One of the premises of this thesis was that the way in which the Queen Anne style was manifested in Boone, Iowa was a reflection of the social and economic characteristics of that town in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Queen Anne style was the dominant style used for American houses built between 1880 and 1900, when Boone experienced its greatest building boom. While it would be reasonable to expect that many of the houses in Boone would be in the Queen Anne style, surprisingly few houses in Boone are full expressions of that style. A popular nineteenth century philosophy was that the design of a house represented the character of those who lived there as well as the nature of the surrounding community. Seven Boone houses that fully demonstrate the Queen Anne style were examined for their architectural and interior design qualities and their context in Boone social and economic history. The cultural meanings of the Queen Anne style were also studied and compared with social characteristics of Boone.;The conclusion was that most Boone homeowners in the late nineteenth century preferred the rational, classical lines of the Colonial Revival style that competed with Queen Anne, rather than romantic curves and exotic combinations of elements possible within the Queen Anne style. Boone's social and economic structure supported conformity in housing due to moderation in income levels, a mixture of social classes in most neighborhoods, and a desire to stay within the standards of taste set by the town's social leaders. It was more economical as well as more socially acceptable to have a large plain house than to have a small highly ornamented one. The use of simple straight lines in design is associated with machines, so this was also a way that the dominance of railroads in Boone might have been expressed.