Stock plan books may be defined as compendia of plans for residences and other types of structures which are produced specifically for publication and sale by architects, contractors, developers, lumber and building supplies dealers and manufacturers, and others. Also called "pattern books," such publications may date back to American colonial times.

Plan books were produced to fill a clear need in American building; the necessity to provide inexpensive and clearly understandable plans for buildings that could be erected by amateur carpenters, if necessary, at less expense than architects and professional contractors would charge and yet result in structures that looked every bit as professional, tasteful, and stylish as those that had been custom designed. These books skyrocketed in popularity in the 19th century and even more so in the 20th, especially in the 1920s and 1930s when the demand for economical housing grew enormously and created a huge market for stock plans. The result is that in most cities in the United States today, the bulk of working-class and middle-class neighborhoods consist of housing built from such plans.