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This early example of the Colonial Revival
was built around the turn of the century in the Massachusetts
Avenue Historic District of Worcester, MA. This house shows
many Colonial details such as pilasters at the corners,
dormers on the roof and Classical columns on the porch.
But the exaggerated height and width, the grouped first
floor windows and mixture of historical elements make it
very distinct from houses built in the Colonial period.
The roof and dormers are drawn from Georgian sources; the
bowed facade walls, porch and door belong to the Federal
period. (Photo by James Mathews)
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Wood and brick are the favored building materials,
and the elements of colonial design included porches with classical
columns, entrance doors with sidelights or fanlights, 6/6 double
hung sash, quoins or pilasters supporting classical cornices and
dormers with pediments. The massing of the houses resemble Georgian
and Federal era originals, but frequently the scale is larger.
The forms are usually two story and rectangular, with gable roofs
parallel to the main facade, square with hip roofs, gambrel roof
versions we call Dutch Colonial or the one story Cape Cod revivals.
Symmetry is the rule, although the main entrance may be off center.
The floor plans, too, revert to those known in the 18th century;
center hall plans predominate.
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A suburban Colonial Revival house built around
1940 in Weathersfield, CT, and set on a large lawn. Beginning
in the 1920s, Colonial Revival designs became more like
the Georgian and Federal style houses which they were imitating.
Both proportions and detailing became more accurate. The
popularity of brick houses with exterior end chimneys, never
common in New England, shows the effect of the opening of
the Colonial Williamsburg Restoration in Virginia in 1928.
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In the late 19th and early 20th century Colonial
Revival ornamentation, especially on entrances and dormers, was
exaggerated, but by the 1920s, very accurate reproductions of
colonial design appeared, especially in New England.
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When the Colonial Revival style is used to
directly evoke high-style 18th century designs, it is known
as Georgian Revival. This is an example with a hip roof,
Georgian dormers, windows of 12 lights over 12, and brick
construction with quoins at the corners. While the side-lighted
front door and arched panels over the main floor windows
are details properly belonging to the Federal period, the
overall design and hip roof are clearly derived from Georgian
sources of the mid 18th century.
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The hip roofed variations are drawn from Georgian
sources and were most popular circa 1900-1915. They are also known
as the classic box or the American four-square. Some are very
plain with a wide, flat cornice and one dormer in each face of
the high hip, while others may have much Colonial Revival detailing
including Palladian windows, leaded glass sidelights at the door
and a classically columned porch.
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This house on the Brookfield, MA common is
an American four square form, but with plenty of Colonial
Revival details such as the windows and porch.
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The most common type is the two story five-bay with
centered entrance. The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, opened
in 1928, stimulated many red brick colonials with end chimneys
and dormers in the Virginia fashion. Dutch Colonials are identified
by the four-plane gambrel roof which enclosed the second story,
but otherwise bear little resemblance to Dutch originals.
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This form of the Colonial Revival style was built from c.
1905 to 1915 and is now known as the "American Four Square."
The boxy form with a hip roof above wide eaves and including
one dormer on each roof face is derived from early prairie
house designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. Some examples show very
little Colonial Revival detailing, as here, while others have
Colonial dormers, windows, cornices, doors and porches. |
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popular variation in Colonial Revival design is the Dutch
Colonial, characterized by a gambrel roof (four roof planes
rather than the usual two). In this case, which is typical,
a large shed dormer gives space for second floor windows.
These houses, built from the 20s to the 40s, are found in
suburban neighborhoods mixed in with Colonial and Tudor designs.
Nothing but the roof shape connects the Dutch Colonial to
anything authentically derived from Holland or northern Europe. |
Most Colonial Revivals can be distinguished from
the authentic by a mixing of stylistic details taken from Georgian,
Federal or even Greek Revival sources and used together on a single
design. Another key is the use of many high-style details on a
modest sized house, such as scroll-pediment entrances or elaborate
dormers and multiple chimneys.
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An example of an extravagant Colonial Revival
in Newport, RI, of about 1905. While the details are accurate,
the composition is incoherent, the fenistration confusing.
(Photo by James Mathews)
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The Colonial Revival in all its variations comprises
a very large part of the 20th century housing stock.
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