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Historic Preservation Home > Syllabi > 300 Level Courses > HISP 305A-01 American Building

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION
HISP 305: AMERICAN BUILDING
Spring Semester 2009

Mr. Stanton
MWF noon-1250
Combs Hall, 009

COURSE DESCRIPTION
HISP 305, American Building, investigates the evolution of European-derived American building traditions from the colonial period up to the present day.  The student will examine the changing relationship of building trades, architectural style, materials, and structural systems and relate them to the social, economic and intellectual development of the United States.  American Building teaches the student to appreciate the built environment as fundamental to the cultural heritage of the nation and an integral part of the larger cultural heritage of the world.  Each building or modification reflects its time, available techniques, and the intention of the builders and owners.  To introduce the student to "real life" preservation, field work field trips will expand the classroom experience.  Each student will carry out an on-site term project measuring, drawing and describing an historic resource in Virginia.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS

TEXTS
The following books are required and will be available in the College Bookstore:

Gabrielle M. Lanier and Bernard L. Herman. Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Carl R. Lounsbury, Vanessa Elizabeth Patrick, eds. An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999.

There will be reserve readings within the Department that are required. I will try to make all reserved readings available on our course webpage. Be sure you have the latest Acrobat© Reader.

Additional readings are recommended but not required.
Stephen Calloway and Elizabeth Cromley, The Elements of Style. Revised Edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Thomas C. Jester, ed. Twentieth-Century Building Materials: History and Conservation. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1995. (out-of-print. buy it if you see it)
Virginia McAlester and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1984.
Steven J. Phillips, Old-House Dictionary: An Illustrated Guide to American Domestic Architecture. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992.
Dell Upton, editor, America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups that Built America. Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1986.

Web Page materials

The course has a web page located at"http://stanton.umwhisp.org/305-2009/" This page is on an external server that will give us space for much more content. In the past semester it was also much more stable. I will give you the user name and login password in class. Whenever you see the word Reserve in the syllabus, that article will be available on the website. The page includes additional readings for particular course content and will include links to websites that will be discussed in class. Please treat these materials as required reading and come to class prepared to discuss their content.

EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING
The most important skills developed through education are the ability to read for comprehension, think clearly, and express oneself effectively in speech and writing.  Students are encouraged to use the facilities of the Writing Center located in Trinkle Hall, Room 106A if they wish to improve their writing for classroom assignments.
This course requires measured drawings and computer-generated assignments--no exceptions will be made.  Students who have not taken HISP 205 Documentation and Fieldwork and either ARTH 114 or 115, should immediately discuss the situation with the professor.  Students who are not able to use Word, or WordPerfect or a similar and compatible word processing program should also discuss this with the professor within the first week of class.
Each student will be required to purchase drafting supplies as necessary to complete the assignments of the class. Do not buy film for assignments in this course. We have high quality digital cameras available for your use. These cameras will produce images equal in quality to film cameras. Copies of student documentation that are created to be given to the owners of the historic properties that students document in this class, or copies of student work that I request for the Departments archives will be made at the Department expense.

TESTS
There will be a midterm examination Monday, February 23rd.  The final examination will be on Friday, May 1st at noon. Tests will include short answers, identification, analysis of visual evidence, and questions of temporal sequencing. Both the midterm and final will include materials accessed from the class website.

OUT-OF-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
There are three out-of-class assignments during the semester. Each is intended to increase the sophistication of the student's knowledge and understanding of the built environment in the United States.

1.  Project #1 is designed to bring the student knowledge of materials and finishes to completion by providing an estimate the costs of construction of a brick house. The scope of work will be provided in class. The project will include a table showing the amounts of material and the costs of installation, but not the cost of hauling, using Albert West's The Architect and Builder"s Vade-Mecum and book of Reference. Woodhouse and Parham: Richmond, Va., 1872. The project will be assigned on Monday January 26th and is due Wednesday February 11th .

2. Project #2 builds on the fieldwork experience of HISP 205.  Each student as part of a team will be assigned a historic building and will produce thorough documentation of a portion of the building.  Typically this will include a floor plan and a section of the building, or a site plan and detail drawings, though not every student will complete each category of drawings. These drawings may be CAD produced. Each student will also document the character defining details of the buildings exterior and interior using black and white photography with the assignment. The images should be black and white digital images that are printed at 300dpi or better on bond paper with the labeling done on the page.  Accompanying the drawings and photographs will be a materials schedule and written description of the spaces and fabric of the building portion that was investigated, written in the style of a Historic American Building Survey description.  Although the students will work in teams to gather the documentation, each student is required to make her own photographs and will turn in her own drawings and description. The project will be assigned Monday, February 2nd and due Friday, April 3rd.

