Colonial and Post Colonial American Architecture

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COLONIAL AND POST COLONIAL AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE

American architecture is exceptionally complex, both in the multiple traditions from which it has
drawn and in the variations of style.

In North America, each group of immigrants brought with them the style and building practices
of their mother country, adapting it to the conditions of their new homeland. In all, there were
about seven basic colonial designs.

SEVEN BASIC COLONIAL ARCHITECTURAL STYLES

1. Spanish colonial architecture was the earliest style to appear in America that has flat or
slightly pitched roofs

2. New England colonial architecture, characterized by oak frames and clapboard siding,
two-storey high with gable roof and a chimney at the center
3. Dutch colonial architecture, which employed more stone and brick with barn-like
gambrel shape roof

4. Swedish colonial, near Delaware River was characterized by round logs.

5. Pennsylvania colonial, which swiftly morphed into a sophisticated Georgian-type style.


6. French colonial architecture, which emerged in the northern Maritime Provinces in
Canada, Quebec and the St. Lawrence Valley.

7. Southern colonial, typically involving brick-built structures with large projecting chimneys,
which sprang up throughout Virginia and the Carolinas.

During the 18th century (1725-1775),

The basic architectural style used in the English colonies in America was labelled Georgian or
“Queen Anne”. An example of a typical symmetrical building is the Craigie House, Cambridge
which has elongated Ionic half-columns to its façade, shuttered sash windows, the hipped roof,
and the dentil cornice of the “Queen Anne” period

 Early buildings were mainly churches or “meeting houses” erected after the manner of Sir
Christopher Wren, the founder of American baroque style.
o Some examples are S. Michael at Charlestown, S. Paul in New York, and the Christ
Church in Philadelphia.
 In Virginia, country houses were erected.
o Well-known buildings are the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Old State
House at Boston, and the Town Hall at Newport.
Between the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the war (1812),

A more monumental type has evolved.

 Buildings of importance are the Capitol at Washington, Virginia University, and the
Massachusetts State House at Boston

The Classic (Greek) Revival (1812-1870) of Europe reached the States late. The Wings and Dome
of the Capitol at Washington by Thomas Walters became the model for many public buildings.

The Gothic Revival (1840-1876) was confined principally to churches.

Following the civil war (1861-1865),

The industrial activity helped create greater interest in architecture.

 Two architects helped in the movement: H. H. Richardson who worked in the non-
academic French Romanesque manner and R. M. Hunt who has been specifically
employed in the erection of large town and country houses.

The 19th century,

Witnessed an extraordinary rate of urbanization. Business districts were transformed by an


architectural innovation: the skyscraper.

 It is America's unmistakable contribution to architecture. The first skyscraper, the Home


Insurance Building by William Jenney went up in Chicago in 1884.
 The designer of the most graceful early towers, Louis Sullivan was America' s first great
modern architect.

The Chicago exposition in 1893 influenced American architecture.

In the 1930s,

European architects who emigrated to the United States before World War II influenced the
development of the International Style. The most influential architects of this style were Ludwig
Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.

With the emergence of Frank Lloyd Wright, one of America’s greatest architect, Chicago
maintained its reputation as the creative center of American architecture.

In the postwar period,

Architectural pluralism became more pronounced than ever. A new generation of architects
now feels free to incorporate both old and new elements in their buildings.

Fletcher, B., & Cruickshank, D. (1996). Sir Banister Fletcher's a history of architecture. Oxford:
Architectural Press.

Middleton, R., et. al (2018, April 13). Colonial architecture in North America. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/art/Western-architecture/Colonial-architecture-in-North-
America#ref489154

(n.d.). American Architecture. Retrieved from https://usa.usembassy.de/arts-architecture.htm

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