For architecture I found 'A History of Architecture' by Bannister Fletcher to be a good start, but my copy is very old (1943 edition) - so try elsewhere if you want to include modernism from the outset. I'm told it's a classic.
Re Architecture -
Herman Hertzberger's Lessons for Students in Architecture teaches you how to see/think as an architect does. Was the most important book I read in arch. school. It's a very personal, and generous, tour through the buildings that have been most influential to him; he points out specific moments and moves in these buildings. It's brass tacks. http://www.amazon.com/Herman-Hertzberger-Lessons-Students-Ar...
And another vote for Pattern Language. Take it out of the library just to see how the thing is written, won't take long to see why software folk cite it.
