The Frank Gehry House

Frank Gehry didn't build his family a house from scratch; rather, he rebuilt an existing house, nearly from the ground up - resulting in a home that scarcely resembled its original form.

In the process of his 1978 "renovations," Gehry deconstructed the American home and put it back together in a way that has influenced architects since.

The Guild House

In 1960, Philadelphia's Friends Neighborhood Guild hired architect Robert Venturi to design an apartment house for low-income senior citizens. Zoning limited the project's height to six stories, and budget limited the materials to mostly simple and inexpensive components.

The Farnsworth House

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, an influential Modernist architect, was known for using the expression "God is in the details." Nowhere is his drive for perfection more visible than the Farnsworth House.

First Jacobs House

In the 1930s, Frank Lloyd Wright, like many other designers and architects, had some time on his hands. With the Great Depression strangling America's building industry, Wright focused some of his attention on other pursuits.

In 1932, Wright took on 23 apprentices in what he called "the Taliesin Fellowship" and began the work of expanding his home in Spring Green, Wisconsin into a campus for learning.

The Lovell Health House

In 1920s California, Dr. Philip Lovell was a prominent naturopathic doctor. His "Care of the Body" column in the Los Angeles Times was a popular favorite, and he was known for his promotion of healthy living, vegetarianism, hygiene, and fitness. His theories had a profound impact on Southern California culture.

The Dakota Apartments

Called New York's "first luxury apartment house," the Dakota soars eight stories over Central Park on New York's Upper West Side.

Eight stories may not seem like many, but the Dakota was actually one of the tallest buildings around when it was completed in 1884. Before the 1880s, no one had ever lived eight stories above the ground. The Dakota had elevators for the residents and a second set for the servants and tradespeople.

The Isaac Bell House

When wealthy New York cotton broker Isaac Bell wanted to build a summer retreat in Newport, Rhode Island, he looked to a trio of architects: Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White.

One of the most influential firms of the late nineteenth century, McKim, Mead & White played a major role in introducing at least three major architectural styles to the American public: Colonial Revival, Renaissance Revival, and the Shingle Style.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House

When she moved into her Hartford home in 1873, Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of the most famous women in America. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1852, outsold every book in the nineteenth century except the Bible. It opened up the debate on slavery in the years prior to the Civil War.

Kingscote

In the 1820s, Newport, Rhode Island was still rebuilding from the devastation of the Revolutionary War, which left 900 buildings demolished, and the War of 1812, which had seen a blockade against the town. But things were finally beginning to pick up. Tourists had discovered Newport's quiet charm, and boarding houses and a hotel were constructed as wealthy people began to summer in Newport.

The Parson Capen House

One of the best and oldest surviving examples of Elizabethan architecture in America can be found in Topsfield, Massachusetts - an early settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Pearl District

It's fitting that the Pearl District in Portland is named for an organic phenomenon.

Seaside, Florida

Sitting on 80 acres along Florida's Gulf Coast between Panama City and Destin, the town of Seaside could easily have become just another resort like all the others along this part of the Florida Panhandle. But thanks to the particular vision of the man who developed this particular bit of acreage, Seaside became something different and ultimately influential: it became an iconic example of what would be called New Urbanism.