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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 2008
Mr. Hudgins
9:30 – 10:45 TR
Combs 237

This course investigates the evolution of American buildings practices from the colonial period to the present day.  While the course focuses on traditions and methods that are principally European in origin, some attention will be given to indigenous traditions and to those construction methods and architectural traditions that arrived from Africa and Asia.  Throughout the course students will examine changing relationships between building materials, the building trades, architectural style, and structural systems and relate them to cultural, social, economic, and intellectual developments in the United States.  This course continues to investigate a theme introduced in HISP 101, the built environment as fundamental components of our planet’s cultural heritage.  All buildings, and every modification to them, reflect their time, available techniques, and the intentions of both builders and owners.  In sum, this class intends to help students hone skills in the analysis and interpretation of architectural change by studying building technologies.  Fieldwork trips will expand the classroom experience, and every student will carry out an on-site term project measuring, drawing, analyzing and describing an historic resource in Fredericksburg.   

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

I. REQUIRED READING: The following is required and is available in the College Bookstore:
Gabrielle Lanier and Bernard Herman, Everyday Architecture in the Mid-Atlantic.

Carl Lounsbury, An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape.              

It is highly recommended that you have access to at least one of the following, each one of them essential to “The Preservationist Bookshelf:”

Stephen Calloway and Elizabeth Cromley, The Elements of Style
Virginia McAlester and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses.
Leland M. Roth, A Concise History of American Architecture.
Dell Upton, ed., America’s Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups that Built America.

Additional readings assigned through the semester will be made available electronically, including:

Buggey, Susan. “Supplying Building Materials to the British Army in the Colonies: an Illustrated Document.” APT Bulletin, VIII, 3 (1976).

Hawkes, Pamela. “Economical Painting: The Tools and Techniques
Used in Exterior Painting in the Nineteenth Century,” The Technology of Historic American Building, 189-220.

Jordy, William.  Progressive and Academic Ideals at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford, 1972, 1-28; Robert C. Mack, “The Manufacture and Use of Architectural Terra Cotta,” in The Technology of Historic American Buildings, 117-151.

Lamb, Fred B. “Notes for Short Course on Wood Identification.” Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

McKee, Harley J. An Introduction to Early American Masonry: Stone, Brick, Mortar and Plaster. Washington: Preservation Press, 1973.

Nelson, Lee H. “Nail Chronology as an Aid to Dating Old Buildings.” AASLH Technical Leaflet 48 (1968).

Nelson, Lee H. “Wainscoting ( A.K.A. Paneling) in Historic Buildings.” 
U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Preservation Assistance Division.

Philips, Maurueen. Mechanic Geniuses and Dickies: A Revision of New England’s Cut Nail Chronology before 1820.  APT Bulletin, XVII, 1 and 2 (1996).

Sprauge, Paul. Balloon Frame Paul E. Sprague, “Chicago Balloon Frame,” in The Technology of Historic American Buildings, 35-62.

II. EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING
The most important skills you will develop during your undergraduate courses are the ability to read for comprehension, to think clearly, and to speak and to write clearly, effectively and persuasively.  Students are encouraged to seek the assistance of the Writing Center located in Trinkle Hall, Room 106A, as they hone and improve their writing for their class assignments

This course requires measured drawings and computer-generated assignments - - no exceptions will be made.  This course assumes that students are already competent in the use of a word processor, electronic communication through the campus system, internet access, and the processes and methods of architectural documentation. The University offers access to equipment and training in these methods should you need it.  If you are unsure of your abilities in these areas, see the instructor as soon as possible.

Each student will be required to purchase drafting supplies and will use, as necessary, the department’s electronic cameras to complete class assignments.  Any copies of student documentation created to give to the owners of historic properties that students document as part of the class, or copies of student work made for the Department’s archives will be made at the Department’s expense.

III. RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS: There will be three research assignments, each of them intended to extend your knowledge and understanding of the built environment in the United States.  More will be said about each of the assignments in class, but they will be comported this way:

Project #1 is intended to propel your knowledge of materials and finishes by preparing an invoice for the cost of constructing a small frame house whose dimension and character will be distributed in class.  The project will consist essentially of a table showing the amounts of material needed and its cost by using either of two historic references: (1) the 1786 Rule Book of the Carpenter’s Company of Philadelphia, or (2) Albert West, The Architect and Builder’s Vade Mecum and Book of Reference (Richmond, 1872).  This assignment will be made on January 24th and will be due on February 12th.

