Residential Architecture 101

Saturday morning, I participated in an architectural survey of my neighborhood (part of Preservation Dallas). Most of the homes here were originally built before 1960, but nearly all have been updated since then.

In doing this survey, I learned about gabled and gambled roofs; the elements of a home's façade; and even what a dormer is (I assumed it had something to do with college student housing). Each of us were assigned 30 homes, but I got by with 28 since 2 homes on my assigned street had either been bulldozed or turned into McMansions.

I found a copy of Virginia McAlester's A Field Guide to American Houses at Half-Price Books (Plano location) and will now immerse myself, so as to be fluent in ArkitekcherSpeak.

After getting a few puzzled looks from the homeowners (what would you think if you saw someone standing in front of your home with a clipboard and a set of binocluars?) .. we were each able to complete the survey in about 2 hours. 20% of the homes assigned required the 4 page "long form" with the remainder being a simpler 2-page "short form". All in all, a good time was had by all.