Reviews
Loeb should be applauded for telling a complicated story. She successfully makes the realtors, architects, and building-craftsmen agents of physical growth. Loeb also uses careful case studies, but moves beyond them to try to tell a wider story.
Loeb's useful concept of entrepreneurial vernacular may encourage scholars to pay more attention to the builders and tradesmen whose activities were important in themselves and also constitute an important arena in which the histories of business, labor, and cities intersect.
Loeb's book helps us understand the roots of a significant trend in American housing after World War II... It is well organized and well written.
Entrepreneurial Vernacular is certainly the best and most comprehensive book I have read about the design and development of the modern, large-scale housing subdivision.
A solid contribution to our understanding of how the suburban tract house came to dominate American housing in the twentieth century.
Book Details
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Entrepreneurial Vernacular Subdivision
Part I. Three Subdivisions and Their Builders
Chapter 1: The Ford Homes: The Case of the Borrowed Builders
Ch
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Entrepreneurial Vernacular Subdivision
Part I. Three Subdivisions and Their Builders
Chapter 1: The Ford Homes: The Case of the Borrowed Builders
Chapter 2: Brightmoor: The Case of the Absent Architect
Chapter 3: Westwood Highlands: The Rise of the Realtor
Part II. Agency, From, and Meaning
Chapter 4: The Home-Ownership Network: Constructing Community
Chapter 5: Architectural Style: The Charm of Continuity
Conclusion. Architecture as Social Process
Notes
Bibliographical Note
Illustration Credits
Index