| Styles of Homes: The Colonial Period 1600–1820. Georgian 1700–1780. |
| Overview |
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| Style |
Material |
Orientations of structure |
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| Refined |
Wood or
Brick |
Vertical |
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| Key features |
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Symmetrical, elegant detailing, and a crown over the front door; double-hung sashes with 6” or 8” panes of 9/9 or 12/12; a keystone or segmental arch over the windows.
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| Architectural Features |
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| Entrance Door |
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- Prominent panels, usually placed in two columns
- Painted in a dark color
- Commonly a row of lites either in the top of the door, or in a transom above
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| Garage Door |
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- Vertical orientation of surface material
- Raised panels in varying sizes
- Layered trim boards with decorative molding
- One row of small-paned, evenly placed 4/4 or 6/6 windows
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| Style Summary |
Georgian is among the most long-lived styles of American
building, having dominated the English colonies for most of
the 18th century. The style grew from the Italian Renaissance,
which emphasized classical details and reached remote England
only in the mid 16th century. There, Renaissance classicism
first flourished during the period 1650–1750 under such
master architects as Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, and James
Gibbs.
The style did not, however, begin to replace Post-medieval
traditions in the American colonies until about 1700, when
an expanding and increasingly prosperous population began
to seek more fashionable buildings. It was brought to the
New World principally through architectural building manuals
known as pattern books. These ranged from expensive treatises
stressing Italian models to inexpensive carpenters’ handbooks
showing how to construct fashionable doorways, cornices,
windows and mantels.
Excerpted from A Field Guide to American Houses, Virginia and
Lee McAlester, Alfred Knopf, New York, © 2000. |
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