Description
Book SynopsisIn a rich blend of architectural and social history, Cummings reconstructs a splendid narrative of innovations, of restless, migratory people and their architectural and social responses to their environment. It is the first chapter in the long saga of America's preoccupation with technology, showing how it affected the early American home.
Trade ReviewAfter more than 25 years of research into the houses and the associated documentary material Abbott Cummings has produced a book which deserves the description ‘definitive study’ …English scholars will be well served when someone produces a book of this quality concerned with traditional buildings in the old world rather than the new. -- Richard Harris * Architectural Review *
Abbott L. Cummings’ book is an in-depth history of the framed house almost as if it were a work of art that was losing meaning as the ‘era of technical reproducibility’ approached… From [his] meticulous technical treatment one learns the unique nature of these pioneer homes… The book concludes by underscoring, from the stylistic viewpoint, a sort of common character in the architecture of Massachusetts Bay which endures until the present. The framed house was not just the link between the Old and New World, it also was the mythical commencement of the American constructional tradition. * Domus [Italy] *
This will probably be the definitive book on 17th-century American architecture. Richly illustrated, highly detailed, it…will reward careful study by those interested in the subject. -- Geoffrey Elan * Yankee Magazine *
A major contribution to American architectural history…[with] solidly researched, eloquently presented text…
The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay will be the standard reference for architects, architectural historians and preservationists for many years to come. -- Dell Upton * AIA Journal *
[A] meticulous, wonderfully illustrated book… [Cummings] has made a grand book. It fills the lap, enchants the eye, and illuminates all Massachusetts Bay. -- R. C. Haskett * Journal of American History *