Project #2 builds on the fieldwork experience of HISP 205.  Each student, as part of a team, will be assigned a historic building and produce thorough documentation for it, including a site plan, a floor plan, a section, and detail drawings of significant architectural features.  These drawings may be CAD produced.  Each student, working individually, will also prepare basic photographic documentation of the character defining details of their building’s exterior and interior using black and white photography.  These images may be submitted as 3x5 prints that have been labeled using the format used by the National Register of Historic Places or they may be black and white digital images that are printed at 300dpi or better on bond or photographic paper.  Color slides or color digital images must also be submitted.  Final submission of this project will include: (1) drawings, (2) black and white photographs numbered and labeled using the format stipulated by the National Register of Historic Places, (3) color slides numbered and labeled using the format stipulated by the National Register of Historic Places, (4) a materials schedule, and (5) a written description of the spaces and fabric of the building using the format of a Historic American Building Survey description (Outline Format, Part II, Architectural Information).  Your written description must include your assessment of the probable phases of construction and change based on your observation of the physical evidence.  The project will be assigned on February 7th and is due on March 20th .

Project # 3 is a research assignment to explore the impact of new materials on the built environment.  Choose one of the 20th century building materials discussed in Thomas Jester, Twentieth Century Building Materials.  In an oral report not longer than ten minutes that must be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, describe the history of the development of your material, its architectural properties, its architectural significance and the types of buildings that are most likely to contain this material, and its application in a group of buildings here in Fredericksburg.  You might find the best examples of your material in a block along Caroline Street, or in Central Park, or in a group of commercial buildings in the city’s industrial park.  You’re the typed versions of your report should assume the format of a brochure to be distributed to professional workshops and must contain a bibliography of the sources you consulted. This project will be due at the beginning of class on April 17th.   

IV. IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS:  Because the purpose of this class is to deepen your knowledge and understanding of buildings, we will be using slides and other projected images to the built environment in class.  Each class will include building terms, many of them to be enumerated in study guides that are used in ways that are different from the modern definition. You should, accordingly, immerse yourself in Lounsbury’s Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape to insure that you understand and can apply these terms correctly. 

Some of our classes may begin with a short writing exercise that asks you to describe a building in a particular image or address questions based on the assigned readings for that day.  Writing about what we see expands our experience and forces us to move beyond recognition to synthesis of what we see.  These short, unannounced writing assignments will be collected and become part of the graded work for the course.

V. FIELD WORK: Some class meetings will be a laboratory experience on building materials or building techniques important to architectural research.  For these classes, you will complete a laboratory exercise answering specific questions and recording your observations.  Laboratory reports are due at the class that immediately follows the lab.  Some labs will meet in Combs Hall but others will convene in locations around Fredericksburg.  These trips are an important part of the course and will provide our best opportunity to discuss architectural fabric, fasteners, construction details, and evidence for change.  Think twice before you miss one.

VI. TESTS: There will be two opportunities, the first on Thursday, March 2nd and the second, the final examination, on Thursday, May 4th, for you to demonstrate your command of American building.

VII. CLASS ATTENDANCE:  I will be there; you should too.

VIII. LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Assignments are due at the beginning of the class meeting on which they are due.  Unexcused late work will be severely punished by the loss of ten points, a full letter grade, per day.

IX. GRADING SCALE:  We will follow the Mary Washington grading system:

A “Unusual Excellence”   (93 or higher=A; 90-92=A-)
B “Work Distinctly Above Average” (87-89=B+; 83-86=B; 80-82=B-)
C “Work of Average Quality” (77-79=C+; 73-76=C; 70-72=C-)
D Work of Below Average Quality (67-69=D+; 60-66=D)
F Failure, No Credit”  (0-59=F)

X. FINAL GRADE: N.B.: No passing grade can be achieved in this course without completion of all  assignments. Your final grade will be a composite of: the mid-term test (15%), the final examination (15% ), the building invoice (10% ), the documentation project (20% ), the report on 20th century building materials (15%), in class writing (10%), and the lab reports (15%).

XI. HONOR CODE:  This is one of The University of Mary Washington's distinguishing hallmarks and will frame our conduct in this class.

XII. OFFICE HOURS: I will maintain office hours from 3:00 until 5:00 on Wednesday and Friday afternoons and from 2:00 until 3:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am also available by appointment and can be reached at the Department of History and American Studies where my e-mail address, should you need to communicate with me electronically, is chudgins@umw.edu. My office phone number is 654-1471.  At home, I can be reached at 368-9741.  

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

I reserve the right to alter the topic of any class meeting, but the days on which papers, readings, and tests are due will not be changed.

