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Architectural gurus - American Colonial or Revival?

15 years ago

After looking at a few of the magnificent houses posted on here, I am wondering if people educated in Architectural styles could tell me. This is my house built in 1932, and I was wondering if people here would consider it an American Colonial or a Colonial Revival, Georgian? Something in between?

Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: My Home

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Comments (11)

sombreuil_mongrel
15 years ago
IMO, it's like an Irish/Georgian type. A period-house revival style. It's not "pure" because of the mulled windows. Pure would have the windows as singles. The coupled windows do occur in British and Irish subtypes.
Casey
mightyanvil
15 years ago
It's not clear what kind of windows it has or if they are original but I would say paired double-hungs suggest Colonial Revival.
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Being in Oregon, you aren't going to have the problem of your reproduction Colonial sitting next to the real thing. So in that sense, location does matter. Something else to keep in mind is that in this country, as much as in England, the fancy new landscaping school of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton destroyed practically everything that preceeded it. I think the old formality survived longer in the South, but at this point I don't think even there exist any original examples. Places like Monticello are 20th century reproductions based on archaological and written evidence. Even deliberate recreations of colonial era gardens are few and far between. In this area, which is practically swarming with house museums, the typical garden restoration target date is between the two world wars. The logic behind this is that this was the last time frame when major work was done on the estates. Economic changes after WWII, led to their decline, which kind of ended when they fell into public or quasi-public hands. This is true regardless of the original construction date of the house. Two of the biggest 1930's style gardens in the area are connected to houses with original construction dates before 1800. (Clermont and Montgomery Place)
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Olivesmom, you do have many choices, but you may be best served by some further study as to what you really prefer. The three photos are very, very different architectural styles, and have quite different interior spaces. For example: --The Williamsburg Colonial: a handsome example of the Colonial Style with upgraded details and materials. Colonials tend to be simple rectangles, 3- or 5-bays wide, with a simple gable roof whose ridgeline parallels the front elevation. Decoration and self-styled carpenter details are minimal. Interiors are seldom deeper than two modest rooms--they were Colonials after all! Growth and expansion typically took place off one or both ends, and/or a perpendicular wing off the rear elevation (sometimes 2-stories); --Second example: This may be called a "cabin" style, but it's really just a builder's approach to a woodsy vernacular from the region. The many gables parallel to the front and the heavy fascias, plus the natural stain colors, characterize this as a house in the tradition of areas where there are lots of woods (and lots of carpenters)! The direction of the roof suggests the house is much deeper than it is wide. --Third example: Again, this is a sort of "hansel and grettel" carpenter's or builder-style house (certainly not Colonial in any fashion) with a most odd "tobacco-shed drying roof", common in southern tobacco growing regions. The partial end gables were used to allow air to enter and circulate in the building's interior to help dry and season the hanging tobacco leaves. Such a roof on a house of this size, and in a western forested setting, is ill-proportioned for this structure and historically a bit ludicrous, IMO. The rest of the exterior has various moutain/western region detailing, ie, porch roofs and supporting columns, etc. I think your search for your "perfect house" might be aided by a good guide book, such as A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia and Lee McAlester. It's a well written and illustrated small paperback book that's excellent in describing the various styles of houses. Good luck with your project!
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Oh my! Is that an original TV Dinner Chair?!? How exciting to come home after an outing, knowing a wholesome, pre-made dinner of meat byproduct loaf with larded mashed potatoes, green peabeebees, and luscious chocolate sponge awaits. Piping hot from the oven in 45-minutes. Turn on and warm up the tubes, boys & girls, Moms & Dads. Settle into your stylish TV Dinner Chair. It's big enough for two...move over a little bit honey. I had a two seat, also. Very comfortable for people with short legs. You could sit back, relax, and have your feet reach the floor. No looking like EdithAnn with those in your living room. :-)
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jegr
15 years ago
Colonial Revival, probably remodeled in the 1970's or '80's when casement windows were very much in vogue. I expect the original windows were wide d/h's that fit the whole space. The room to the right would have started as a screened porch. Many were enclosed from the '60's on when a/c units became readily available - ie, no longer a great need for a cool place on a hot day.

If you can post a picture of the front showing the windows it would be easier to tell you more about the evolution of your house.
The portico over the front door and the little windows above (which might have been casements originally) are typical Colonial Revival details from the era between the Wars. The box shape of the house, the symmetrical front, its eve returns, the dormers are all Colonial Revival hallmarks.
It's a nice big house for 1932. I expect it was built for someone resonably well to do and has nice interiors too.
tyguy
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks so much to all of those who have helped out so far. Since that picture was taken, the windows have been replaced. However, they were original. There were absolutely no scars from a retrofit, and materials that had never been disturbed. The windows in the dormer are the only ones that had been replaced, and they replaced them with vinyl(yuck).

The interior certainly was nice at one time, and there are still many parts that are, but over the years it has seen some renovations that really were not in keeping with the houses original beauty. I have grand plans to bring this house back to its original glory, and beyond.

The story behind how the house came to be. This house is located one street to the east of the main street of the town(the main street is literally a 60-90 second walk from my door), which has since grown into a city. And although the "new" downtown has sort of centered around a wide street with every box store imaginable, I still love the old downtown location for pedestrian convenience. And yes, apparently the original occupants were fairly well known and probably upper middle class. They owned the hardware store in town. As everyone knows we were 2-3 years into the great depression, and a lot of local contractors had racked up accounts with the hardware store that they did not have money to pay. So the owner of the store and contractors that owed him agreed to build him this house to pay off their debts. I love this story, and it just adds to the value of the house(to me).

I just adore old homes, and this one definitely is extremely well built. The brickwork is in perfect condition with not one structural crack. The foundation is the same. The floors are as straight and flat as a billboard table.

Anyway, I would like to rebuild a new portico on this home. I want to build it out so that the front of the portico protrudes equal to the top of the front stairs, with two columns holding up the roof. Now here is a serious question; Are there any do's and dont's with this? Should the columns be round or rectangular? How bout roof? Flat? Pitched? I also plan on adding shutters. We really like the paneled shutters, but notice a lot of louvered shutters on similar houses. Any thoughts on this? Also keep in mind that I do not have to stay 100% "pure", as I do not believe this house is 100% pure to any design. But I would like to avoid a mistake that is very out of line.

Here is a link that might be useful: I found picture of the front
tyguy
Original Author
15 years ago
Dug around and also found a picture of the inside of the windows. It is an "inswing casement" with a lock lever and "staybar" to hold the window in place.

Here is a link that might be useful: Inside of window
mightyanvil
15 years ago
The sash are obviously not original. Perhaps the windows were replaced inside the original frames.
tyguy
Original Author
15 years ago
mightyanvil-Yes, that could be true, it may be original frames with replacement sash's, I wasn't too sure about that myself. However, from your perspective what gives it away? I would say the hardware is definitely not 60's or 70's. Looks very 20's or 30's in my opinion. But I am not an architect or specialist in old homes, so I can not say for sure.
mightyanvil
15 years ago
The window muntins don't appear original to me.
allison1888
15 years ago
I say flat roof on the portico. Here's a link to ways to find the architectural history on a house. Interesting way to research.

Here is a link that might be useful: Architectural history of a home
tyguy
Original Author
15 years ago
mightyanvil-Those muntins are actually just some tape that was applied to the inside of the window. Probably a bad experiment of the 80's! lol. Anyway, I was talking to my neighbour who has been living there for 54 years and he said the windows have not been changed since he has lived there.

allison1888- thanks for the link. Any other idea's for the portico? Do you think round columns or square?
lsst
15 years ago
Colonial Revival
Round columns for the portico

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