American Pattern Books

Selected List of Architectural Pattern Books in America

Pattern books have existed for thousands of years as style guides to architecture. Vitruvius codified the Greek and Roman classical orders at the beginning of the Roman Empire. Andrea Palladio published another influential pattern book (1570) with his adaptation of classical styles for villas in Italy. Original editions and translations of these works into English were available in the 16th century. After that, numerous British and European pattern books were published.

European books made their way across the Atlantic with early settlers to influence architecture in the New World. Soon, carpenters and gentlemen architects in this country published their own Pattern Books as style guides for houses, cottages and humble residences. The beginning of landscape design can be found in some publications, emphasizing the connection between a home and the natural world.

Author	Date	Title
Benjamin, Asher	1806	The American builder's companion : or, A system of architecture, particularly adapted to the present style of building ; illustrated with seventy copperplate engravings. Revised? 1827
Benjamin, Asher	1833	Practice of architecture Containing the five orders of architecture and an additional column and entablature, with all their elements and details explained and illustrated, for the use of carpenters and practical men
Benjamin, Asher	1850	The architect, or practical house carpenter: Illustrated by sixty-four engravings, which exhibit the orders of architecture, and other elements of the art, designed for the use of carpenters and builders
Biddle, Owen	1805	The Young Carpenter’s Assistant (Philadelphia)
Cleaveland, Henry William	1856	Village and Farm Cottages
Davis, Alexander Jackson	1837	Rural Residences, Etc. Consisting of Designs, Original and Selected, for Cottages, Farm-Houses, Villas, and Village Churches: With Brief Explanations, Estimates, and a Specification of Materials, Construction, Etc. (periodical)
Downing, Andrew Jackson	1841	A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America
Downing, Andrew Jackson	1842	Cottage Residences : or, A Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Adapted to North America, 1842; reprinted as Victorian Cottage Residences, Dover, 1981.
Downing, Andrew Jackson	1845	Fruits and Fruit Trees of America
Downing, Andrew Jackson	1846	The Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste
Downing, Andrew Jackson	1850	The Architecture of Country Houses
Eastlake, Charles	1868	Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details
Gowans, Alan	1986	The comfortable house : North American suburban architecture, 1890-1930
Gyfford, Edward	1806	Designs for elegant cottages and small villas : calculated for the comfort and convenience of persons of moderate and of ample fortune : carefully studied and thrown into perspective : to which is annexed a general estimate of the probable expense attending the execution of each design
Lafever, Minard	1833	The Modern Builder’s Guide
Lafever, Minard	1838	The modern practice of staircase and handrail construction, practically explained, in a series of designs
Lafever, Minard	1839	The beauties of modern architecture. Illustrated by forty-eight original plates, designed expressly for this work
Papworth, J. B.	1818	Rural residences , consisting of a series of designs for cottages, decorated cottages, small villas, and other ornamental buildings : accompanied by hints on situation, construction, arrangement, and decoration in the theory and practice of rural architecture, interspersed with some observations on landscape gardening
Robinson, Peter Frederick	1823	Rural Architecture or A series of designs for ornamental cottages
Ruskin, John	1849	The Seven Lamps of Architecture
Wheeler, Gervase	1851	Rural Homes