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Architecture in the United States, 1800-1850. By W. Barksdale Maynard. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, c. 2002. Pp. xiv, 322. $50.00, ISBN 0-300-09383-7.)
W. Barksdale Maynard surveys American architecture from the end of the eighteenth to the mid-point of the nineteenth century. he throws new light on the subject by organizing the material around various themes rather than by chronology, geography, building types, individual architects, or stylistic movements. Salient portions of the book include discussions of the Picturesque, the development of the porch in domestic architecture, and an analysis of the Greek Revival movement. Maynard's leitmotif is his insistence on the importance of British influence on America; his main thesis is that early American architecture is neither as original nor as clever as other architectural historians have maintained.
Maynard's book is sprinkled with useful statistics and facts. he often illustrates views as shown in early photographs, prints, or paintings, just as he relies heavily on primary references. The extensive use of quotes by period viewers indicates the considerable breadth of Maynard's research, and the inclusion of such material helps us to see the architecture through the eyes of people of the time. A disadvantage of this approach is that early observers tended to describe what...