History of Architecture: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Consult the lists of Dictionaries, Thesauri and Quotations and Encyclopedias and Almanacs for more resources. 

The dictionaries below will be helpful in architectural history research. For a more general selection of architecture dictionaries, be sure to consult the Dictionaries and Foreign Language Dictionaries sections of our web guide Architecture Resources.

• The anatomy of a house: a picture dictionary of architectural and design elements, Fayal Greene; NY: Doubleday, 1991.
• The classical language of architecture, John Summerson. Cambridge, M.I.T. Press [1966, c1963]
• The concise dictionary of architectural and design history. Frederic H. Jones. Los Altos, Calif.: Crisp Publications, 1992.
• A concise glossary of terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic architecture, by John Henry Parker. 9th ed., rev. Oxford, London, J. Parker and Co., 1896.
• Critical terms for art history, ed. by Robert S. Nelson and Richard Shiff. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Collection of essays by experts on important terms in art and architectural history.
• Dictionary of architectural and building technology. Henry J. Cowan and Peter R. Smith. 4th ed. London; New York: Spon, 2004.
• The dictionary of architecture, by the Architectural Publication Society. London, T. Richards [1887–92]. 8 vols.
• A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in in treating of architectural and other antiquities . also, biographical notices of ancient architects, by John Britton. London, Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans [etc.] 1838.
• A dictionary of architecture and building, Russell Sturgis. NY: MacMillan Company; London: MacMillan, 1901–1902.
• Dictionary of architecture & construction, edited by Cyril M. Harris. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
• Dictionnaire de l'architecture du XXe siecle, sous la direction de Jean-Paul Midant. [Paris]: Hazan: Institut francais d'architecture, 1996.
• Dictionnaire raisonne d'architecture et des sciences et arts qui s'y rattachent, by Ernest Bosc. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1877–1880. Good source for 19th-century material, illustrations.
• Dizionario enciclopedico di architettura e urbanistica, Diretto da Paolo Portoghesi. [Roma], Ist. editoriale romano, [1968]–69. Collana di dizionari enciclopedici di cultura artistica.
• Glossarium Artis. Munchen: K.G. Saur. 1977–present v.1–present. Series of illustrated dictionaries of highly specialized art and architectural terms in English, French and German. Each volume a separate topic.
• Illustrated dictionary of architecture, by Ernest Burden.2nd ed. [New York]: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
• Illustrated dictionary of architecture, 800-1914, Jill Lever and John Harris. 2nd ed. London; Boston: Faber and Faber, 1993.
• International dictionary of architects and architecture. Editor, Randall Van Vynckt. Detroit: St. James Press, 1993.
• Metapolis dictionary of advanced architecture: city, technology and society in the information age, by Manuel Gausa et. al. Barcelona: Actar, 2003. Hip 2-part dictionary, one alphabetical and one "ideological," of "architectural action linked to...'advanced culture,' now present in many disciplines of contemporary art, thought and technology."
• Multilingual dictionary of architecture and building terms, ed. by Chris Grech. London, New York: E & FN Spon, 1998.
• Ortner & Ortner, Worterbuch der Baukunst; primer of architecture, by Laurids Ortner, Liesbeth Waechter-Bohm, Gerwin Zohlen; [transl. by Roderick O'Donovan]. Boston: Birkhauser Verlag, 2001.
• The Penguin dictionary of architecture and landscape architecture, John Fleming. 5th ed. London, England; New York, N.Y., USA: Penguin Books, 1998.
• A visual dictionary of architecture, Francis D.K. Ching. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, c2012.
• The visual dictionary of buildings. London; New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1992. Eyewitness visual dictionaries.
• Vocabolario di architettura: prima edizione completa dal manoscritto autografo, Agostino Fantastici. Fiesole (Firenze): Cadmo, 1994. Esedra; 6. Architectural, building and civil engineering terms in use in Tuscany in the first half of the 18th century. Definitions compiled by architect-designer Fantastici (1782-1845) from the many early and classical treatises he used in his own work, and published together for the first time from the original manuscripts now in the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati di Siena. Includes bibliography.
• Wasmuths lexikon der baukunst. Berlin, E. Wasmuth, a. g. [1929–37] Terms, biographies, bibliographies, and articles on legal, social and historical aspects of architecture. Especially useful for information on early modern architecture. German language. Includes plans and illustrations. Nazi influence in vol. 5, Suppl.

For additional resources, consult the Encyclopedias section of Architecture Resources.

• Calendar of creative man, John Paxton and Sheila Fairfield. London: Macmillan, 1980. Timeline from prehistory to 1970 with focus on 3-dimensional arts. Notes by date events and major works in each discipline.
• Companion to contemporary architectural thought, ed. by Ben Farmer and Hentie Louw. London: New York Routledge, 1993. Not really an encyclopedia, but a wonderful "snyoptic collaborative work" that brings together a series of essays written by an international assortment of architects and historians. Introduces the reader to the essential qualities of architecture as revealed through history, and provide an "appreciation of the general state of the architectural world as it appears at the close of the 20th century." Includes bibliographies.
• A dictionary of architecture and building; biographical, historical, and descriptive, by Russell Sturgis .. New York, The Macmillan company; London, Macmillan & co., ltd., 1901–1902. Historically important.
• An encyclopaedia of architecture, historical, theoretical, & practical. London, New York [etc.] Longmans, Green, 1899.
• Enciclopedia de arquitectura Plazola. Alfredo Plazola Cisneros;coautores, Alfredo Plazola Anguiano y Guillermo Plazola Anguiano. Estado de Mexico: Plazola Editores, 1994–present. 10  vols. Spanish language encyclopedia with Mexican and Latin American emphasis.
• Encyclopedia of architectural technology, ed. by Pedro Guedes. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. Architectural styles, building types, building techniques through the ages, including the present.
• Encyclopedia of building technology, ed. by Henry J. Cowan. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988. 210 brief articles written by experts in the field of building technology, each with bibliographic references.
• Encyclopedia of 20th century architecture, R. Stephen Sennott, ed. NY: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. 3 vols.
• Encyclopedia of vernacular architecture of the world, ed. by Paul Oliver. Cambridge, U.K.; New York:Cambridge University Press, 1997. 3 vols. Comprehensive encyclopedia with articles by experts in their fields. Vol. 1, theories and principles; Vols. 2–3, cultures and habitats, geographically. Complex hierarchical and alphabetical organizational structure—be sure to read the explanation on how to use. Includes cross-references, glossary, comparative lexikon of terms in 6 languages, bibliography, index of cultures, habitats, nations and locations, and general index.
• Encyclopedie de l'architecture et de la construction. Paul Amedee Planat. Paris, Dujardin et cie [1888–1892] 6 vols. plus index. French language, historically important.
• Encyclopedia of world art. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959-1983. 15 volumes. Good coverage of architecture and planning history and excellent plates and bibliographies. Vol. 15 is index to set.
• Encyclopedia of world architecture, by Henri Stierlin. 2nd ed. London: MacMillan, 1979. Concise, but good plans and indexes by location and name. 2 vols.
• A history of architecture. Russell Sturgis. New York: The Baker & Taylor Company, 1906–1915.
• MacMillan encyclopedia of architects. Editor-in-chief, Adolf K. Placzek. New York: Free Press; London: Collier MacMillan, 1982. Index by name of building and architect name in vol. 4.
• The Wilson chronology of the arts, by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1998.