This seminar is concerned with the history and practice of architectural history. What are the origins of architectural history as a distinct field? How has the discipline situated itself over time in relationship to art history, historical preservation, architectural training and practice, and to adjacent disciplines in the design fields, the humanities, and the social sciences? How have the questions and aims of research changed over time? How do historians of architecture define their task? What are the questions that determine their research methods?  What interpretative tools have they used, and what kinds of evidence have been used to support their arguments? How have important theoretical debates influenced the work of architectural historians?

Readings will feature work that has helped to shape the field of architectural history, and we will consider scholarship focused on a range of historical moments and cultural locations. Our aim will be to understand the broad lines of inquiry that have shaped the discipline and to allow students to more clearly position themselves in relation to past and current debates.  In addition to required readings and weekly discussions, you will be asked to write four brief critical response essays and to undertake a state of the field/historiographical essay on a topic of their choosing.