The object of this book is to give Architects and Owners examples of the best practice in planning and designing buildings of the types represented, showing how various problems in planning have been handled by leading Architects of the United States. Attention is called to the three buildings constructed by the Company which passes through the Baltimore fire, illustrations of which are shown from photographs taken after the fire. They were all repaired by renewing the woodwork and decorative portions of the buildings, and the damaged parts of the exteriors. (from the Introduction).