3. Project #3 is a research assignment to assess the impact of new materials on construction process and the built environment. Choose one of the “new” building materials of the 20th century to research and tell me of your choice on or before April 6th.  Through library and web based research develop a five minute oral report with illustrations describing the development of this material, the significance of the materials, and when it is/was most frequently employed.  Turn in an outline of the oral report with bibliographic citations of resources quoted at the time of the presentation. This short project will be due at the beginning of class on Monday, April 20th.

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
1. Because the purpose of this class is to deepen your knowledge and understanding of buildings, we will be using images, drawings and other projections of the built environment in class.  Class attendance will be recorded and more than three absences will reduce your course grade. In each class session the discussion will include building terms that may be used in ways that are different from the modern definition. I will be identifying many of these terms for you within the study guides, but you should make constant use of Lounsbury et al, Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape, to insure that you understand and can use these terms correctly. Steven Phillips Dictionary is a contemporary introduction to building parts and has been so useful in the past for students struggling to understand the connections that I am requiring everyone to have a copy this term.
Our classes may begin with a short writing exercise that asks you to describe the building in a particular image, or answer questions about the readings for that day.  Writing is part of the learning process; it expands our experience and forces our mind beyond recognition to synthesis of what we see. A clear writing style is also one of the most important skills of the liberally educated scholar.  We will be discussing how we describe and how we write effectively about architecture throughout the class.  These short, unannounced writing assignments will be collected and be part of the graded evaluation.

2. Some Friday classes will be a laboratory experience on a different materials or techniques important to architectural historical research. You will be completing a laboratory exercise and answering specific questions and writing your insights directly on the assignment. I will collect and evaluate your laboratory work on the Wednesday following the laboratory, failure to submit the laboratory exercise when it is due without prior approval counts as a missed class. More than one unexplained failure to complete the assignment will have an impact on your grade. Some Friday laboratory classes be at locations around Fredericksburg. Field trips for this class are an important part of the learning process. Attendance will be taken and the discussions will be tested on the midterm and final. examinations.

MY OFFICE HOURS:
Tuesday           11:00-12:45
Thursday         11:00-12:45

OFFICE
Combs 128
Phone: 654-1313
I am happy to make an appointment to see you at some specific time that suits your needs--ask me in class, or write me an email message at <gstanton@umw.edu>

GRADING
Please review the honor violations that relate to classroom work and graded assignments.  I take the honor system seriously and will participate fully in any observed or reported violation of its provisions.  I will be explicit about assignment #2 in which collaboration is encouraged.  All other assignments are expected to be your own work, even when several students have the same topic.  Most important is the proper crediting of other authors within the context of written assignments.  We will review the Honor System Guidebook explanations of plagiarism in class.  However, if you have any questions regarding what should be cited and what is common knowledge in your individual assignments, please see me.

Letter grade descriptions and quality point conversions quoted below are taken from the Academic Catalog.  This and the Dictionary of Academic Regulations should be consulted for further explanation of these and all other grading details and other academic regulations.

FINAL GRADE
Please note: No passing grade can be achieved in this course without completion of all tests, final examination and out-of-class term project assignments.  Your final grade will be based on: Class participation (5%), laboratory assignments (20%), Assignment #1 (5%), Assignment #2 (25%) Assignment #3 (5%), midterm examination (20%), final examination (20%). The Out-of-Class Assignments will be marked down by a letter grade (10 points) if handed in later than the beginning of class on the date due.

SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS, TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

This class schedule tells you how we will proceed with our discussion of historic preservation.  I reserve the right to alter the topic of any lecture, but the day on which tests, papers and books are scheduled will not be changed.

Monday 12 January 2009
Distribute syllabus and course requirements.

I.  Understanding How Buildings Work

Wednesday 14 January 2009
Introduction to American Buildings
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 1-9 especially "An Archaeological Approach"

Friday 16 January 2009
Fasteners and the Theory of Stress.
Required Reading: Francis D. K. Ching “Loads on Buildings.” Building Construction Illustrated, 2nd Edition. New York: VanNostrand Reinhold, 1991. Pp. 2:10-2:13.  Reserve
Nelson, Lee H. "Nail Chronology As An Aid to Dating Old Buildings." American Association for State and Local History Technical Leaflet 48, History News, Vol. 24, Number 11, November, 1968. Reserve

Monday 19 January 2009
Preparing Building Materials: Wood.
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 61-118.  Fred Lamb “Wood Identification.”  Reserve

Wednesday 21 January 2009
Recording Historic Buildings with Computer Assisted Documentation
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 316-350

Friday 23 January 2009
Wood Frame Construction: framing
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 61-118.

Monday 26 January 2009
The Building Trades, Contracts, Specifications, and Agreements
Required Reading: See web page for this class
Assignment of Project #1

Wednesday 28 January 2009
Load Bearing Masonry Construction
McKee, Harley J. An Introduction to Early American Masonry: Stone, Brick, Mortar and Plaster.  Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1973.  Reserve.
Lanier pp. 95-111.

Friday 30 January 2009
Laboratory in 18th—early 19th century timber framing.
Location To Be Announced.

