University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program HP 200 - History of American Architecture Robert McCullough Links: Return to Homepage Slide Schedule Complete Slide List

University of Vermont -  Historic Preservation Program
HP 200 (Fall, 2023),  402 Williams
Tuesdays and Thursdays,  4:25 to 5:40
Robert McCullough
212 Wheeler House - Phone: 802-656-9773
Home Page: www.uvm.edu/~rmccullo
E-Mail: Robert.McCullough@uvm.edu 

HISTORY OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE
COURSE SYLLABUS

READINGS:  Required readings will be assigned from the following books, which should be purchased if possible.  The Goldberger book is out of print and has been placed on reserve at Bailey Howe Library.   

1. Gelernter, Mark.  A History of American Architecture. Buildings in their
2. Cultural and Technological Context.
3. McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester.  A Field Guild to American Houses
4. Goldberger, Paul.  The Skyscraper
5.  

SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS.  Supplemental readings are not required but are offered as optional sources that provide greater depth regarding their respective topics and that served as key sources in the preparation of class lectures.   Although the Summerson book is not required, it is an excellent reference work and inexpensive, too.

1. Jordy, William H.  American Buildings and their Architects. Progressive and Academic Ideals at the Turn of the Century. Vol. 4.  Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1976.
2. Pierson, William H., Jr.  American Buildings and their Architects. The Colonial and Neo-Classical Styles. Vol. 1.  Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1976.
3. Pierson, William H., Jr.  American Buildings and their Architects. Technology and the Picturesque, the Corporate and Early Gothic Styles. Vol. 2.  Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1976.
4. Summerson, Sir John.  The Classical Language of Architecture.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1963.
   


            RESERVE READINGS:  All readings, required and supplemental, are on reserve at Bailey Howe Library.

 

INTRODUCTION: THE STUDY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
AND ARCHITECTURAL STYLES.


Class and Date

1.  Tuesday, August 29th                  Introduction.  A Thematic Approach to the Study of American Architectural History

2.  Thursday, August 31st                                   Prehistoric, Ancient and Medieval America

Readings:                   Gelernter, Foreword, 1-34; McAlester, ix-xxv, 4-56.

                        Supplemental:           Summerson, 1-56 and plates.


EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURAL VOCABULARY
IN 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY AMERICA

Class and Date

3.  Tuesday, September 5th:             Colonial England

4.  Thursday, September 7th:           Colonial Holland, Germany, Sweden, France and Spain.  Drawing Assignment Due

5.  Tuesday, September 12th:            Colonial Spain / Georgian - Early Period

6.  Thursday, September 14th:         Georgian - Early and Late Periods

7.  Tuesday, September 19th:            Georgia - Late Period


                    Readings:                     Gelernter, 35-96; McAlester, 58-103, 104-116, and 156-214.


                    Supplemental:             Pierson, Vol. 1, 1-20



THE ROOTS OF CLASSICISM IN AMERICA AND THE
EMERGENCE OF AN ARCHITECTURE FOR A NEW REPUBLIC


Class and Date

8.  Thursday, September 21st:            Classicism: Traditional or Federal

9.  Tuesday, September 26th:             Classicism: Idealistic or Jeffersonian

10.  Thursday, September 28th:         Classicism: The Rational Phase

11.  Tuesday, October 3rd                   Classicism: Greek Revival - A National Architectural Style.  Writing Assignment One Due

Readings:                      Gelernter, 97-139; McAlester, 216-264.

                        Supplemental:               Pierson, Vol. 1, 205-460


ECCLESIOLOGISTS, ROMANTICISM, AND THE PICTURESQUE


Class and Date

12.  Thursday, October 5th                Gothic Churches and the Ecclesiologists in America

13.  Tuesday, October 10th:                Gothic Revival and the Picturesque Villa and Cottage

14.  Thursday, October 12th:              Italian Villa and Italianate; Renaissance, Romanesque, and Egyptian Revivals; Octagon Mode

Readings:                      Gelernter, 139-165; McAlester, 266-313

                        Supplemental:               Pierson, Vol. 2, 1-21, 91-455


15.  Tuesday, October 17th:                  MID-TERM EXAMINATION


ECLECTIC EXUBERANCE:THE ARCHITECTURE OF AMERICAN ENTERPRISE


Class and Date

16.  Thursday, October 19th:             The Battle of the Styles: Second Empire and High Victorian Gothic

17.  Tuesday, October 24th:                The Romanesque of Henry Hobson Richardson

18.  Thursday, October 26th:              Stick Style, Queen Anne, and late 19^th Century Eclecticism

19.  Tuesday, October 31st:                 The Shingle Style

Readings:           Gelernter, 166-189; McAlester, 314-405


URBAN ORDER AMID THE RISE OF COMMERCE


Class and Date

20,  Thursday, November 2nd:              Classicism Reconsidered: Late 19th and Early 20th Century Classicism: The Ecole des Beaux Arts and Classical or Renaissance-Inspired Monumentality.

21.  Tuesday, November 7th:                  Period Revivals: English, Dutch and Spanish Colonial; English Tudor; French and Italian Renaissance; Spanish Eclectic; and Mission.

