HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2

AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE
PREPARED BY: SCOTT SERRANO
 THE EVENTS AND MOVEMENTS THAT LED TO MODERNISM

INDSUTRIAL REVOLUTION (1750-1850) The Industrial Revolution (1820-1870) was of great

importance to the economic development of the United
started in England and spread throughout Europe and
States. The first Industrial Revolution occurred in Great
America. It is a change from an agrarian, handicraft
Britain and Europe during the late eighteenth century.
economy to one dominated by industry and machine
The Industrial Revolution then centered on the United
manufacture.
States and Germany.
BATTLE OF STYLES (1855-1861)
There were many revivals of classic styles, producing a
diverse assortment of architectural designs. Many
architects refused to accept new ideas, and because
of this the development of building design in this
period has been called the “Battle of Styles”.
ARTS & CRAFTS (1880-1910)
This was a late 19th-century movement to revive
handicrafts. It represented the beginning of a new
appreciation of the decorative arts throughout
Europe. The Gamble House in Pasadena, California, is an
Lummis House, also outstanding example of American Arts and Crafts
known as El Alisal, is style architecture. The house and furnishings
a Rustic American were designed by Charles and Henry Greene in
Craftsman stone 1908 for David and Mary Gamble of the Procter
house built by and Gamble Company.
Charles Fletcher
Lummis in the late
19th century (1896-
1910).
I. AMERICAN COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE (1720-1780)
A term usually applied to colonial buildings
constructed in America by English immigrants to the
New World.
ACHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Symmetrical front and rectangular shape
• Two stories
• A lean-to addition with a saltbox roof (basically
where the roof in the back of the house extends
almost all the way down to the ground- the shape
of saltboxes in the time)
• Side gabled, steep roof with narrow eaves
• Little exterior ornamentation
• Casement windows
• Massive central chimney
• Made of wood and covered with clapboard or
shingles Governor’s palace in Williamsburge Virginia
COLONIAL STYLES

Log Cabin
European settlers may have first constructed log
cabins by 1638.

The Sod House was a successor to the log cabin during

frontier settlement of Canada and the United States.
DUTCH COLONIAL ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Developed from around 1630 with the arrival of Dutch • Made with stone or brick
colonists to New Amsterdam and the Hudson River
• Matching chimneys on both ends of the house
Valley in what is now New York and in Bergen in what
is now New Jersey. • Symmetrical façade
• Gambrel roof with wide, flared eaves
• Saltbox lean-to added

Around 1720, the • Dutch doors (where the door is split horizontally in
distinctive gambrel roof was the middle and each half can be opened
adopted, independently)

plus the addition

of overhangs on the front
and rear to protect the mud
mortar used in the typically
stone walls and foundations.

Peter Bronck House, Coxsackie,

NY, built 1663; Dutch Colonial
ENGLISH COLONIAL • Massive central chimney
Located mainly in the Northeastern area of the • Made of wood and covered with clapboard or
country, modern day Massachusetts, Vermont, shingles.
Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York, the
original settlers were mostly English and so, they
started to build homes in the styles from their native
England.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Symmetrical front and rectangular shape
• Two stories
• A lean-to addition with a saltbox roof (basically
Hoxie House
where the roof in the back of the house extends
almost all the way down to the ground- the shape
of saltboxes in the time)
• Side gabled, steep roof with narrow eaves
• Little exterior ornamentation
• Casement windows

John Whipple House, Ipswich, Massachusetts

GEORGIAN COLONIAL • Medium pitched roof with minimal overhang and
Coming about mainly in the 1700s, Georgian Colonial square cuts along the eaves
architecture swept the New England and Mid-Atlantic
regions where it displayed the rising ambition of
America as it focused more on ornamentation and
grandeur than the other types of colonial
architecture.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Spacious and comfortable floor plan with
distinguished living, dining, and family rooms
• Bedrooms on the second floor Josiah Dennis House, Dennis, Massachusetts,
• Square and symmetrical façade built 1735

• Decorative crown over the front door and flattened

columns on each side
• Matching chimneys on either side of the house
• Stone walls two feet wide

