Started during the Great Depression, The Historic American Buildings Survey(HABS) was the nations' first extensive documentation of our architectural heritage. According to Jack Larkin in Where We Lived: The Survey had its origins in a time of national crisis. It began in 1933 as a program to find meaningful work for thousands of architects (and photographers) left unemployed when the Great depression virtually brought construction in America to a halt.
From 1934 to 1940, architectural survey teams documented thousands of homes, public buildings, and other structures, dating from the early 1600s through the mid-1800s. Many of the houses they documented, weakened even then, have not survived to our time. In fact it is a collection of beautiful photographs and line drawings produced by photographers and architects and are available to everyone on line through the Library of Congress web site. When I go the HABS web site, I become a kid in a candy store.
It is like going on an archeological dig through our mostly forgotten architectural history. With every click I am transported to another ghost of our collective past (and a few that are still around). You can search by building types, location or key words like: Cupola or porch. I was introduced to HABS by Steve Culpepper, an editor at Taunton Press. As I walked into his office he excitedly showed me the web site with all of its beautiful photographs and architectural drawings. As it turned out, he was working on the manuscript of Where We Lived by Jack Larkin.
It is a beautiful book which guides us through life in early America by walking inside the homes we lived in. Another wonderful book which draws extensively from HABS is Barns by John Michael Vlach. It is one of the most extensive works on early barns I know of and also includes a CD of the images. From chicken coops and corn cribs to dairy barns and horse stables, in 400 pages he catalogs working farm buildings. So wether you are web adept or in the mood for a good book with great pictures, treat yourself to the work of hundreds of architects and photographers through the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey.
http://www.crisparchitects.com/ James M. Crisp, AIA is an architect working in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
HABS web site:http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น