22.  Thursday, November 9th                                  Interludes and the Quest for a New Tradition: Chateauesque; Late Gothic and Jacobean Revivals; Eclecticism; and the buildings of Bertram G. Goodhue.

23.  Tuesday, November 14th:                Tall Buildings: The Chicago School

24.  Thursday, November 16th:              Tall Buildings: New York and Corporate Urbanism.  Writing Assignment Two Due

Readings:                           Gelernter, 190-214; McAlester, 406-508; Goldberger, 1-165

                        Supplemental:                   Jordy, Vol. 4, 1-177, and 314-37
                                                                                                                 

25.  Tuesday, November 21st:                  Thanksgiving Recess - No Class

26.  Thursday, November 23rd:               Thanksgiving Recess – No Class



THE EMERGENCE OF MODERNISM

Class and Date

27.  Tuesday, November 28th:                   Arts and Crafts and the American Bungalo. 

28.  Thursday, November 30th:                 Art Deco and Sfreamlined Moderne

29.  Tuesday, December 5th:                      The Prairie School According to Frank Lloyd Wright


30.  Thursday, December 7th:                    Foundations of International Architecture

                        Readings:                               Gelernter, 214-292; McAlester, 509-578

                        Supplemental                                   Jordy, Vol. 4, 180-313

 


31.  Monday, December 11th:                FINAL EXAMINATION:  4:30 to 7:15, 402 Williams

      

COURSE INFORMATION 

EXAMINATIONS.  A mid-term examination and a final examination will be given during the semester.  Both exams will consist of slide identifications and essay questions requiring comparative architectural analysis of buildings.  There will be no make-up exams unless a student presents a bona fide reason for missing the regularly scheduled exam.

CLASSICAL ORDERS ASSIGNMENT.  Students will be asked to select any building on campus that employs a classical order (pedestal, column, and entablature) and sketch the specific details of that order, identifying the order and its various parts and moldings.  The due date is marked on the syllabus.  The images are taken from William Salmon’s Palladio Londonensis (1734), on reserve at Bailey Howe Library.  Please refer to that work if the written terms are not fully legible on your photocopy.

PAPERS.  For undergraduate students,  two papers, each 1500 words in length and based upon criteria distributed by the instructor as a handout, will be required.  Papers must be typed and double-spaced and include illustrations.  The first paper focuses on building descriptions, the second on architectural analysis.  Due dates are marked on the syllabus.  Illustrations are required and should be neatly mounted and clearly identified.  Follow the format for footnotes and bibliography given in the Chicago Manual of Style.  Grades will be lowered by one point for each twenty-four-hour period that the paper is late.  In addition to those two papers, graduate students are also required to research the work of any architect practicing in Vermont during any period and to prepare a paper four pages in length, double spaced, providing a biographical sketch of that architect and analyzing his or her important works.  Research should rely on digitized newspapers and archival sources.            
            CREDIT HOURS.  This is a three (3) credit, graduate level course, defined as averaging three (3) hours of contact time (in class meetings) and six (6) hours of work outside class per week.  The course is designed so that your work outside of class (readings, exam preparation, group projects) will average six hours per week over the semester in addition to the three hours per week in class.  Third or fourth-year undergraduates with prior study in history, art history, architecture, architectural history, or related fields may register with approval from the instructor. 

             CLASS MEETINGS.   Class meetings will be conducted in seenty-five minute segments, twice weekly, the location of which will be established on campus.  The course will also be designed for simultaneous remote instruction in a manner to be determined. 

             ATTENDANCE.   Class meetings and activities require attendance and active involvemenr.  The UVM attendance policy outlines expectations for attendance.
  
              EXAMINATIONS AND GRADING.  Preliminary and final examinations wil be based on assigned readings, class presentations, and discussion.  The dates for these examinations will be noted on the final course syllabus.  The course grade will be determined as follows: preliminary examination 30%; final examination 30%; paper assignment(s) 30%; and class participation 10%.  Grades will be determined according to the following scale: 97 to 100 = A+; 93 to 96 = A; 90 to 92 = A-; 87 to 89 = B+; 83 to 86 = B; 80 to 82 = B-.  Grades in the range of A meet professional standards; grades in teh range of B do not satisfy professional standards and require improvement.  Grades in the range of C are well below professional standards and do not meet course requirements.  Grades below a C- are failing grades at the graduate level, and grades of D will not be assigned at that level.                     

  

BIBLIOGRAPHY.  A bibliography of readings for further study on each of the lecture topics will also be distributed to students.  This list should be considered as a beginning point for research concerning the topics identified and should be consulted during selection and preparation of the papers.

OFFICE HOURS.  Office hours will be posted with recommendations to schedule meetings by appointment.

SLIDE IMAGES.  Students may be asked to identify the buildings, dates of construction, and architects contained in the schedule of slides posted on the course web page.  The address is www.uvm.edu/~rmccullo.  A complete schedule of all slides presented during class periods will also be distributed in hard-copy form as a note-taking aid.  However, only those images contained on the web page will be used on examinations. 

 SUPPLEMENTAL CLASSES:  Voluntary review classes or classes covering supplemental material will be scheduled by consensus.