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Title: A Victorian Housebuilder's Guide : Woodward's National Architect of 1869 by George E. Woodward, Edward G. Thompson ISBN: 0-486-25704-5 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: August, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: For the house lover, the house restorer, the house looker
Comment: This reprint of "Woodward's National Architect of 1869" is the earliest example of its kind I've seen Dover bring out yet. Like all the Dover paperbacks, it's technically excellent, well bound, printed on sturdy paper, and clearly reproduced. What makes it valuable to me is the era it focuses on. There are plenty of plan books dating from the mid-'70's onward, but these transitional years aren't so well covered.
The only thing that keeps me from ranking it at four stars is that it is somewhat "lumbered" (pun intended) with carpenter's and mason's specs explaining how the houses are to be built--something most historians and architecture mavens aren't likely to find very useful. This means it includes only 20 designs, plus a rich assortment of architectural details in the back of the book. For the most part these are what we would call "middle-class" houses--not too big, not too small--plus an icehouse, a boathouse, a scholhouse, and a tidy family stable, and wouldn't seem out of place in any community, East or West, in the land. This is a book that would be useful to the researcher as well as the casual lover of Victorian architecture.
Rating: 5
Summary: A reprint of a detailed 19th century pattern book
Comment: This is one of the better Victorian pattern books reprinted by Dover. It consists of 100 plates covering designs from small homes to a large brick mansion, and several auxilliary building designs. The book also includes several example contracts for finishing some of the homes; with carpenters', masons', and plumbers' specifications.
The designs themselves are fairly detailed; with cross sections, interior, and exterior details. One of the best features is the superimposed cross sections on fretwork details; showing how many of these complicated peices are constructed from simple boards.
If you are intrested in Victorian buildings, for whatever reason, I suggest buying this book. Although not exstensive the the number of designs covered, only twenty, it offers one a good source of information. This book is far more detailed than the later Woodward's also reissued by Dover, and most later pattern books. If you enjoy the books by Vaux or Downing you should find this a nice addition to your library.
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