HISTORY 5808 (2060) Dr. Thomas E. Leary

DeBartolo 530

American Architectural History 330-742-1611

Office Hours:

Spring 2002 Tues. & Thurs., 12-1:30

Wed., 2-4

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS

Overall, we will survey the principal developments and personalities that have shaped the built environment of the United States.

Presentation of material follows a chronological format (based on the principal text).

Within that overall sequence lectures will selectively highlight three major themes:

+FORM (style/building type)

+STRUCTURE (construction/materials)

+SETTING (context including relation to surrounding landscape)

Treatment of these three themes will emphasize changes represented by different historical periods as well as continuity over time.

While we will consider a variety of buildings (including industrial architecture), residences will receive particular attention.

Because this course also functions as part of YSU’s Historic Preservation Program, the content is slanted to stress the kinds of resources that preservationists working in this region are most likely to encounter.

Students successfully completing the course will:

*receive a basic introduction to current scholarship in the field

*be exposed to a variety of visual materials that will supplement required reading

*learn how to contextualize both high-style and vernacular buildings.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Mark Gelernter, A History of American Architecture (University Press of New England, 1999)

Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (Knopf, 1998 [1984])

RESERVE READINGS (Maag Library) (Required for grad students—optional for undergrads)

Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture, Dell Upton and John Michael Vlach, eds. (University of Georgia, 1986)

Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, III, IV, V, VI, VIII (cited as PVA)

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Dell Upton, Architecture in the United States (Oxford, 1998)

Upton takes a thematic approach, which presumes some sophistication on the part of the reader but also incorporates insights from vernacular architecture (he being one of the leading scholars in that subfield). Gelernter offers a more traditional chronicle with an emphasis on landmark buildings but is excellent in concisely relating developments in the U.S. to the European scene.

PREREQUISITES

History 2605 and 2606 (concurrent registration OK with permission of instructor). History 5808 assumes a basic familiarity with the contours of U.S. history.

COURSE PROCEDURES

Lectures buttressed by slides will constitute the bulk of classroom presentations.

Visual supplements will include handouts and occasional videos.

Lectures will expand on material in the principal text and introduce some additional subjects.

Lectures will NOT summarize all the assigned readings for any given section of the course.

Class discussion of both readings and visual presentations is encouraged.

Guest lecturers may share their expertise about specific topics.

Optional field trips may be scheduled.

The field trip(s) will provide an opportunity to accumulate extra credit.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

There are no mid-term or final exams.

QUIZZES: 7 x 10% each = 70% of overall grade

Short answer/identifications (ca. 50 words per answer).

Scheduled (approximately) at bi-weekly intervals.

Usual format = 5 slides + bonus question.

Identification may include: name of building/period/style/designer.

Answers should also summarize significance in relation to course themes.

Slides shown in class will be available for review prior to quizzes.

Some questions will require analysis of slides/handouts not previously shown.

ORAL PRESENTATION: 10% of overall grade.

Because oral communication ability is important in the field of historic preservation (as well as other areas of employment), this class will provide an opportunity to develop and practice such skills.

Each student will be expected to make a presentation in class during the semester.

The presentation will be of approximately five to ten minutes duration.

It is expected that students will conduct focused research beyond the assigned class readings.

Students are encouraged to develop their topic and presentation techniques in consultation with the instructor.

Potential topics may include:

+description/analysis of a particular building, style, type or environment

+biographical study of a particular architect

+review of key publications or issues in the literature of architectural history

The instructor will distribute and discuss guidelines and standards for evaluating oral presentations.

TERM PAPER: 20% of overall grade

Potential topics include the areas outlined under Oral Presentation.

Undergraduate papers: approximately ten (10) pages (2500 words).

Graduate papers: approximately twenty (20) pages (5000 words).

Undergraduates are expected to consult a minimum of five (5) sources.

Graduates are expected to consult a minimum of ten (10) sources.

GRADES: Standard 100 point scale (extra credit to be determined)

90%+=A

80-89=B

70-79=C

60-69=D

<59%=F

ATTENDANCE

As this course is an upper-division elective, I expect students to appear in class even though I will not take attendance on a regular basis. While there is no formal component for evaluating attendance when computing final grades, class participation can be used as a factor in rounding up borderline marks at the discretion of the instructor.

