Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: J CHAPTER VIII NATIVE AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE AMERICAN TYPES CHARACTERISTIC OF NEW ENGLAND, THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES, AND THE SOUTH. CREOLE AND SPANISH COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE. "SECESSION- IST " WORK IN MIDDLE WEST, THE " CRAFTSMAN IDEA" AND SOME COMMENTS ON THE BUNGALOW DESPITE the continued pronouncement of writers and critics and architects who bewail the fact that there is no "national style," no truly "American" architecture, the fact remains that there exist not one type, but several types peculiar to this country. And these types, considered as divided by what naturalists would call their "habitat," should afford a rich source of inspiration to our architects throughout the country. It is important at the outset to correct the loose and often misleading term "Colonial," and to divide early American buildings a little more accurately, with some proper chronological distinction. This division may be made to a great extent irrespective of locality, and a consideration of the types of native American architecture characteristic of North, South, East and West may then be better understood. It is a common matter to hear any American building, of date prior to the Civil War, designated "Colonial," which would be as absurd as it is inaccurate, if people were to give the question even a moment's thought. The evolution of native American architecture, from its necessarily primitive beginnings, through its more highly developed manifestations, is a consecutive one, and would afford a peculiarly interesting opportunity to study the history of the American people—ifa study so detailed could properly be included in a review so broad and extensive as the present book, wherein may be pointed out only the more salient and important points. The broad distinction between "Co...