Gunston Hall, February 2014 Hunter House, Newport, 54

Washington
FRENCH COLONIAL
Also known as "Creole" architecture, this style of
building combines French, Caribbean, West Indies,
and other influences and is designed for hot, wet
climates. Located in the Southern United States,
especially in Louisiana and Mississippi, the French
Colonial architecture provides a colorful addition to
the Colonial style in America.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Instead of interior hallways, the porches were used
to access rooms
• Made with a timber frame and brick or bousillage (a
mixture of mud, moss, and animal hair)
• Wide porches called “galleries” that surround the
house
• Hipped roof that extends over the porches
• French Doors
SPANISH COLONIAL
Although they mainly colonized and gained profit
from Mexico, Central America, and South America,
the Spanish occupation of modern day Florida, the
American Southwest, California, and other areas in
the southern United States led to the development of
the Spanish Colonial architecture in those areas.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• One story, originally
• Flat or low pitch roof covered with thatch, Earth, or
The Colonial Cathedral of Mexico City
clay tile
• Thick walls made of rocks, coquina, or adobe brick
and covered in stucco in order to keep out the heat
• Several exterior doors and small windows with
interior shutters
GERMAN COLONIAL
Immigrants from Germany settled, for the most part,
in modern day New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
Maryland. These houses are, again, a part of the
American Colonial style so they are similar to the
other styles but they have their own unique features.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Two foot thick walls made of sandstone
• Symmetrical façade
• Reinforced stone arches above door and windows
on first floor
• Made with a wooden frame and field stones
II. GOTHIC REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE (1760–1840)
The Gothic Revival was characterized by strong
associational values of religion and nature.
From the 1840s on, the Gothic Revival style became
popular in the United States, under the influence of
Andrew Jackson Downing (1815– 1852). His work is
characterized by a return to medieval decor:
chimneys, gables, embrasure towers, warhead
windows, gargoyles, stained glass and severely sloped
roofs.

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is a Neo-

Gothic church designed by the
architect, James Renwick Junior.
Collegiate Gothic was an architectural style subgenre
of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-
19th and early-20th centuries for college and high
school buildings in the United States and Canada, and
to a certain extent Europe. A form of historicist
architecture, it took its inspiration from English Tudor
and Gothic buildings.

The Sterling Memorial

Library of Yale
University is one of
the most elaborate Memorial Hall (1870–77), Harvard University,
buildings on campus. William Robert Ware & Henry Van Brunt,
Designed by James architects.
Gamble Rogers.
III. NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE (1780-1850) A. Federal Style or Adam Style (1780-1830)
This is a style derived from the architecture of • Elliptical and round spaces were introduced during this
Classical Greece and Rome and the architecture of the period and the simple exterior box was often modified by
Italian architect Andrea Palladio. projecting wings.
• There is a lightness and restrained delicacy to Federal
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
architectural components.
• Clean, elegant lines • Simple box, two rooms deep, with doors and windows
• Uncluttered appearance arranged in strict symmetry.

• Free standing columns • However, creative floor plans with elliptical and round
spaces were introduced during this period and the simple
• Massive buildings exterior box was often modified by projecting wings
(particularly in highstyle examples).
• In addition, there is a lightness and restrained delicacy to
Federal architectural components.

TUDOR PLACE, GEORGETOWN

 B. Jeffersonian Style (1790-1830 Virginia)

Jeffersonian Architecture or Jeffersonian

Colonial is an American form of Neo-Classicism
or Neo-Palladian based on U.S. president and
patriot, Thomas Jefferson.

• One characteristic which typifies Jefferson's

architecture is the use of the octagon and
octagonal forms in his designs.

• Palladio never used octagons, but Jefferson

employed them as a design motif by halving
them, elongating them, and employing them
Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) was the oldest stock in whole as with the dome of Monticello, or
exchange in the United States, founded in 1790 the entire house at Poplar Forest.

Americans were highly influenced by Robert Adam (1728–

1792), Great Britain’s most popular architect, whose work,
in turn, was heavily indebted to ancient Greek and Roman
forms.
 • Red brick construction
• White painted trim
• Sand painted columns
• Octagons and octagonal forms
• Chinese railings
• "Suppressed" (hidden) stairs, instead of grand
stairways

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Home

Jeffersonian Architectural character

• Palladian design (e.g., central core, symmetrical
wings)
• Portico-and-pediment primary entries Classical
orders and moldings (especially Tuscan)
• Piano nobile (main floor elevated above ground
level)

University of Virginia
 The White House is the official residence and principal
workplace of the President of the United States. It was
built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia
sandstone and has been the executive residence of
every U.S. President since John Adams.

Poplar Forest

Poplar Forest was Thomas Jefferson's plantation and

plantation house in what is now Forest, Bedford
County, Virginia, near Lynchburg.

White House, South Portico (1792-1800) by James Hoban

White House, North Portico (1792-1800) by James Hoban

C. Empire Style (1804-1814 & 1870)
This is a French-inspired neoclassical style that takes
its name from the Empire style under Napoleon's rule.

