"Sites Unseen" examines the complex intertwining of race and
architecture in nineteenth and early-twentieth century American
culture, the period not only in which American architecture came of
age professionally in the U.S. but also in which ideas about
architecture became a prominent part of broader conversations about
American culture, history, politics, and--although we have not yet
understood this clearly--race relations. This rich and copiously
illustrated interdisciplinary study explores the ways that American
writing between roughly 1850 and 1930 concerned itself, often
intensely, with the racial implications of architectural space
primarily, but not exclusively, through domestic architecture.
In addition to identifying an archive of provocative primary
materials, "Sites Unseen" draws significantly on important recent
scholarship in multiple fields ranging from literature, history,
and material culture to architecture, cultural geography, and urban
planning. Together the chapters interrogate a variety of expressive
American vernacular forms, including the dialect tale, the novel of
empire, letters, and pulp stories, along with the plantation cabin,
the West Indian cottage, the Latin American plaza, and the
"Oriental" parlor. These are some of the overlooked plots and
structures that can and should inform a more comprehensive
consideration of the literary and cultural meanings of American
architecture. Making sense of the relations between architecture,
race, and American writing of the long nineteenth century--in their
regional, national, and hemispheric contexts--"Sites Unseen"
provides a clearer view not only of this catalytic era but also
more broadly of what architectural historian Dell Upton has aptly
termed the social experience of the built environment.
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