In this book, lectures delivered at the Metropolitan Museum during February and March, 1920, have been elaborated in an effort to present a comprehensive and accurate view of the evolution of the early American house Sidney Fiske Kimball (1888 – 1955) was an American architect, architectural historian and museum director. A pioneer in the field of architectural preservation in the United States, he played a leading part in the restoration of Monticello and Stratford Hall Plantation in Virginia. Over his nearly-30-year tenure as director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he moved the museum into its current building and greatly expanded its collections.