Practice Of Architecture

Book excerpt: Asher Benjamin (1773-1845) published the first American builder's guide, and his architectural books played an invaluable role in disseminating the new language of the Greek Revival. When originally published, they were remarkably popular, and were among the most influential of all Greek Revival handbooks. Throughout the American South, Midwest, and New England, one still comes across houses built in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s patterned directly after Benjamin's designs.The two books incorporated here, Practice of Architecture (1833) and The Builders Guide (1839), are his most accomplished Grecian pattern books. With the growing number of contemporary architects who are designing buildings based on the forms on nineteenth century Grecian architecture, Benjamin's books should prove an invaluable resource for all lovers of the Greek Revival - builders, owners, preservationists, historians, and architects alike. Thomas Gordon Smith is chairman of the school of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame. His books include Classical Architecture: Rule and Invention and a newly illustrated edition of Vitruvius's Ten Books on Architecture/