A Field Guide to American Houses

Houses in historic and architectural context

The guide that enables you to identify, and place in their historic and architectural contexts, the houses you see in your neighborhood or in your travels across America. 17th century to the present.

Virginia McAlester

Virginia and Lee McAlester have both avocational and professional interests in architecture. Virginia McAlester, a Radcliffe graduate, attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a founding member and past president of the Historic Preservation League, Inc. (Dallas), and for nine years was Texas Advisor and a member of the Administrative Committee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Virginia McAlester is co-author of The Making of a Historic District: Swiss Avenue.

Lee McAlester

Lee McAlester, a geologist, is a professor at Southern Methodist University and was formerly Dean of the School of Humanities. From 1960 to 1973 McAlester was Professor of Geology at Yale University. Lee McAlester has an active hobby interest in architectural history and has been involved in historic preservation in New England, Georgia, and the Southwest. The McAlesters live in Dallas, Texas.