The United States Capitol (1800) by William Thornton,

Stephen Hallet & Benjamin Latrobe The United States
Capitol serves as the seat of government for the
United States Congress, the legislative branch of the
U.S. federal government.

United States Capitol (1800) Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

IV. ITALIANATE ARCHITECTURE (1850- 1880)
Also called the Bracketed Style
Italianate was the most popular design in the United
States due to the variety of construction materials.
Characteristics of this style include elaborate eave
brackets, segmental windows, and decorative hood
moulding.

Osborne House, Isle of Wight, England, built between

1845 and 1851. It exhibits three typical Italianate
features: a prominently bracketed cornice, towers
based on Italian campanili and belvederi, and
adjoining arched windows.

The Ledyard Building, Grand Rapids, Michigan

V. EARLY NATIONAL STYLE B. Renaissance Revival (1840 – 1915)
This style is also called the "national style" due to A fascination for the architecture of Renaissance
popularity. Europe and the villas of Andrea Palladio.
A. Greek Revival (1820-1850)
Greek revival style attracted American architects
working in the first half of the 19th century. The
young nation, free from Britannic protection, was
persuaded to be the new Athens, that is to say, a foyer
for democracy.

The Breakers Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island,

designed by Richard Morris Hunt, completed 1895
Old Bergen Church, New Jersey (1842)
VI. VICTORIAN STYLES
series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late
19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen
Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during
which period the styles known as Victorian were used
in construction. However, many elements of what is
typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not
become popular until later in Victoria's reign.

A. Second Empire or Mansard Style (1860-1885)

is an architectural style so named for the "French" Eisenhower Executive Bldg. (1871), Washington D.C.
elements in vogue during the era of the Second
French Empire. During the presidency of Ulysses Grant (1869- 1877),
Second Empire was a preferred style for public
buildings in the United States. In fact, the style
became so closely associated with the prosperous
Grant administration that it is sometimes called the
Old City Hall, General Grant Style.
Boston
B. Stick Style (1860 – 1890) John Griswold house
was an Old China
American architect Richard Morris Hunt developed Trade merchant. The
the stick style in America best known for its decorative house is one of the
geometry.
earliest American
Stick style is a revival of half-timbered architecture. Stick–style buildings
and one of Hunt's
first works in
Newport.

In San Francisco, the Stick style was

primarily an ornamental style applied
to the already well established urban
rowhouse prototype. The façade of the
San Francisco Stick style rowhouse is
typically dominated by a two-story,
rectilinear bay window. The style is
primarily distinguished by the
enthusiastic application of flat strips of
wood around windows and doors and
Herman C. Timm House (1873), New Holstein, Wisconsin
elsewhere to express the underlying
structural frame.
C. Queen Anne (1880 – 1910) D. Folk Victorian (1880-1910)
This style (introduced by Richard Norman Shaw) This style was characterized by lacy brackets on porch
consisted largely of influences of "Old English“. It is posts, filigreed balustrades, and a third story cupola.
colorful, lacy, with fancy ornamental details.

John Steinbeck's Childhood Home

This Queen Anne style Victorian was the birthplace

and boyhood home of author John Steinbeck. Built in
Salinas in 1897, the Steinbeck family moved into the
house in 1900.
E. Romanesque Revival (1840-1850) 2. Richardsonian Romanesque
Two phases of this style: named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson.
1. The 1840-1850s had simplified arches and
windows.

Trinity Church (1872-77), Boston, Mass. by H.H. Richardson

Smithsonian Institution Building (1847-1855)

Washington, D.C. (1847-1855) by James Renwick.
F. Shingle Style (1874 - 1910) VII. PERIOD STYLES
This style grew out of the earlier Stick and Queen This defined the eclectic movement of the early 20th
Anne styles in which the entire building was covered century which consisted of a simultaneous and
with shingles with open porches & irregular roof lines. competing interest in both modern and historic
architectural traditions. The trend toward period
architecture gained momentum from the 1893
Chicago World's Fair, the Columbian Exposition, where
historical interpretations of European styles were
encouraged. Simultaneous to the rise of period-style
architecture, the modern era saw its beginnings with
architects who were instead looking to the future, not
the past, with more progressive, modernist styles.
This defined the eclectic movement of the early 20th
century which consisted of a simultaneous and
perhaps competing interest in both modern and
historic architectural traditions.

