| House Histories
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ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
Now is the time to determine the architectural style of your home. This may be helpful in determining the age of your house, and perhaps even the architectural firm. In the same way that designs for clothing change over the years, architectural styles become fashionable and then fall from favor. If you know the style of your home, you can usually date it to within twenty years. Keep in mind that home improvements have always been popular and many homes have been updated one or more times. There are a number of books available on architectural history and styles. Look for them at the Music and Art Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society. If you live in a farmhouse, it may have been described in one of the contemporary architectural periodicals such as The Charette, The Builder, or The Architectural Record. These periodicals are available at the Historical Society, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and the architecture collection at Hunt Library, Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon also has a growing collection of architectural plans for buildings in Western Pennsylvania including some house plans by well-known local architects such as Alden and Harlow, Louis Stevens, and Peter Berndtson.
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