This study of the social, technological, and architectural evolution of the American house from the seventeenth to the twentieth century focuses on eighteen houses which are open to the public as house museums: Fairbanks House (Dedham, Mass.), Joshua Hempsted House (New London, Conn.), Schifferstadt (Frederick, Md.), Heyward-Washington House (Charleston, S.C.), George Read II House and Gardens (New Castle, Del.), Montgomery Place (Annandale-on-Hudson,...