildings. New York: Orange Judd Co.

Harney, George E. 1870. Barns, Outbuildings and Fences. New York: The American News Company.

Hill, Thomas E. 1880. Hill’s Manual of Social and Business Forms. Chicago: Hill Standard Book Co.

Hobbs, Isaac H. and Son. 1873. Hobbs’s Architecture. Philadelphia: J.B.Lippincott & Co.

Holly, Henry Hudson. 1866. Holly’s Country Seats. New York: Appleton & Co.

Hussey, Elisha Charles. 1875. Home Building. New York: Leader & Van Hoesen.

Jacques, Daniel Harrison. 1866. The House: A Manual of Rural Architecture. New York: George Woodward.

King, David W. 1885. Homes for Home Builders. New York: Orange Judd Co.

Leland, E.H. 1881. Farm Houses In-doors and Out-doors. New York: Orange Judd Co.

Mitchell, Donald Grant. 1867. Rural Studies. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.

Munkittrick, Richard Kendall. 1891. Farming. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Palliser, George and Charles. 1883. Palliser’s Model Homes. New York: Palliser, Palliser & Co.

Reed, Samuel Burrage. 1878. House Plans for Everybody. New York: Orange Judd Co.

__________. 1883. Cottage Houses. New York: Orange Judd Co.

Robinson, Solon. 1863. Facts for Farmers. New York: A.H.Johnson.

Scott, Frank J. 1872. The Art of Beautifying Suburban Home Grounds. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

Shoppell, Robert W., ed. 1883. How to Build, Furnish & Decorate. New York: Co-operative Building Plan Association.

__________. 1887. Shoppell’s Modern Houses. New York: Co-operative Building Plan Association.

Sloan, Samuel. 1852. The Model Architect. Philadelphia: E.S.Jones & Co.

__________. 1866. Sloan’s Homestead Architecture. Philadelphia: J.B.Lippincott & Co.

Thomas, John J. 1875. The American Fruit Culturist. New York: William Wood & Co.

Thoreau, Henry David. 1854. Walden. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1897 Edition.

Todd, Sereno Edwards. 1860. The Young Farmer’s Manual. New York: C.M.Saxon, Barker & Co.

__________. 1888. Todd’s Country Homes or Winning Solid Wealth. Philadelphia: Hubbard Bros.

Vaux, Calvert. 1857. Villas and Cottages. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Wheeler, Gervase. 1851. Rural Homes. New York: Charles Scribner.

__________. 1855. Homes for the People in Suburb and Country. New York: Charles Scribner.

Weld, Col. Mason C. ed. 1880. Keeping One Cow. New York: Orange Judd Co.

Woodward, George E. 1865. Woodward’s Country Homes. New York: George E. & F.W. Woodward.

__________. 1866. Woodward’s Architecture, Landscape Gardening and Rural Art, No. I. New York: George E. & F.W.Woodward.

__________. 1867. Woodward’s Architecture and Rural Art, No. II. New York: George E. Woodward.

__________. 1867. Woodward’s Cottages and Farmhouses. New York: The American News Company.

__________ and Edward G. Thompson. 1868. Woodward’s National Architect. New York: George E. Woodward.

19th Century Magazines, Almanacs and Farm Journals

The American Agriculturist.

The American Magazine.

Arthur’s Ladies’ Magazine.

The Breeder’s Gazette.

Carpentry & Building.

The Country Gentleman.

The Cultivator.

Genessee Farmer.

Godey’s Lady’s Book.

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.

The Homestead.

The Horticulturist.

The New England Farmer.

Ohio Farmer.

Peal’s Popular Educator.

Peterson’s Magazine.

Prairie Farmer.

The Register of Rural Affairs.

The Rural American.

The Rural New Yorker.

The Southern Cultivator.

Vick’s Magazine.

The Historic American Building Survey

Built in America 

The Historic American Building Survey is a joint effort of the Library of Congress and the National Park Service. Read more about their efforts to preserve America's heritage by visiting their website. To learn more about any of the designs presented on this website, search for it by its card number.