Architecture, which can be understood in its most basic sense as a form of enclosure created with an aesthetic intent, first made its appearance in the Prehistoric Age. From its earliest developments, architecture changed over time and in different cultures in response to changing cultural needs, aesthetic interests, materials, and techniques. The Historical Dictionary of Architecture provides information on architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Tadao Ando, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov, as well as on famous structures like the Acropolis, the Colosseum, the Forbidden City, Machu Pichu, Notre Dame, the Pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, and the World Trade Center. The dictionary examines the development of architecture over the centuries through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on the major architects, well-known buildings, time periods, styles, building types, and materials in world architecture.

Review
Informative and pleasant reading. CHOICE, April 2009 An impressive addition to the field... This is an important text that fits easily on the reference shelves of most colleges and community colleges. It also might be of interest to some school media centers. American Reference Books Annual (ARBA) The essays are clear, informative, and well written...Recommended. Booklist, February 2009

Allison Lee Palmer is Professor of Art History at the University of Oklahoma.