Explores the history, application, and accrued meanings of the attic order in America, beginning with Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who employed the order. The author traces the genealogy of the architectural influence as it passes from Latrobe to his disciples to their disciples. Latrobe saw "a singular exception, a unique design feature that, besides having a direct and indisputable association with ancient Greece, also offered Americans an architectural order that might be naturalized, that might be made their own." The work is extremely fine-grained, and rich in references, especially to 18th- and 19th-century architectural literature. 45+ b& w plates.