American House and Housing

The picture of the "American Dream" has typically included a single-family detached dwelling set within its own suburban yard. However powerful and durable that image is, the history of house and home in America is far more complex. This course examines the development of suburban house and urban housing choices circa 1850-1975. Over the course of the semester we will explore housing styles and types, including private single-family dwellings, public multi-unit housing, rowhouses and apartments. We will also examine the wider physical and cultural settings of American housing choices, including the symbiotic relationship between city and suburb. We will look at domestic architecture as both a designed object and as a cultural landscape shaped by class, gender, race, economics, politics, and fashion. Through the use of occasional field trips, we will use Pittsburgh as a touchstone for understanding broader national trends in the design of American housing.