Its US edition ceased in 1993, and after an unsuccessful relaunch was closed again in 2007. International editions of the magazine are still published in the United Kingdom (first published in 1947) and South Africa. A Greek edition was launched in November 2007.

The magazine was launched in 1901 as a journal devoted to architecture. Its founding editors were Herbert C. Wise, Wilson Eyre, and Frank Miles Day, all Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, architects.  The magazine became part of Condé Montrose Nast's publishing empire when he bought an interest in it in 1911; he became its sole owner in 1915. Nast transformed it into a magazine about interior design, as part of his trend toward specialized publications aimed at niche markets.

A UK edition was originally planned to be launched in the late 1930s, but was cancelled due to World War II. The magazine was finally published in February 1947, although paper restrictions meant that there were only seven pages in colour and, until 1952, just four editions each year. The founding editor was Anthony Hunt, followed by Michael Middleton, before Robert Harling took over for a 36-year tenure between 1957 and 1993. Harling was succeeded by Sue Crewe, who edited the magazine until September 2014 when she moved to the Conde Nast website House, and was replaced by Hatta Byng.

The success of the magazine owes much to Robert Harling, who was appointed Editor in 1957 by Pat (Iva Patcevitch), the Head of Condé Nast, following his recommendation by close friend Ian Fleming, the author and creator of James Bond.

Harling appointed a staff of 18, which included Leonie Highton, and later John Bridges, and three advisers: Elizabeth David (on food), Loelia, Duchess of Westminster (to discover unknown houses), and Olive Sullivan (on interior design). Harling revitalised House & Garden, and produced a magazine which contrasted the ancient and modern, with colour and simplicity. Besides the magazine, he launched a series of books on the same theme, starting in 1959 with House & Garden Interiors and Colour. Ten more books followed, his last contributions being the House & Garden Book of Romantic Rooms (1985), and House & Garden Book of Classic Rooms (1989); in 1980 with Miles Hadfield he published British Gardeners: a biographical dictionary - this being a reworking of Pioneers in Gardening a book which he had developed with Miles Hadfield and Leonie Highton thirty five years earlier.The US magazine was renamed HG with its March 1988 issue, under editor in chief Anna Wintour, formerly of Vogue (UK).  Its new emphasis on mixing fashion and interior decoration in its pages led the revamped magazine to be derided as House & Garment and Vanity Chair by its critics.Wintour became editor in chief of Vogue in 1988; HG ceased publication in 1993.

House & Garden was relaunched in 1995 under editor in chief Dominique Browning; its first issue of its second incarnation was September 1996. Condé Nast Publications announced on 5 November 2007 that the magazine was being closed again, stating that "we no longer believe it is a viable business investment for the company."  The magazine's US offices closed on 9 November 2007, and the last US issue was December 2007.

Ethel Franklin Betts Bains (September 6, 1877 – October 9, 1959)^[1] was an American illustrator primarily of children's books during the golden age of American illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Betts was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1877,^[1] the daughter of the physician Thomas Betts and Alice Whelan. She was the younger sister of the illustrator Anna Whelan Betts.^[2] Betts studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, with the noted illustrator Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute, now Drexel University, and then at the Howard Pyle School in nearby Wilmington, Delaware.^[3]

Betts first gained work illustrating magazines including St. Nicholas Magazine, McClure's, and Collier's. Beginning in 1904, she was commissioned to illustrate several books including James Whitcomb Riley's The Raggedy Man, While the Heart Beats Young, and Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. Betts commercial work declined after her marriage to Edward Bains in 1909, occasionally creating cover art for magazines such as House & Garden, but she continued to exhibit her portfolio. She received a bronze medal for her illustration of The Six Swans at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition.^[4] Along with Jessie Willcox Smith and Sarah Stilwell Weber, Betts was one of the "familiar" magazine and book illustrators in the early 20th century.^[5]