Colonial architecture in North America
The colonial architecture , in which houses, churches and government buildings were built in North America between about 1600 and 1850, has several sub-styles, depending on which colonial power or which immigrant group it came from. A distinction is made between First Period English , the French, Spanish, Dutch and German styles and the later Georgian architecture .
Regional subspecies
A number of regional styles, which are relatively easy to define, are distinguished primarily in the United States .
The Thirteen Colonies are shaped by styles and building techniques from England (and to a lesser extent from other parts of Europe). 17th century New England houses were mostly made of wood in the style of South West England houses.
Dutch colonial buildings are mainly found in the Hudson River valley as well as on Long Island and in northern New Jersey . Stylistically influenced by the Netherlands and Flanders , stone is used more frequently as a material than in New England.
The first buildings on the lower Delaware River were dominated by Sweden. This is where the first log cabin type log cabins were brought to America.
In Maryland , Virginia , North and South Carolina , there is a style called "Southern Colonial." 1½-story brick houses are typical, often with large chimneys on the sides of the houses. A special form of the Greek Revival was also called antebellum architecture ; A large number of surviving examples from the 19th century include Charleston (South Carolina) .
After 1680, a style called Pennsylvania Colonial developed in Pennsylvania , which is already counted as part of Georgian architecture. The Pennsylvania Dutch in the southeast of this state developed their own German style in the 18th century.
Outside the Thirteen Colonies, the architectural forms are shaped by the earlier colonial powers of the respective area. In Canada (especially Québec ) and in the Mississippi Valley (especially Louisiana ) the architecture is French, while in the southwest and Florida it comes from Spanish Baroque and Rococo architecture. Natchez (Mississippi) is famous for the antebellum architecture of the Greek Revival.
French colonial style
The French colonial style developed after the founding of Québec in 1608 and New Orleans in 1718, which were the two centers from which it spread across the Mississippi Valley.
The typical early colonial house in the Mississippi area was a so-called "Poteaux-en-terre", which was built on cedar trunks set vertically in the ground. These simple houses had double pitched hip roofs and were surrounded by galleries (galleries) because of the summer heat.
Around 1770 the style of the so-called "briquette-entre-poteaux" (small bricks between posts), as they are typical for New Orleans, developed from this. These houses often had double door frames, dormer windows and shutters.
Around 1825 the "raised cottage" was developed in flooded areas, in which the houses were set on raised brick walls. This ground floor stayed cool in dry times and was used for cooking or storage.
Spanish colonial style
Developed with the earlier Spanish settlements in the Caribbean and Mexico, can the Spanish style in the United States up to the founding of St. Augustine ( Florida trace) in the year 1565th The oldest type of house in Florida are the so-called "board houses", small one-room huts made of softwood boards, often with thatched roofs. In the 18th century, the "Common Houses" developed, which were covered with white litter made from a mixture of mortar and shell limestone. Most of them were two-story and had arcades for cooling.
In the southwest of the USA, the pueblo style was based on the construction of the Indian pueblo culture of this region.
In Alta California (today's California ) a variant of this style developed, especially in the south, which was based on the architecture of the Spanish mission stations , as they were built between 1769 and 1823. Because of the great distances, wood and other building materials were scarce, so the architecture was largely Adobe- based.
Dutch colonial style
The Dutch colonial style began around 1630 with the arrival of Dutch settlers in Nieuw Amsterdam and the Hudson River valley in what is now New York State . Originally, the settlers built small one-room houses with stone walls and a very steep roof, which created space for an additional floor. Around 1670, two-story gabled houses were common in Nieuw Amsterdam.
The Dutch farmhouse with a regular floor plan and fire gables developed in the rural settlements. Around 1720 the Gambrel roof was taken over from the English settlement area, with each roof surface having two different angles of inclination. Most of the time it was overhanging to protect the walls below.
German colonial style
This style was developed after about 1675 when the Delaware River valley was colonized by colonists from Germany and Northern Europe - an important subgroup were the Pennsylvania Dutch . The half-timbered construction common in these countries at that time was modified in that mostly field stone was used on the ground floor and wood on the first floor . Fieldstone later became the common building material as houses evolved from simple one-bedroom cottages to larger farmhouses.
The so-called "bank house", which was built into a hillside to protect against heat and cold, was popular.
In Pennsylvania at that time, the two-story country townhouse was also common.
Georgian colonial style
This style was common in New England and the mid-Atlantic states around 1720–1780.
The characteristics of this style are a rectangular floor plan and symmetry in the arrangement, in particular an entrance door located exactly in the middle, as well as straight lines in the windows on the ground floor and first floor. Above the door there is usually an ornamental gable and pilasters on its side . The door leads to an entrance hall with a staircase, from which all rooms branch off. English-style Georgian buildings were typically brick with wooden door and window frames painted white. In America there were brick buildings as well as wooden cladding. Often times the houses as a whole have been painted white (or pale yellow), which sets them apart from other structures that are not painted.
A Georgian colonial house usually has a formally defined living room, dining room, and sometimes a family room. There are one or two chimneys that can be very large. The stone walls were up to 2 feet (about 70 cm) wide, due to the lack of wooden scaffolding.
The house of John Vassall in Cambridge , Massachusetts , built in 1759, was influential in spreading the style . Vassall was a British militia officer and a wealthy merchant, and his house is considered one of the most copied in colonial architecture. The house later became the headquarters of George Washington during the siege of Boston in 1775/76 and the home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . It is now a national memorial to the Siege of Boston and the life and work of Longfellow.
Individual evidence
- ^ Colonial House Styles and Examples , OldHouses.com website (Copley Internet Systems, Inc.), accessed October 24, 2009
- ^ A b Colonial architecture in North America , Encyclopedia Britannica Online, accessed October 23, 2009
- ↑ Lester Walker (1996), American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home , p. 92. (1998 edition: ISBN 9780879518714 and ISBN 0879518715 )
- ↑ Lester Walker (1996), American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home , p. 41. (1998 edition: ISBN 9780879518714 and ISBN 0879518715 )
- ↑ Hudson Valley Architecture: The Colonial Era (1609–1783) ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Hudson River Valley Institute website, accessed October 24, 2009
- ↑ Lester Walker (1996), American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home , p. 58. (1998 edition: ISBN 9780879518714 and ISBN 0879518715 )
- ↑ Lester Walker (1996), American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home , p. 72. (1998 edition: ISBN 9780879518714 and ISBN 0879518715 )
- ↑ Jackie Craven, 1690s - 1830: Georgian Colonial House Styles , in Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond, About.com: Architecture Page , accessed October 24, 2009
- ^ Finding Aid. (PDF 401 KB) Longfellow House Trust (1913–1974) Records, 1852–1973. In: Collection Catalog Number: LONG 16174. Longfellow National Historic Site, September 2006, p. 18 , accessed June 21, 2011 (English, 3rd edition).