______________________________________________________________________________________

PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING WHY BUILDINGS STAND UP                            

January 15      Introduction to the Course

January 17     Introduction to American Building: A Discussion of Methods and Approaches
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 1-9.

January 22     Building in Wood: Materials and Framing
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 61-118.
                                                Lounsbury Terms (yes, “logs”)

January 24     Discussion: The Building Trades: Contracts and Craft
Field Lab: Shakes, Rafters, and Roofs
                                                Class meets at the Lewis Store, 1200 Caroline Street
                                                Reading: Fred Lamb, “Wood Identification.” 

January 29     Fasteners and the Theory of Stress
                                                Reading: Nelson, “Nail Chronology,” Maureen Philips, “Cut Nail Chronology,”  and  Susan Buggey, “Supplying Building Materials.”
                                                Lounsbury Terms

January 31     Field Lab: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Timber Framing
                                                Class Meets at Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church

February 5     Masonry Construction: Materials and Traditions
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 95-111; Harley McKee, An Introduction to Early American Masonry.  Washington: Preservation Press, 1973.
                                                Lounsbury Terms

February 7      Lab: Foundations and Mass Wall Construction
                                                Class Meets at Brompton

February 12    Wood Panel Surfaces and Surrounds
                                                Reading: Nelson, “Wainscotting”
See Lounsbury on doors, windows, moldings and decorative detailing

ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE.

PART TWO: THE SOCIAL BASES OF ARCHITECTURE                                       

February 14   English Colonial Architecture. The Georgian-Federal Tradition of Building: Plan, Use, and Decorative Finishes
Reading: Lanier and Herman, 119-124 and William Graham, “Pre-Industrial Framing in the Chesapeake;”  Lanier and Herman, 124-138; Pamela Hawkes, “Economical Painting: The Tools and Techniques Used in Exterior Painting in the Nineteenth Century,” The Technology of Historic American Building, 189-220. 

February 19 Lab: The Structure of the Georgian House
                                                Class meets at Kenmore, 1201 Washington Avenue

February 21 Architecture of the New Republic: Classicism in the Nineteenth century
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 119-139

February 26 Lab: Design and Details of the Neo-Classical House
                                                Class meets at Presbyterian Church Row Houses, George Street

February 28  FIRST EXAMINATION

March 1 - 9   SPRING BREAK

March 11     Farm Outbuildings and Plans and Landscape Ensembles
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 71-79, 177-225 and 278-315
                                                Lounsbury Terms

March 13     Gothic and Romanesque, Picturesque and Eclectic: The Architecture of Revivals
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 139-172

March 18     Lab: New Facets: Gothic, Romanesque, and Italianate
                                Class meets at Fredericksburg Courthouse, Princess Anne Street
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 147-172

PART THREE: ARCHITECTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD                                

March 20     Virginia Department of Historic Resources National Register Review Board Meeting

ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE.

March 25      The Industrialization of Building Practice
                                                Reading: Paul E. Sprague, “Chicago Balloon Frame,” in The Technology of Historic American Buildings, 35-62.

March 27     Architects, Tall Buildings, and the Professionalization of Design
                                                Reading: William Jordy. Progressive and Academic Ideals at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford, 1972, 1-28; Robert C. Mack, “The Manufacture and Use of Architectural Terra Cotta,” in The Technology of Historic American Buildings, 117-151.  See Blackboard postings on “Building Veneers” and “Metals”

April 1          Engineers and Architecture: Reinforced Concrete
                                                Reading, Jester, Twentieth Century Building Materials, 80-119.

April 3          Lab: Metal Truss Construction
Class meets at Lafayette Boulevard end of Central Virginia Railroad metal truss bridge
Reading: T. Allan Comp. “Bridge Truss Types.”

April 8          Heat, Light, Air, and Water: Evolution of Plumbing and Electrical Systems in the 20th-Century

April 10        The 20th-Century House: New Needs, New Materials
                                                Reading, see Blackboard posting on “Laminates” and “Flooring”

April 15        The Consumer Revolution and the Twentieth-Century House: Heat, Light, Water, and Air
                                                Reading: Lanier and Herman, 165-176; Jester, Twentieth Century Building Materials, 46-149 and 214-277.

April 17        Oral Presentations for Project #3                                               

ASSIGNMENT # 3 DUE.

April 22 Oral Presentations for Project #3

April 24 Oral Presentations for Project #3

FINAL EXAMINATION: Thursday, May 1, 8:30 until 11:00