Open house

Here is the evolution of the American house - social and technological as well as architectural - in a book intended for a general audience: people interested in houses and architecture and people who visit house museums. Starting with the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts, arguably the oldest surviving house in America (1637), and ending with the Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts (1937), and the Pope-Leighey House in Falls Church, Virginia (1940), the author looks at the American house through its architectural evolution, through its significance as a reflection of a changing society, and through its technological development with creature comforts such as heat and light and indoor plumbing. There is a particular emphasis on seeing these houses through the lives of those who lived there and called them home.