American Architectural History

10-week course

Architecture is the product of social, cultural, religious, and political forces. Great cultures and civilizations throughout the world have produced not only great monuments but robust vernacular architectural traditions, closely tied to the environment and their local contexts. This course will present an introduction to buildings, landscapes, and other built artifacts in the United States constructed from the colonial period to the present, looking at both urban and rural building types. Its approach will be pluralistic, drawing historical references from art history, social history, and cultural studies and introducing the range of material culture produced by Americans of all ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The course will discuss the most significant works of engineering that relate to the creation of architecture, such as train sheds, exposition halls, stadium, bridges, industrial buildings, and dams. The course will examine relevant examples of architectural history from other parts of the world, especially Europe, to help place development of American architecture within the wider context of movements throughout the world. The course develops critical tools for the analysis and appreciation of architecture and its role in the world in which we live. This course is one of the required courses for the certificate in historic preservation.

Instructor: Andrea Tingey (spring 2017)
Credits: 2 CEUs; 20 AIA LU credits

Andrea Tingey is a principal historic preservation specialist with the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office. Currently working as the survey program coordinator for the office, she also is involved in the review of National Register nominations. For six years, she coordinated the Certified Local Government program, including grants and surveys. Previously, she worked in the Transportation and Planning Section where the bulk of her workload involved the regulatory review of bridge projects. She coordinated the establishment and publishing of New Jersey’s first statewide guidelines for architectural survey activities.  She taught the Introduction to Historic Preservation course at Drew University for six years and co-taught the same course at Philadelphia University.  Ms. Tingey received a BA in history from Dickinson College and did her graduate work in historic preservation planning at Cornell University.