| Styles of Homes: Eclectic Period 1880–1940. Colonial Revival 1880–1940 |
| Overview |
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| Style |
Material |
Orientations of structure |
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| Refined |
Masonry,
dominant after
1920s |
Vertical |
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| Key features |
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Decorative entry; symmetrical façade.
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| Architectural Features |
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| Entrance Door |
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- Panel doors
- Overhead fanlights or sidelights
- Accentuated surrounds
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| Shutters |
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- Panel; louvre; board & batten
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| Garage Door |
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- Vertical orientation of surface material
- Layered trim boards with decorative molding
- Symmetrical multi-pane windows
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| Style Summary |
The term “Colonial Revival” refers to the entire rebirth of
interest in the early English and Dutch houses of the Atlantic
seaboard. The Georgian and Adam styles form the backbone
of the Revival, with secondary influences from post-medieval
English or Dutch Colonial prototypes. Details for two or more of
these precedents are freely combined in many examples so that
pure copies of colonial houses are far less common than are
eclectic mixtures.
During the first decade of this century, Colonial Revival fashion
shifted toward carefully researched copies with more correct
proportions and details. This was encouraged by new methods
of printing that permitted wide dissemination of photographs
in books and periodicals. Colonial Revival houses built in the
years between 1915 and 1935 reflect these influences by more
closely resembling early prototypes than did those built earlier
or later. The economic depression of the 1930s, World War II,
and changing postwar fashions led to a simplification of the
style in the 1940s and 1950s. These later examples merely
suggest their colonial precedents rather than closely mirroring
them.
Excerpted from A Field Guide to American Houses, Virginia and
Lee McAlester, Alfred Knopf, New York, © 2000. |
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