| Styles of Homes: Romantic Period 1820–1880. Italianate 1840–1885. |
| Overview |
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| Style |
Material |
Orientations of structure |
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| Refined |
Wood |
Vertical |
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| Key features |
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Low-pitched roof; square cupola; single-story porch; tall,
arched sash windows, often paired or tripled.
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| Architectural Features |
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| Entrance Door |
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- Elaborate panel door
- Narrow, vertical orientation
- Taller than average doors
- Large, curved windows
- Small panels
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| Shutters |
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- Commonly not used on more elaborate models, but simpler variations may use louvre or panel
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| Garage Door |
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- Vertical orientation of surface material
- Layered trim boards with molding
- Arched windows in pairs or triples
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| Style Summary |
The Italianate style began in England as part of the Picturesque
movement, a reaction to the formal classical ideals in art and
architecture that had been fashionable for about two hundred
years. The first Italianate houses in the United States were built
in the late 1830s, popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing.
By the 1860s the style had completely overshadowed its
earlier companion, the Gothic Revival. With the financial panic
of 1873, the style’s popularity began to decline; and when
prosperity returned late in the decade, new housing fashions
rose quickly to dominance.
Excerpted from A Field Guide to American Houses, Virginia and
Lee McAlester, Alfred Knopf, New York, © 2000. |
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