Colonial America

Character
Several relatively distinct regional styles of colonial
architecture are recognized in the United States.
Building styles in the 13 colonies were influenced by
techniques and styles from England, as well as
traditions brought by settlers from other parts of
Europe. In New England, 17th-century colonial houses
were built primarily from wood, following styles found
in the southeastern counties of England.
Character
Dutch Colonial structures, built primarily in the
Hudson River Valley, Long Island, and northern New
Jersey, reflected construction styles from Holland and
Flanders and used stone and brick more extensively
than buildings in New England. In Maryland, Virginia,
and the Carolinas, a style called "Southern Colonial" is
recognized, characterized by the hall and parlor and
central-passage house types, which often had large
chimneys projecting from the gable-ends of the house.
Character
In the Delaware Valley, Swedish colonial settlers
introduced the log cabin to America. A style
sometimes called Pennsylvania colonial appeared later
(after 1681) and incorporates Georgian architectural
influences. A Pennsylvania Dutch style is recognized in
parts of southeastern Pennsylvania that were settled
by German immigrants in the 18th century.
Character
Early buildings in some other areas of the United
States reflect the architectural traditions of the
colonial powers that controlled these regions. The
architectural style of Louisiana is identified as French
colonial, while the Spanish colonial style evokes
Renaissance and Baroque styles of Spain and Mexico;
in the United States it is found in Florida, Louisiana,
New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California.
First Period
is a designation given to building styles used in the earliest
English settlements at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) and Plymouth,
Massachusetts (1620) and later in the other British colonies along
the Eastern seaboard.
These buildings typically included details including steep roofs,
small casement leaded glass windows (usually due to a scarcity of
glass in the colonies), rich ornamentation (in the more expensive
house only) and a massive central chimney. To maximize natural
light in northern climes, early houses faced southeast, regardless
of a building's alignment to the road. Conversely, in southern
colonies, houses faced northwest to minimize the sun's heat.
Corwin House
French Colonial
Developed in French-settled areas of
North America beginning with the
founding of Quebec in 1608 and
New Orleans, Louisiana in 1718, as
well as along the Mississippi River
valley to Missouri.
The early French Colonial house
type of the Mississippi River Valley
region was the poteaux-en-terre,
constructed of heavy upright cedar
logs set vertically into the ground.
These basic houses featured double-
pitched hipped roofs and were
surrounded by porches (galleries) to
handle the hot summer climate.
French Colonial
By 1770, the basic French
Colonial house form
evolved into the briquette-
entre-poteaux (small
bricks between posts) style
familiar in the historic
areas of New Orleans and
other areas. These homes
featured double-louvred
doors, flared hip roofs,
dormers, and shutters.
French Colonial
Bequette–Ribault House
Spanish Colonial
Developed with the earlier Spanish settlements in the
Caribbean and Mexico, the Spanish Colonial style in the
United States can be traced back to St. Augustine,
Florida, the oldest established city in the country,
founded in 1565. The early type of dwelling in Spanish
Florida was the "board house", a small one-room cottage
constructed of pit-sawn softwood boards, typically with
a thatched roof. During the 18th century, the "common
houses" were whitewashed in lime mortar with an oyster
shell aggregate. Typically two-story, the houses included
cooling porches to accommodate the Florida climate.
Spanish Colonial
The style developed in the Southwest with
Pueblo design influences from the
indigenous Puebloan peoples architecture.
In Alta California, present-day California,
the style developed differently, being too far
for imported building materials and without
skilled builders, into a strong simple version
for building the missions between 1769 and
1823. Ranchos were typically built of adobe.
Spanish Colonial

