Carl Lounsbury

Research Interests

Early American Architecture; British Architectural History, 1550-1850

Background

Carl Lounsbury retired as the Senior Architectural Historian in the Architectural and Archaeological Research Department at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 2016. Over a 35-year career at Colonial Williamsburg, he researched English and colonial American public buildings, churches, and theatres as well as the terminology, practice, and technology of preindustrial building. He was involved in the restoration of many buildings in Williamsburg’s Historic Area, including the courthouse and the market house. Since 2002, Lounsbury has taught courses in architectural history and a summer field school for NIAHD in the History Department at William and Mary. In addition, Lounsbury remains an active consultant in architectural research and preservation throughout the region. Lounsbury earned his undergraduate degree in History and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his MA and PhD from George Washington University. In addition to William and Mary, he has taught at the University of Mary Washington, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Virginia.

 Lounsbury’s publications include Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Buildings (1990); An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape (1994); From Statehouse to Courthouse: An Architectural History of South Carolina’s Colonial Capitol and the Charleston County Courthouse (2001); The Courthouses of Early Virginia (2005); An Architectural History of Bruton Parish Church (2011); and Essays in Early American Architectural History: A View from the Chesapeake (2011). He is the co-editor and a contributor to The Chesapeake House: Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg, (2013). Restoring Williamsburg, his revision of Williamsburg Before and After, the popular history of the restoration of Williamsburg, was published in 2019. Lounsbury’s latest book is Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History (2021).