Canadian Architectural Styles

Name: Canadian Architectural Styles
SKU: 9781459419490
Availability: InStock

A Field Guide

by Don Mikel

A photography book showcasing over 50 architectural styles across Canada.

Featuring over 1,000 photographs, this guide identifies more than 40 important architectural styles in Canada, ranging from the nineteenth-century Georgian, Gothic Revival and Italianate buildings to twentieth- and twenty-first-century Art Deco, Mid-Century Modern, Brutalist and Neo-Expressionism. The examples are drawn from all across Canada, rural, small town and urban.

Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated, the book includes heritage homes, cottages, churches, schools and buildings of government and commerce. Each chapter provides an introduction to the style, followed by carefully selected representative examples from across the country. An index to buildings by town or region enables readers to identify and appreciate architectural styles in every part of Canada.

The result of more than a decade of research and photography, this is the first comprehensive field guide to Canadian architectural styles.

About the Author

DON MIKEL grew up in old houses in Cobourg, and as a teenager gained an interest in heritage architecture through Port Hope Architectural Conservancy meetings. He was later the founding chair of two Local Architectural Community Advisory Committees (LACACs), and the founding Chair of the Provincial LACAC Association Steering Committee, which evolved into the Ontario Community Heritage Fund. He was the founding Chair of the Guelph Architectural Conservancy Branch, has restored five heritage houses and consulted on other restorations. He has written a number of publications. Don lived overseas for 16 years and collected architectural photographs from 58 countries, as well as those he’s taken in Canada. He holds 5 graduate degrees, was a career civil servant and received a medal from the Governor General’s Office for career contributions. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Reviews

“A complete field guide to Canadian-built heritage is just what is needed . . . This volume offers a wide variety of styles and sub-styles, from cottages to government buildings, across the country [and] will make a simple road trip through the countryside or a major journey across the nation a more enjoyable and interesting excursion.”

Shannon Kyle, author of The Story of Ontario Architecture

“A very attractive book. I am impressed by the way it has been organised . . . the many pictures with their basic captions are very fine and very valuable.”

Reginald Porter, historian and author of Government House and the Fanningbank Estate

“This will be a valuable field guide to professionals . . . and of interest to all those interested in Canada’s architectural history.”

Phil Goldsmith, BES, BArch, OAA, CAHP, Director, Ontario Heritage Foundation 1993–2000

“A beautiful resource for anyone who loves buildings and the stories they tell. Don Mikel’s field guide is a rich visual journey through Canada’s architectural heritage—accessible, clear, and comprehensive.”

Erik Backstrom, RPP, MCIP, urban planner, historian, President of the Alberta Professional Planners Institute

“The architectural equivalent of Peterson’s birding guides. It gives enthusiasts everything they need to recognize and identify any ‘species’ of architecture they might encounter in the wild. This is the most comprehensive guide to architectural style that I’ve seen in a long time, and the only one that is strictly Canadian and on a national scale. Bonus: it comes right up to the present day.”

Tom Cruickshank, author of Old Toronto Houses and Old Ontario Houses

“A good companion for architectural exploration close to home and across the country with photo examples that instruct and delight.”

Stephen Robinson, MA, CAHP, Senior Heritage Planner, City of Guelph

“[An] encyclopedic, richly detailed inventory of building styles, ranging from 1600s New France to twenty-first-century structures.”

Terry Foord, B.Arch, Port Hope Architectural Conservancy