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City of South Bend and St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Guidelines 73 <br />For More Information: What Desgn Period is My Building? <br />Like the style of clothes or the newest car model, buildings built at different times reflect the popular design trends at the time they were built. These different design periods are popularly referred to as “styles”. You can figure out the style of your building as you embark on a project to help ensure the preservation of the important things that give it its look and feel; details known as character-defining features. These features are used when reviewing changes to your building . The following resources can help you figure out the character-defining details on your house: <br />Residential Architectural Design <br />One of the best sources for architectural styles is A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia Savage McAlester . This newly updated guide has been a compass point for historic preservation for decades—here . <br />Hubka’s Houses Without Names is a very good resource for <br />catalog and tract housing of various years, including <br />contemporary—here . <br />American Vernacular Buildings and Interiors by Gottfried and Jen-nings is also good and well-illustrated with line drawings—here . <br />Digitally, here are some good sites to consult . <br />• Indiana Landmarks offers the following site that identifies many common residential styles found in Indiana—here . <br />• The Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology offers a residential style guide—here . <br />• Old House Journal’s online platform looks at styles—here . <br />If you are interested in periods from the modern era, often referred to as mid-century modern – <br />• Docomomo offers a guide to the modern era here . <br />• The Georgia state historic preservation office was one of the first to type mid-century houses—find their guide—here . <br />Commercial Architectural Design <br />Commercial architecture follows a similar trend line as found in the residential realm with many design details being found in both commercial and residential buildings . For more about commercial architecture’s specific attributes go here . Or from the National Main Street Center—here . <br />While out of print, used copies are often available, Rifkind’s A Field Guide to American Architecture is one of the few that includes commercial and religious buildings—here . <br />Digitally, here are some good sites to consult . <br />• Wisconsin Main Street created the following guide—here . <br />• The Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic <br />Preservation has this guide that looks at both residential and <br />commercial—here . <br />What is the History of my Building? <br />Discovering the history of your building can uncover fascinating connections to the past . A bit of investigative inquisitiveness is required, but anyone can do it . Here is a link to a great resource to walk you through the steps—here . <br />Planning a Preservation Project and Hiring a Contractor <br />When you decide it is time to do some work on your building, some simple steps can help you develop a project that accomplishes your goals, protects the historic look and feel of your property and gets it done by a qualified contractor. Below is an overview with some links for your assistance . <br />Return to the Table of Contents <br />What Design Period is My Building?DRAFT