DUE DATES/INCOMPLETES

Plan ahead so you have sufficient time to incorporate preparation time for quizzes, oral presentations and term papers into your overall work schedules. If it is absolutely necessary to miss a quiz or change the date of another assignment, please make arrangements with the instructor. University policy on Incompletes states that if work is not made up within a year (or prior to graduation), your grade for the course becomes an “F.”

QUIZ FORMAT

Prior to the first quiz, the class will vote on whether testing will be based on memorization or open notes. If the latter format is chosen, students will be able to use one page of distilled notes from lectures and readings; however, in that case answers indicating somewhat greater detail and command of course themes will be expected.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

Students must demonstrate that they have assimilated concepts and information from the course by phrasing quiz answers, oral presentations and term papers in their own words. Under no circumstances is copying (or speaking) the exact words from a text without proper attribution considered satisfactory. Any form of plagiarism or cheating on quizzes and other assignments is an extremely serious offense and can result in a grade of “F.” Consult the YSU student code or the instructor on this important point.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Topics listed are illustrative rather than exhaustive.

* = required reading for graduate students (optional for undergrads)

Week of:

January 14 (#1) Introduction/ Syllabus Review/ Overview

Approaches to American architectural history – Thomas Jefferson

High-style and vernacular – basic concepts

READ: McAlester, 2-101

*Thomas Carter and Bernard L. Herman, “Introduction: Towards a New Architectural History,” PVA, IV, 1-6

January 21 (#2)

January 28 (#3) 1500-1763

Regional English background and borrowings

Other European background and borrowings

Georgian

READ: Gelernter, Chapters 2 and 3

McAlester, 102-151

*Dell Upton, “Vernacular Domestic Architecture in Eighteenth-Century Virginia,” Common Places, 315-335

February 4 (#4)

February 11 (#5) QUIZ 1 (Weeks #1-3)

1763-1820

Neoclassical

Federal

Early industrial

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 4

McAlester, 152-175

*Nora Pat Small, “New England Farmhouses in the Early Republic: Rhetoric and Reality, “ PVA, VI, 33-45

February 18 (#6)

February 265(#7) QUIZ 2 (Weeks #4-5)

1820-1865

Greek Revival

Gothic Revival

Derivations from Italy

Exotic revivals

Construction: balloon framing

Construction: cast-iron buildings

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 5

McAlester, 176-237

*Fred W. Peterson, “Anglo-American Wooden Frame Farmhouses in the Midwest, 1830-1900: Origins of Balloon Frame Construction,” PVA, VIII, 3-16

March 4 (#8) QUIZ 3 (Weeks #6-7)

1865-1885

Second Empire Baroque

High Victorian Gothic

Stick

Shingle

H.H. Richardson

Urban and suburban development

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 6

McAlester, 238-317

*Fred W. Peterson, “Vernacular Building and Victorian Architecture: Midwestern American Farm Homes,” Common Places, 433-446

(March 11= Spring Break)

March 18 (#9)

March 25 (#10) QUIZ 4 (Week # 8)

1885-1915

tall buildings

L. Sullivan

F.L. Wright/Prairie School

Arts & Crafts

Colonial Revival

McKim, Mead & White

World’s Columbian Exposition (1893)

City Beautiful

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 7

McAlester, 381-473 (to be continued)

*Clay Lancaster, “The American Bungalow,” Common Places, 79-106

April 1 (#11)

April 8 (#12) QUIZ 5 (Weeks #9-10)

1915-1945

Historicism and utilitarianism

Suburban romanticism

Art Deco

Streamline Moderne

International style

Community planning

Industrial architecture

Albert Kahn

Grain elevators and Modernism (Banham thesis)

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 8

McAlester (continue as above)

*Arnold R. Alanen, “Midwesterners in the Matanuska Valley: Rural Alaska during the 1930s,” PVA, VIII, 53-80

April 15 (#13)

April 22 (#14) QUIZ 6 (Weeks # 11-12)

1945-1973

Modernism

Mies

F.L. Wright

Other visions

Suburbanization

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 9

McAlester, 474-485

*Annmarie Adams, “The Eichler Home: Intention and Experience in Postwar Suburbia,” PVA, V, 164-178

April 29 (#15) QUIZ 7 (Weeks #13-14)

1973-1998

Beyond Modernism: the recent past

READ: Gelernter, Chapter 10

McAlester, 487-499

TERM PAPER DUE 2 May