Isaac Bell House, Newport, Rhode Island (1882), McKim, Mead &
White, architects.
A. Colonial Revival

Dutch Colonial Revival features the gambrel roof Garrison Colonial Revival has a cantilevered front at
sometimes flared. the 2nd store-y.
Saltbox Colonial Revival This style has two stories at Tudor Revival is dominated by steeply-pitched side-
the front and one story at the rear. The gable roof gabled roofs and the half timbering.
covers both levels, sloping sharply down in the rear
(catslide).
 Childs Restaurant Building, Coney Island

Spanish Colonial Revival Sonoma City Hall, Ca.(1908) Constructed in 1923, this restaurant building on the
Boardwalk of Coney Island was designed by Dennison
& Hirons in a fanciful resort style combining elements
of the Spanish Colonial Revival with numerous
maritime allusions that refer to its seaside location.
B. Beaux Arts (1885-1925) an entire generation.
Combining classical Greek and Roman architecture • Henry Hobson Richardson absorbed BeauxArts
with Renaissance ideas, Beaux Arts was a favored lessons in massing and spatial planning, and then
style for grand public buildings and opulent mansions. applied them to Romanesque architectural models
Beaux-Arts architecture expresses the academic that were not characteristic of the Beaux-Arts
neoclassical architectural style taught at the École des repertory.
Beaux-Arts in Paris.
• The style "Beaux Arts" is above all the cumulative
product of two-and-a-half centuries of instruction
under the authority, first, of the Académie royale
d'architecture (1671–1793), then, following the
French Revolution of the late 18th century, of the
Architecture section of the Académie des Beaux-
Arts (1795–). Page 11 of 18
• The Beaux-Arts style heavily influenced the
architecture of the United States in the period from
1880 to 1920.
• The first American architect to attend the École des
Beaux-Arts was Richard Morris Hunt, followed by Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Ca.
Henry Hobson Richardson. They were followed by (1915)
General character-defining elements Beaux Arts more subtle bas relief)
include:
• Monumental (sometimes multiple) runs of steps
• Symmetrical articulation approaching a building’s entrance
• Lavish and intensive surface decoration • Floor plans that culminate in a single grand room
• A single architectural element set as a grand • Axial floor plans that establish vistas through
gesture – often an over-scaled archway, triple different spaces.
archway or short but dramatic colonnade as the
center of the composition
• Coupled columns
Grand Central
• Facades composed around advancing and receding Terminal (1913) by
wall planes. The transition from one plane to Reed and Stern and
another is often highlighted with multiple corner Warren and
elements. Entablatures that advance and recede Wetmore, architects
to mark the locations of columns below
New York, NY.
• An active roofline (for a classical style) with Restored by Beyer,
dramatic roof-top figure sculpture Blinder & Bell
• Fully and boldly formed ornamental sculpture
employed elsewhere on the facades (as opposed to
 VIII. MODERN STYLES
A. Bungalows
are detached, low-rise (single or one-and-a-half
stories).

Penn Station (1910) is the major intercity train station

and a major commuter rail hub in New York City.
The term originated in India, deriving from the
Gujarati baṅgalo, which in turn derives from Hindi
baṅglā, meaning “Bengali” and used elliptically for a
“house in the Bengal style”. Such houses were
traditionally small, only one story and detached, and
had a wide veranda.
B. Prairie Style(1900-1920) C. Mission Revival (1900-1940)
The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or The Mission style originated in Southern California.
hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows The style was considered the "California counterpart"
grouped in horizontal bands, integration with the to the Georgian-inspired Colonial Revival popular in
landscape. Northeast.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s House & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois Owls Club Mansion. Tucson, Az. (1901)

This is one of the few indigenous American styles,

developed by a creative group of Chicago architects
known collectively as the Prairie School. Frank Lloyd
Wright is essentially the "father" of Prairie style, and
the acknowledged master of the prairie house.
D. Pueblo Revival Style (1912) Features of Art Deco:
• Contrasting vivid colors
• Streamlined geometric shapes
• like stylized flowers & foliage
• Elegant lines
• Ornate moldings
• Scrolled protrusions

Museum of Fine Arts, Sta. Fe, New Mexico

regional architectural style of the Southwestern

United States, which draws its inspiration from
the Pueblos and the Spanish missions in New Mexico.
E. Art Deco (1925-1940)
is a forerunner of Art Nouveau style, but with a more
Modernist aesthetic. It represents a "graciousness of
form" from a simpler time.
HOUSE OF HUNGARIAN ART NOUVEAU IN BUDAPEST
THE SECOND WAVE OF THE EGYPTIAN REVIVAL STYLE
IN AMERICA
• The expeditions that eventually led to the discovery
in 1922 of the treasure of Tutankhamun's tomb by
the archaeologist Howard Carter resulted in a 20th-
century revival.
• This phase gave birth to the Egyptian theatre
movement, largely confined to the United States.
• The Egyptian revival decorative arts style was
Egyptian Theatre (Delta, Colorado)
present in furniture and other household objects,
as well as in architecture.
• Egyptian motifs would become an integral part of
the language of Art Deco, a style that would
dominate the decorative arts until the mid-1930s.
• The United States has many examples of Art Deco
architecture. Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco
and New York have many Art Deco buildings.

