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| A
small house in Apponaug, RI, from the mid-18th century, a
correct example of Georgian design showing the symmetrical
five-bay facade, centered entrance with a Classical pediment,
and roof eaves set close to the tops of the second floor windows. |
While the frame five bay, two story house had been
built earlier in both England and the Bay Colony, it was in the
18th century that it became the favored form for Georgian expression,
and many fine examples remain. The five bay form has a low pitched
roof, usually parallel to the street, or, in larger houses, the
roof is hipped. The center bay is emphasized by the front door
framed with pilasters, and usually topped by a transom window
under an entablature, and often a half circle under a small pediment.
High style houses - frequently those built after circa 1750 -
will frame the center bay with pilasters reaching from sill to
cornice, supporting a pediment above. Windows are set singly;
earlier houses may have twelve-over-twelve double-hung sashes
(or nine-over-nine or other variations) while later houses have
windows with fewer and larger panes. Dormers are introduced with
this style, set on the roof directly above windows below and capped
by small pediments. In smaller houses and those built in rural
areas, the amount of Classical detailing will be less, but the
symmetry and formal proportions will be evident none the less.
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| The Longfellow
House in Cambridge, MA, was built in 1759, an excellent example
of a high-style Georgian house. Note the pilasters supporting
a pediment to emphasize the center entrance. Dormers and a
high balustrade complete this formal composition. |
Initially, Georgian houses in New England continued
the center chimney plan brought from England in which the stack
stood behind the stairs, just inside the front door. After circa
1750, as larger houses were built, two chimneys were used, each
set at the midpoint of the rooms left and right of the center,
leaving a center hallway open from front to rear which also contained
the stair. In this, the "center hall Colonial," the
house was two rooms deep, a double-pile plan. Some high style
brick houses had four chimneys, two placed in each end wall which
heated the four major rooms on each floor.
Georgian detailing is borrowed exclusively from
ancient Roman and Italian Renaissance sources as interpreted by
English architects of the 17th century. These include the pediment
seen over doors, windows and dormers, pilasters, the flat columns
set into a wall usually framing corners and other Classically
derived designs. Quoins are also used to accent wall corners;
they are intersecting blocks which appear to reinforce the edge.
In brick buildings, stone is used; in frame houses, solid wood
panels are made to simulate stone. Clapboarding is the usual exterior
material, which is occasionally laid flush or rusticated to simulate
a cut stone surface. Roofs may include a small deck surrounded
by a balustrade. This "widow's walk" is frequently seen
in higher style houses found near the seacoast, but a number were
built far inland as well, proving it was a style statement rather
than a lookout to the ocean.
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| One of the finest
Georgian houses in New England is the Derby House in Salem,
MA, built in 1761. This home has roof dormers, four chimneys,
and is built of brick. |
While Georgian formality, symmetry and craftsmanship
were new in New England, the Georgian in America represented the
last expression of the Renaissance, the re-birth of learning and
discovery of ancient cultures which had begun in Italy in the
15th century. By the 17th century, the Renaissance had changed
Europe, then England, and, finally, her colonies. English architects
were inspired by the designs of the Roman architectural writer
Vitruvius and the Italian master, Palladio. Designers such as
Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, James Gibbs and others, through
large hand-copied folios produced by their students, brought the
new style to the colonies. Here, designs were modified by local
housewrights as needs, resources and materials required.
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Even modest Georgian homes might have a finely
proportioned hand-carved doorway such as this in Newport,
RI. Georgian design principles stressed symmetry and balance,
and Classically derived decoration was always used.
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