Traditional Construction Patterns

Looking at a building and seeing a building are two very different things. To truly understand traditional architecture you must train your eye to see the difference between the Dos and Don'ts. Steve Mouzon's beautifully illustrated book provides an essential resource for anyone seeking this knowledge." -- Marianne Cusato, Author

"... to see a town or a building through the eyes of a gifted architect like Steve Mouzon is to truly experience it ... this book is an inspiration to building our world better again ..." -- Kristen Payne, Southern Living

...absolutely essential ... a new town or new neighborhood is simply more profitable when the architecture is correct ..." -- Nathan Norris, Developer

"... the first book in my library and the only book I take into the field ..." -- James B. Wagnon, Jr., Historical Home Crafters, Inc.

This book explains, in layman's terms, the vague sense of unease we've all had with traditional architecture done incorrectly for the past half-century, and provides the tools for doing it right again. The first tool is a fully illustrated Lexicon of nearly 240 terms we should all know, but probably don't. It's hard to ask for something if you don't know what to call it. It's also hard to say it if you don't know how to pronounce it, so the Lexicon provides pronunciation of all of the words that are not obvious.

The primary tool, however, is a collection of 108 patterns illustrated as Dos and Don'ts with diagrams and photographs. These patterns represent the most common errors of traditional construction, and are the things we really need to start getting right if we hope to build more of the most-loved places again.