Gonzalez–Alvarez House
Dutch Colonial
Developed from around 1630 with the arrival of Dutch
colonists to New Amsterdam and the Hudson River
Valley in what is now New York and in Bergen in what
is now New Jersey. Initially the settlers built small, one
room cottages with stone walls and steep roofs to allow
a second floor loft. By 1670 or so, two-story gable-end
homes were common in New Amsterdam.
Dutch Colonial
In the countryside of the Hudson Valley,
the Dutch farmhouse evolved into a linear-
plan home with straight-edged gables
moved to the end walls. Around 1720, the
distinctive gambrel roof was adopted from
the English styles, with the addition of
overhangs on the front and rear to protect
the mud mortar used in the typically stone
walls and foundations.
Dutch Colonial
Developed after about 1675, when the Delaware River Valley
area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware) was settled
by immigrants from Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Ireland,
Germany and several other northern European nations.
The early colonists to this region adapted the "half-timber"
style of construction then popular in Europe, which used a
frame of braced timbers filled-in with masonry. The "bank
house" was a popular form of home during this period,
typically constructed into a hillside for protection during
the cold winters and hot summers of the region.
The two-story "country townhouse" was also common
around Pennsylvania during this time
Dutch Colonial

Bronck House
Mid-Atlantic Colonial
The region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay on
America's east coast was settled primarily by
immigrants from the British isles. The standard
vernacular house built by the colonists in this region
between the first settlement in 1607 and the end of
British rule in 1776 followed the I-plan format, had
either interior or exterior gable chimneys, and was
either wooden or brick. Most were only one room
deep.
Mid-Atlantic Colonial
Academic architecture was evident, but it was
relatively scarce. The best example of Mid-Atlantic
Colonial academic architecture is the 1774 Hammond–
Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland. This house
was modeled on the Villa Pisani in Montagnana, Italy
as exhibited in Renaissance architect, Andrea
Palladio's Four Books of Architecture (1570). Colonial
architect William Buckland designed this house in
1774 and the resulting house is a very skillful
adaptation of the Villa Pisani for the warmer climate of
the Chesapeake Bay region.
Mid-Atlantic Colonial

Hammond-Harwood House
Colonial Georgian
Georgian buildings, popular during the reigns of King George
II and King George III were ideally built in brick, with wood
trim, wooden columns and painted white. In what would
become the United States, however, one found both brick
buildings as well as those in wood with clapboards. They were
sometimes painted a pale yellow. This differentiated them
from most other structures that were usually not painted.
Mostly box shaped with multiple chimneys.
A Georgian colonial house usually has a formally defined
living room, dining room and sometimes a family room. The
bedrooms are typically on the second floor. They also have
one or two chimneys that can be very large.
Identifying features
(1700 – c.1780):
 Panel front door centred, topped with rectangular
windows (in door or as a transom) and capped with an
elaborate crown/entablature supported by decorative
pilasters
 Cornice embellished with decorative moldings, usually
dentilwork
 Multi-pane windows and fenestrations arranged
symmetrically (whether vertical or horizontal)
Josiah Dennis House
Other features of Georgian style houses can include –
roof to ground-level:
 Roofs are Side-gabled, Gambrel, or Hipped
 Chimneys on both sides of the home
 A portico.
 Small 6-paned sash windows and/or dormer windows in
the upper floors, primarily used for servant's quarters.
 Larger windows with 9 or 12 panes on the main floors
Hope Lodge
Architects of Colonial America
Peter Harrison
 was a colonial American
architect who was born in
York, England and
emigrated to Rhode Island
in 1740
 credited as being the first
professionally trained
architect in America.
Architects of Colonial America
His works were:
 Redwood Library (1747–49),
 Brick Market Building (1762–72)
 Touro Synagogue (1759) in Newport, Rhode Island
 King's Chapel (1749) in Boston, Massachusetts
 Christ Church, Cambridge (1759–60)
Redwood Library

Brick Market
Building
 Touro Synagogue

King’s Chapel
Christ Church
Architects of Colonial America
William Buckland
 was a British architect
who designed in colonial
Maryland and Virginia.
 Most notable among his
repertoire are: Gunston
Hall (c. 1755-1759) and
Hammond-Harwood
House (c. 1774).
Gunston Hall
John Smybert
 was a Scottish American
artist, who was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland and
died in Boston,
Massachusetts, United
States
 served as architect for the
original Faneuil Hall, which
he designed in the style of
an English country market.
Faneuil Hall