author
National Sheet Metal Roofing Co.
Best known for a practical 19th-century building guide, this company wrote in the plainspoken, problem-solving style of people who worked close to the materials. Its surviving book offers a glimpse into how builders and homeowners were taught to think about roofs, ventilation, chimneys, and the basics of sound construction.
1 Audiobook
About the author
National Sheet Metal Roofing Co. appears in the historical record as the corporate author of Practical Hints to Builders and Those Contemplating Building, published in New York in 1888. Library of Congress cataloging identifies it as "National sheet metal roofing co., New York," which suggests a firm writing from direct trade experience rather than a single named literary figure.
The book’s focus is broad and practical: foundations, cellars, kitchens, chimneys, cisterns, brickwork, mortar, heating, ventilation, and roofing. That mix makes the company interesting as an "author"—its work reads less like promotion alone and more like a snapshot of late-19th-century building advice aimed at both professionals and ordinary people planning a home.
Very little confirmed biographical information about the company itself was easy to verify from reliable library-style sources beyond its publications and New York association. No suitable confirmed portrait of this corporate author was found, so none is included here.