These facts are abundantly illustrated by the architectural history of the United States. The only one among the British colonies to attain political independence, it is the only one among them whose architecture has as yet entered upon an independent course of development, and this only within the last twenty-five or thirty years. Nor has even this development produced as yet a distinctive local style. It has, however, originated new constructive methods, new types of buildings, and a distinctively American treatment of the composition and the masses; the decorative details being still, for the most part, derived from historic precedents. The architecture of the other British colonies has retained its provincial character, though producing from time to time individual works of merit. In South America and Mexico the only buildings of importance are Spanish, French, or German in style, according to the nationality of the architects employed. The following sketch of American architecture refers, therefore, exclusively to its development in the United States. +FORMATIVE PERIOD.+ Buildings in stone were not undertaken by the early English colonists. The more important structures in the Southern and Dutch colonies were of brick imported from Europe. Wood was, however, the material most commonly employed, especially in New England, and its use determined in large measure the form and style of the colonial architecture. There was little or no striving for architectural elegance until well into the eighteenth century, when Wren’s influence asserted itself in a modest way in the Middle and Southern colonies. The very simple and unpretentious town-hall at Williamsburg, Va., and St. Michael’s, Charleston, are attributed to him; but the most that can be said for these, as for the brick churches and manors of Virginia previous to 1725, is that they are simple in design and pleasing in proportion, without special architectural elegance. The same is true of the wooden houses and churches of New England of the period, except that they are even simpler in design.