Monday 2 February 2009
Wood Panel Construction: doors, and windows, moldings and decorative detailing
See Lounsbury under relevant sections.
Project #2 Assignment made

Wednesday 4 February 2009
Farm Outbuildings and Plans
Landscape Ensembles
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 177-225, 278-315

Friday 6 February 2009
Foundations and Mass Wall Construction

II. The Social Base of Architecture

Monday 9 February 2009
Folk and Vernacular Housing
Required Readings: Lanier pp. 71-79

Wednesday 11 February 2009
The structure of English Colonial architecture.
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 119-124
William Graham, "Pre-Industrial Framing in the Chesapeake" Reserve
Project #1 Due at beginning of class.

Friday 13 February 2009
The Structure and Materials of Roofing
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 113-118; Lounsbury - principal roof, common rafter, king post.

Monday 16 February 2009
The Georgian-Federal tradition of building.
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 124-138

Wednesday 18 February 2009
Surfaces for decoration and protection
Required Reading: Hawkes, Pamela, Economical Painting: The Tools and Techniques Used in Exterior Painting in the Nineteenth Century." The Technology of Historic American Buildings. Washington, D.C.: APT, 1983. pp. 189-220. Reserve

Friday 20 February 2009
Laboratory on the structure of the Georgian House: Kenmore
Class meets Kenmore, 1201 Mary Washington Avenue
Required Reading: Handout

Monday 23 February 2009
Midterm examination

Wednesday 25 February 2009
Referential Architecture of a new Republic: Classicism in the Nineteenth Century.
Required Reading: Lanier 119-139.

Friday 27 February 2009
Laboratory on the design and detailing of Romanesque, Greek and Classical details:          Presbyterian Church
Class meets at corner of George and Princess Anne streets

SPRING BREAK

III. How Design Affects Construction

Monday 9 March 2009
Gothic and Romanesque styles: the Architecture of Religious Revival.
Required Reading: Lanier, 139-147.

Wednesday 11 March 2009
Laboratory in Moldings.

Friday 13 March 2009
Picturesque and the Lure of the Past
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 147-172.

Monday 16 March 2009
The Industrialization of building practice
Paul E. Sprague, "Chicago Balloon Frame." in The Technology of Historic American Buildings. pp. 35-62. Reserve

Wednesday 18 March 2009
Architects, Blueprints, and Tall Buildings
Required Reading: William Jordy, Progressive and Academic Ideals at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. pp. 1-28, 52-70. Reserve

Friday 20 March 2009
The rise of the Engineer as Architect: Bridges and reinforced concrete construction
Required Reading: T. Allan Comp, "Bridge Truss Types: A Guide to Dating and Identifying." AASLH Technical Leaflet 95, History News, Vol. 32, Number 51, May, 1977. Reserve.

Monday 23 March 2009
The consumer revolution: Heat, Light
Required Reading: See Web Page

Wednesday 25 March 2009
The consumer revolution: Water, Air
Required Reading: See Web Page

Friday 27 March 2009
            Evolution of Plumbing and Electrical Installations
Required Reading: See Web Page

IV. Twentieth Century Issues

Monday 30 March 2009
Building Codes and the changing Construction industry
Required Reading: See Web Page

Wednesday 1 April 2009
Twentieth Century Building Materials: History and Conservation
Required Reading: Twentieth-Century Building Materials, pp. Introduction, 8-45. Reserve

Friday 3 April 2009
Twentieth Century Building Materials: Masonry
Required Reading:  Twentieth-Century Building Materials, pp. 150-181. Reserve
Project #2 due

Monday 6 April 2009
Twentieth century house forms and materials: Bungalow, Four Square, Lustron, Modular.
Required Reading: Lanier pp. 165-176.
Announce your choice of 20th century material to research and present

Wednesday 8 April 2009
Twentieth Century Building Materials: Wood and Plastics
Required Reading: Twentieth-Century Building Materials, pp.  120-149 . Reserve

Friday 10 April 2009
Twentieth Century Building Materials: Metals
Required Reading: Twentieth-Century Building Materials, pp.  46-79. Reserve

Monday 13 April 2009
Twentieth Century Building Materials: Concrete
Required Reading: Twentieth-Century Building Materials, pp. 80-119. Reserve

Wednesday 15 April 2009
Flooring, Roofing, Siding and Wall finishes on the 20th Century
Required Reading:  Twentieth-Century Building Materials, pp. 214-277. Reserve

Friday 17 April 2009
Laboratory in Concrete, laid block and poured foundations.
Class meets in Combs 009.

Monday 20 April 2009
Oral Presentations for project #3
Project #3 due

Wednesday 22 April 2009
Laboratory in Metal Truss construction
Class meets at Lafayette Blvd end of the Central Virginia Railroad Metal Truss Bridge

Friday 24 April 2009
Course Review

Friday 1 May 2009
            Noon- 2:30p.m.  Final Exam