FINE ARTS PALACE IN MEXICO CITY

The Chrysler Building,
Manhattan, NY (1928)
is a stunning statement
of Art Deco style by
William Van Alen. It was
the tallest building in
the world in 1930.
City Hall of Buffalo,
NY (1931) by Dietel,
Wade & Jones, is
one of the finest
Art Deco buildings
in America. It is 32
stories high and
built with no air-
conditioning
system.
Empire State Bldg., NY
(1931) by Shreve, Lamb &
Harmon, was the world’s
tallest skyscraper for a
record of 40 years until the
completion of the World
Trade Center in 1972. It is
102 stories high.
F. Streamline Moderne
or Art Moderne, is a late type of the Art Deco
architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Its
architectural style emphasized curving forms, long
horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements.

Greyhound bus terminal, Cleveland, Ohio Pan Pacific Auditorium, Los Angeles (1935)
G. International Style (1950) in Manhattan.
developed in Europe and the U.S became the An influential modernist immigrant architect was
dominant tendency in Western architecture during Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) and Walter
the middle decades of the 20th century. Gropius (1883–1969), both former directors of
Germany's famous design school, the Bauhaus.
Features:
• Rectilinear forms
• Plane surfaces devoid of applied ornamentation
United Nations
• Open interior spaces Headquarters
• Visually weightless quality by the use of cantilever Building, 1949–
construction 1950, by Oscar
• Characteristic materials are glass & steel Niemeyer has the
first complete glass
European architects who emigrated to the United curtain wall.
States before World War II launched what became a
dominant movement in architecture, the International
Style.
The Lever House introduced a new approach to a
uniform glazing of the skyscraper's skin, and located
Farnsworth House, Plano, IL, (1950) by Ludwig Mies The Kaufmann House is a house located in Palm
van der Rohe Springs, California, that was designed by architect
Richard Neutra in 1946.
IX. RISE OF THE SKYSCRAPERS • In the history of architecture, the Chicago School
was a school of architects active in Chicago at the
A. Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the
turn of the 20th century.
world and one style is referred to as the Chicago
School. The style is also known as Commercial • They were among the first to promote the new
style. technologies of steel-frame construction in
commercial buildings, and developed a spatial
aesthetic which co-evolved with, and then came to
influence, parallel developments in European
Modernism.

Chicago Building by
Holabird & Roche (1904-
1905) is a prime example
of the Chicago School,
displaying both variations
of the Chicago window
B. Early Skyscrapers were a range of tall, commercial
buildings built between 1884 and 1939,
predominantly in the American cities of New York and
Chicago. Cities in the United States were traditionally Equitable Life Assurance
made up of low-rise buildings, but significant
Building was the headquarters
economic growth after the Civil War and increasingly
intensive use of urban land encouraged the of The Equitable Life
development of taller buildings beginning in the Assurance Society of the
1870s. United States.

The Wainwright
Building is a 10-
story red brick The Home Insurance Building
office building is generally noted as the first
at 709 Chestnut building to be supported,
Street in both inside and outside by a
downtown St. fireproof metal frame.
Louis, Missouri.
Woolworth Building,
at 233 Broadway,
Manhattan, New York
City, designed by
architect Cass Gilbert
and completed in
1913, is an early US
skyscraper.
Seagram Bldg., Manhattan, NY
by Mies van der Rohe (1958)
 World Trade Center, NY by Minoru
Yamasaki (1972)
The twin 110-story towers used a tube-
frame structural design. It was the tallest
Lake Shore Drive Apartments Chicago, Ill. by building until the completion of the Sears
Mies van der Rohe (1951) Tower in 1974.
X. ROADSIDE ARCHITECTURE
A. Novelty architecture
is a type of architecture in which buildings and other
structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such
as advertising or to copy other famous buildings
without any intention of being authentic. Their size
and novelty means that they often serve as landmarks

The Longaberger Company headquarters

in Newark, Ohio

Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah,

Washington
B. Googie Architecture
is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of
futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets,
the Space Age, and the Atomic Age. Originating in
Southern California during the late 1940s and
continuing approximately into the mid-1960s, Googie-
themed architecture was popular among motels,
coffee houses and gas stations.

Norms Restaurant location on La

Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles