Architecture in Colonial

and Post-Colonial
America
CLINT JUN A. MATURAN BS-ARCHITECTURE II
Colonial and Pre - Colonial American Architecture
Pre - Columbian or Pre - Colonial American architecture consists mainly
of Mesoamerican architecture and Incan architecture. The architectural
character of this period varies from region to region this was due to the
exchange of cultures all throughout the period. It was constantly evolving
and changing since this was a span of at least a thousand years.

American Colonial Architecture is not necessarily one period but it is

named as such to summarize all sub periods under it. Since there were
several design types that were developed during this period and those
period were named after the colonizers. These periods were the French
Colonial, Spanish, Georgian, Dutch, Saltbox, Cape Cod, Southern, New
England, Garrison, Federal also there the New Colonial styles which are
the Colonial Revival and Neo - Colonial.
Each of these sub periods have their own architectural character:

1. French Colonial homes have stucco-sided homes with expansive two-

story porches and narrow wooden pillars tucked under the roof line.
The porch was an important passageway because traditional French
Colonial homes did not have interior halls.

2. Spanish Colonial were most commonly sided in adobe or stucco. The

roofs were flat or slightly pitched and finished with red clay tiles. Some
Spanish Colonial homes featured a Monterey-style, second-story porch.
3. Georgian Colonists built sophisticated brick and clapboard homes
that imitated British architectural fashion. Georgian Colonial homes
were highly symmetrical with multi-pane windows evenly balanced
on each side of a central front door. This façade was modestly
ornamented with dentil moldings or decorative flat pilasters.

4. Garrison Colonial homes imitated the houses of medieval

England. Many of these homes had steep gabled roofs, small
diamond paned windows, and a second story overhang across the
front facade. Garrison Colonials usually were sided in unpainted
clapboard or wood shingles.
5. New England Colonial homes were two stories high with gables on the
side and an entry door at the center. To conserve heat, a massive chimney
ran through the center and sidings were not painted.

6. Southern colonial homes were symmetrical in shape. The siding,

however, was often brick and the chimneys were placed at the sides instead
of in the center.
7. Cape Cod colonial houses had one-story or one-and-a-half stories with no
dormers. They usually were sided with shingles or unpainted clapboards.

8. Dutch Colonists often built brick or stone homes with roofs that reflected
their Flemish culture. Sometimes the eaves were flared and sometimes the
roofs were slightly rounded into barn-like gambrel shapes.

9. Colonial Revival Style is as is a revival of the Colonial styles while Neo

Colonial was like mash up of the Colonial Styles but with improvements
Influences
The study of the progress of architecture in new country, untrammeled with
precedent and lacking the conditions obtaining in Europe, is interesting; but room
is not available for more than cursory glance.

During the eighteenth century (1725-1775) buildings were erected which have
been termed “colonial” in style, corresponding to what is understood in England
as “Queen Anne” or “Georgian”.

In the “New England” States wood was the material principally employed, and
largely affected the detail. Craigie House, Cambridge (1757), is typical of the
symmetrical buildings. It has elongated Ionic half-columns to its façade, shuttered
sash windows the hipped roof and the dentil cornice of the “Queen Anne” period;
the internal fittings resembling those of Adam and Sheraton.

Economically and Socially the most advanced nation of the continent was the
U.S.A., where a sense of national identity had been reinforced by the war with
Britain of 1812-14. By 1840 the country’s trade was worth 250 million dollars per
year, almost half being earned by New York. Cotton of Louisana and extensive
coal and iron resources of Pennsylvania.
 Influences The presidency of Andre Jackson
gave impetus to wider democratic
ideals and greatly encouraged
individual enterprise. The westward
movement being dramatically
accelerated by the discovery of
gold in California in 1848.

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United

States.
Influences
The coming to power in 1861 of an anti-slavery government under Abraham
Lincoln (1809-65) brought to a head the rivalry between the more dynamic
Northern States and cotton producing Southern States, with their long-
established plantation system based on slavery, and kindled the tragic civil war
(1861-65), during the course of which, in 1863, slavery was abolished. The
victory of the Northern States, and of the union, was decisive for the future of
the country and encourage industrial development, which in turn greatly
increased the rate of immigration generally, the period following the civil war
was one of continuing commercial expansion, an age offering great
opportunities and high material rewards to individual industrialist, bankers,
farmers, and railway owners. This situation, clearly reflected in the architecture
of the time, continued until the financial crash of 1929 and ensuing depression.
The opening up of the country by railways was essential to development, and
the continent was finally transverse by rail from coast to coast in 1869.
Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876 further facilitated
communications across the vast country which, in 1865, had been linked to
Europe by trans-Atlantic cable. Finally the mass production of the motor car
between the two world wars further extended communications and movement.
Influences
As far as industry is concerned, Canada’s development was much less
rapid, her economy being based almost entirely on the export of lumber
and wheat.

Like Canada, the countries of South America relied on the export of

natural products rather than on manufacturing, and opening of the
Panama Canal in 1914 was great significance in the development of the
countries of the Pacific Coast.
Character
European influence in both North and South America remained strong
throughout the period, although materials, local skills, social customs and
especially climatic conditions played their part, and buildings continued to
posses strong regional characteristics.

In the U.S.A. itself, a conscious striving for a truly ‘national’ architecture

became evident soon after the war of independence, and architecture in
that country can be considered as passing through three broad and
loosely phases:

a.) Post-Colonial
b.) First Eclectic Phase
c.) Second Eclectic Phase
Character
a.)Post-Colonial (1790-1820)
Architecture of this period moved away from the English Georgian idiom which
had become established along the eastern seaboard of the country Neo-classic
elements were introduced.

b.) First Eclectic Phase (1820-1869)

During this period the revived Greek style was predominant receiving a more
whole-hearted acceptance that it did in England and developing specifically
American characteristics. The Gothic and Egyptian styles found some popularity
but compared with the Greek revival, these were minor streams.

The type of timber – framing known as the ‘baloon – frame’ came into use
during this period and revolutionized timber construction. As its name suggest,
rather than relying on an essentially post-and-lintel construction, the ‘baloon-
frame owes its strength to the walls, roofs, etc., acting as diaphragms.
Comparatively light timber sections are employed which are nailed together,
floor, and ceiling joist, forming ties, the whole stiffened by the external timber
sheathing.
Character

This period saw considerable developments in the use of cast-iron as

a building material.
Character
c. ) Second Eclectic Phase (1860-1930)
American architecture achieved international significance
during this period and followed two main streams. The first
related to the Gothic revival and initiated as a Romanesque
revival with H.H. Richardson as its first important exponent,
gained considerable momentum and reached great vigor
and vitality in the work of Louis Sullivan. In some respects
the movement in its later stages can be equated with that
of the arts and crafts in Britain and it culminated in the
work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The second stream was more academic in character.

Influence by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris its
architecture inspired by the great periods of the past, the
Italian and French Renaissance, ancient Greek and Roman
and late Gothic.
Character
Two important and influential exhibitions belongs to this period; the
centennial expositions 1876, Philadelphia and the world’s Columbian
exposition (Chicago 1893).

The period is noteworthy for structural experiment and achievement.

The Skyscraper, often regarded as America’s greatest single
contribution to architectural development, was a product of this
phase and was closely related to metal frame construction the non-
load-bearing ‘curtain wall’ and the lift or elevator. The period saw
also the establishment of many schools of architecture in the U.S.A.,
the first at Massachusetts Institutes of Technology in 1868, under
W.R. Ware.
 EXAMPLES
A. DOMESTIC BUILDINGS

1. The WHITE HOUSE, Washington D.C. (1792-1829)

-The official residence of the president of the U.S.A was
designed by James Hoban, an Irish architect, in the English Palladian
Style. After damaged sustained in the war of 1812, it was restored and
considerable restoration has been carried out in the present century. The
porticoes were designed by B.H. Latrobe.
White House, Washington, .D.C. James Hoban (c. 1758 – December 8,
1831) was an Irish architect, best known
for designing the White House in
Washington, D.C.
 2. ROBIE HOUSE, Chicago (1908) by Frank Lloyd wright, is dominated
externally by its strong horizontal lines which seem to make it almost one
with the land on which it is built. Constructed of fine, small brick with low-
pitched hipped roofs, the house is planned in an open and informal manner,
interesting use being made of changes of level internally, the flowing
internal spaces being generated by a central core containing staircase and
fireplaces.

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln

ROBIE HOUSE, Chicago (1908} Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an
American architect, interior designer, writer
and educator, who designed more than 1000
structures and completed 532 works.
 3. Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia (1793) -was designed by
Thomas Jefferson third president of the U.S.A. For his own use. The first
house, and elegant example of colonial Georgian, was completely
remodelled in a free and imaginative palladian manner.

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2]

1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American
Founding Father, the principal author of
the Declaration of Independence (1776)
and the third President of the United
States (1801–1809).
Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia
(1793}

Massachusetts State House

(1798, in a drawing by
Alexander Jackson Davis,
1827
 4. BILTMORE, Ashville, North Carolina (1890-5) by R.M. Hunt, the first
American architect to be trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in
the style of an early French Renaissance chateau.

BILTMORE, Ashville, North Carolina {1890-5) Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 –
July 31, 1895) was an American architect of
the nineteenth century and a preeminent
figure in the history of American architecture.
Hunt was, according to design critic Paul
Goldberger writing in The New York Times,
"American architecture's first, and in many
ways its greatest, statesman.
 5. STOUGHTON HOUSE, Cambridge, Mass (1882-3) by Mckim, Mead
and White, is a timber-framed house, its walls clad externally with wood
shingles providing an important example of the so called “shingle style”.

STOUGHTON HOUSE, Cambridge, Mass (1882-3)

Charles Follen McKim
(August 24, 1847 –
September 14,
1909)[1] was an
American Beaux-Arts
architect of the late
19th century. Along
with Stanford White,
Stanford White
he provided the
(November 9, 1853 –
architectural expertise
June 25, 1906) was an
as a member of the
American architect and
partnership McKim,
partner in the
Mead & White.
architectural firm of
McKim, Mead & White,
the frontrunner among
Beaux-Arts firms.

William Rutherford Mead

(August 20, 1846 – June
19, 1928) was an
American architect, and
was the "Center of the
Office" of McKim, Mead,
and White, a noted
Gilded Age architectural
firm.
Examples (Domestic Buildings)
STOUGHTON HOUSE, Cambridge, Mass (1882-3)
An external cladding of wood Shingles over a timber frame became popular in domestic building
during the second half on the 19th century. Internally, the plan arrangement shows a loosening and
foreshadows the ‘Free Plan’, to be developed later by Frank Lloyd Wright.
6. WINSLOW HOUSE, RIVER FOREST, Illinois (1893), the first important work of Frank
Lloyd Wright, a simple structure, basically symmetrical, but its hipped roof, wide projecting
eaves and emphatic horizontal lines foreshadow the architect’s later work and what was to
become known as the “Praire House”.
 Examples (Religious Buildings)

The First CHURCH of CHRIST

SCIENTIST, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
(1910-12)
By Bernard Maybeck, provided an
article to the antidote to the epidemic
of old-Spanish-Mission revivalism,
which was threatening to engulf
architecture in California. It uses natural
materials, and owes something to the
vernacular tradition of the west coast of
America.

Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7,

1862 – October 3, 1957) was
an American architect in the Arts and
Crafts Movement of the early 20th
century. He was a professor
at University of California, Berkeley.
Examples (Religious Buildings)
TRINITY CHURCH BOSTON,
Massachusets
(1872-7)
By H.H. Richardson, is one of the key
monuments of American architecture.
The design, chosen competition,
although basically Romanesque in
character, is handled in a master full
and imaginative way. A Greek cross
plan, the building is dominated by a
square central tower with round corner
turrets, and is constructed mainly of
red granite, the rock-faced texture of
which is exploited. Internal decoration
Henry Hobson Richardson
(September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) in encaustic colour was carried out by
was a prominent American architect who
designed buildings in Albany, Boston, J.F. Lafange, while the west porch was
Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburg, and other
cities
added in 1897 to the designs of
Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge.
Examples (Religious Buildings)
UNITY TEMPLE, OAK PARK, ILLINOIS
(1905-7)

by Frank Lloyd Wright, is

characterized by the sturdy simplicity of
its external massing, on which the
design relies rather than eclectic detail.
In the building, the architect displayed
a knowledge of and sympathy with the
natural qualities of materials, which are
here exploited both externally ( in the
Frank Lloyd Wright, pebble-faced concrete of the walls) and
internally (in the sand-lime plaster work
and natural details)
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public Buildings)
The STATE CAPITOL, Richmond, Virginia
(1789-98)
by Thomas Jefferson, was based on a
Roman temple prototype, the Maisan
Carree, Nimes. An ionic order was used
by Jefferson, while for the Fenestration
of the “cella” he had recourse to
Palladian formulae. The building is
regarded as the first truly Neo-classic
monument in the U.S. and had much
influence on later American buildings,
Classical temple forms, were adapted
Thomas Jefferson, for banks, schools and other buildings,
accommodation being sometimes
ruthlessly crammed into the cella in
order to retain, at all costs, the external
lines of the antique form
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public Buildings)

The UNITED STATES Capitol, Washington

D.C.
seat of the United States government, has
become, with its crowning dome, one of the
world’s best known planned on Palladian
Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, lines with a central rotunda; this has
1764 – September 3, 1820) was a
British neoclassical architect who
survived in essentials, despite numerous
immigrated to the United States and is best modifications and additions. After the war,
known for his design of the United States B.H. Latrobe was responsible for rebuilding
Capitol, along with his work on the Old
Baltimore Cathedral or The Baltimore
the structure. Between 1851 and 1867
Basilica, the first Roman Catholic Cathedral additions were made by Thomas Ustick
constructed in the United States Walter who designed the flanking wings
and great dome over the central rotunda,
Thomas Ustick Walter, born
and was constructed largely of cast iron,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was with an internal diameter of 30 m and a
an American architect, the dean of total height of 68 m.
American architecture between
the 1820 death of Benjamin
Latrobe and the emergence of
H.H. Richardson in the 1870s.
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public
Buildings)

The NATIONAL ACADEMY of DESIGN, NEW

YORK
(1862-5)
by P.B. Wight , Venetian (Gothic in style
and making full use of polychrome masonry
patterning, shows the indfluence of the
writings of John Ruskin.

Peter B. Wight (1838–1925) was a 19th-

century architect from New York City who
worked there and in Chicago.
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public Buildings)

The PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOSTON, Massachusetts

(1887-93)
by Mckim, Mead and White is beautifully
detailed buildings, representative of the best
in the academic stream of late 19th and 20th
century architecture in America.
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public Buildings)

The LINCOLN MEMORIAL WASHINGTON, D.C.

(1911-22)
By Henry Bacon, is in the form of an
unpedimented Greek Doric peripteral temple, set
on a high podium and surmounted by a simple
attic. Executed in white marble, its detail is
superlatively refined and in its scholarship and
execution marks a peak in academic architecture.

Henry Bacon was an American

Beaux-Arts architect who is best
remembered for the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, D.C.,
which was his final project
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public Buildings)

The CHAPEL and Post Headquarters, U.S.

Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.
romantically sited on a steep encarpment
over looking the Hudson River, are the work
of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, and
provide examples of academic architecture
in Gothic style.

Ralph Adams Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue

Cram (December 16, 1863 – was an American architect
September 22, 1942) was a
celebrated for his work in neo-
prolific and
influential American architect gothic design. He also designed
of collegiate and notable typefaces, including
ecclesiastical buildings, often Cheltenham and Merrymount for
in the Gothic Revival style. the Merrymount Press
Examples (Educational, Civic and Public Buildings)
The Temple of Scottish Rite, Washington
D.C.
(1916)
A masonic temple design by John Russel
Pope, is in the same tradition as the Lincoln
memorial. Externally, it takes the form of a
reconstruction of the Mausoleum
Halicarnassos, but is somewhat ponderously
handled.

John Russell Pope was an American architect whose

firm is widely known for designing of the National
Archives and Records Administration building, the
Jefferson Memorial and the West Building of the
National Gallery of Art, all in Washington, DC.
D. COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
1. MERCHANTS EXCHANGE Philadelphia (1832-4) by William Strickland, Is in the Greek
revival style and is noteworthy for the grand, apsidal treatment of its rear elevation, enriched
externally by a screen of Corinthian columns rising from first-floor level through two storeys,
and crowned by a cupola based on the Choragic monument of Lysicrates, Athens.

William Strickland
(November 1788 –
April 6, 1854), was a
noted architect in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and
Nashville, Tennessee.
A student of Benjamin
Latrobe and mentor to
Thomas Ustick Walter,
Strickland was one of
the founders of the
Greek Revival
MERCHANTS EXCHANGE Philadelphia (1832-4) movement in the
United States and an
early proponent of
railroads.[1]
2. The Marshall Field Wholesale Warehouse,
Chicago, Illinois {1885-7) by H.H. Richardson,
had seven storeys and was of load bearing
wall construction. A remarkably powerful
design, with its great arched openings and the
vigorous texture of its masonry. it had considerable
influence on later buildings in Chicago
and elsewhere.
Henry Hobson Richardson
(September 29, 1838 – April
27, 1886) was a prominent
American architect who
designed buildings in
Albany, Boston, Buffalo,
Chicago, Pittsburgh, and
other cities. The style he
popularized is named for
him: Richardsonian
Romanesque. Along with
Louis Sullivan and Frank
Lloyd Wright, Richardson is
The Marshall Field Wholesale Warehouse, one of "the recognized trinity
Chicago, Illinois {1885-7) of American architecture".
 3. The Auditorium Building, Chicago, Illinois
(1886-9) by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan.
combined with an opera house with hotel and
office accomodation and owes much of its external
character to Richardson's Marshall Field
warehouse. Ten storeys high, it is of loadbearing
wall construction built on spread foundations.
Settlements has occurred to one side
of the structure, in the tower which rises nearly
30m higher than the main building. Internally,
the details are of high order. many showing a
Byzantine character and some probably designed
by Frank Uoyd Wright, who entered The Auditorium Building, Chicago, Illinois
Sullivans's office as a draughtsman in 1887.

Louis Henry Sullivan

(September 3, 1856 – Dankmar Adler (July 3, 1844
April 14, 1924)[1] was – April 16, 1900) was a
an American architect, celebrated German-born
and has been called the American architect.
"father of
skyscrapers"[2] and
"father of modernism".
 4. The MONADNOCK Building, Chicago
Illinois (1889-911, by Daniel Burnham, has six
teen storeys .. The building derives distinctior
fro.m the simplicity of its elevational treatmen·
and was the last tall building in Chicago fo
which load-bearing walls were employed.

The MONADNOCK
Building, Chicago
Illinois

Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA (September 4,

1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect
and urban designer.
 5. The SECOND Leiter Building. Chicago II·
linois (1889·90l by W. Le B. Jenny, is an
eight - storey metal framed building with a sim·
pie and effective elevational treatment, the
stone facade reading as a sheath over the internal
metal structure.

William Le Baron Jenney

(September 25, 1832—
June 14, 1907) was an
American architect and
engineer who is known for
building the first skyscraper
in 1884 and became known
as the Father of the
American skyscraper.

The SECOND Leiter Building. Chicago II·

linois
 6. The RELIANCE Building, Chicago Illinois
John
( 1890) by Burnham and Root, was originally Wellborn
built as a four-storeyed structure but was later Root
extended to sixteen floors. The terra-cotta (January 10,
1850 –
facing to the metal frame was reduced to a January 15,
minimum and its simple yet carefully - detailed 1891) was
an American
elevation the building marks an important advance architect
in skyscraper design. who worked
out of
Chicago with
Daniel
Burnham.

Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA (September 4, 1846 –

June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban
designer.
The RELIANCE Building, Chicago Illinois
7. The GACE BUILDING, Chicago, Illinois (1898-9) by Louis Sullivan and
Holabird and Roche, is a three-bay eight-storey framed structure, and
force shadows the elevational treatment of the Schlesinger-Mayer
store.
Louis Henry
Sullivan
(September 3,
1856 – April 14,
1924)[1] was an John Augur Holabird
American (1886–1945) was a
architect, and significant United
has been called States architect
the "father of based in Chicago.
skyscrapers"[2] Born on May 4, 1886,
and "father of the day of Chicago's
modernism". Haymarket Riot, he
was the son of
architect William
Holabird. John
Holabird trained as Gage Buildings - Chicago, Illinois.
Kevin Roche, FAIA an engineer,
born Eamonn Kevin
Roche (June 14,
1922), is an Irish-born
American Pritzker
Prize-winning
architect.
8. The SCHLESINGER-MAYER STORE (1899-
19041 by Louis Sullivan, was originally a ninestorey
structure, a twelve-storey section being
added in 1903-4 and further additions by D. H.
Burnham. The building was originally crowned
by a rich overhanging cornice. The white terracotta
facing to the building's steel frame
truthfully follows its structure, and horizontal
lines a·re emphasized. The ground and first
floors have cast-metal friezes richly decorated
in low relief, providing first-rate examples of
Sullivan's decorative work, in some ways sug· Louis Henry Sullivan
(September 3, 1856 –
gestive of European Art Noveau. · April 14, 1924)[1] was
an American architect,
and has been called the
"father of
skyscrapers"[2] and
"father of modernism".
9. The WAINWRIGHT BUILDING, St. Louis,
MO. {1890-1) by Adler and Sullivan, a tenstorey
steel-framed building, provided an
answer to the elevation problem of the skyscraper.
Vertical members of the frame are emphasized
externally as brick piers, and the
building is capped by a deep, richly decorated
frieze, pierced by circular windows lighting the
top floor, while the recessed panels between
floors are similarly decorated.

Dankmar Adler (July 3,

1844 – April 16, 1900)
was a celebrated
German-born American
architect.
10. The LARKIN SOAP CO. BUILDING Buffalo
N.Y. (1904-51 by Frank lloyd Wright, was designed
around a central circulation court, lit
from the roof and sides by windows sealed
from noise and dirt. Offices were approached
from galleries around the court, borne on brick
piers. Externally, the building was characterized
by the simplicity and scale of its massing,
which relied entirety on the relation of clearly
articulated rectnagular forms.
Frank Lloyd Wright (born
Frank Lincoln Wright,
June 8, 1867 – April 9,
1959) was an American
architect, interior designer,
writer and educator, who
designed more than 1000
structures and completed
532 works.
11. The WOOLWORTH Building, New York
(1911-13) by Cass Gilbert, 241m high with fiftytwo
storeys, was carried out in the Gothic style
and provides an important landmark in the
story of high building.

Cass Gilbert (November 24,

1859 – May 17, 1934) was a
prominent[1][2] American
architect.[
12. Soon after the completion of the Woolworth
Building, the New York City zoning Ordinance
(1916) became law. This had a profound effect
on the form of New York Skyscrapers which,
for reasons of light and ventilation, were ·now
required to have certain minimum set -backs,
related to their height. The effects of the ordinance
can be seen in the Panhellenic House
1928 by J.M. Howells with twenty seven
storeys and in the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
{1930-2) by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon,
which rises through eighty-five storeys.
Richmond Harold
Shreve (June 25,
William Frederick
1877, Cornwallis,
Lamb, FAIA
Nova Scotia -
(November 21, 1893 –
September 11,
September 8, 1952),
1946, Hastings-
was one of the
on-Hudson, New
principal designers of
York) was a
the Empire State
renowned
Building.
Canadian
architect.
THE END