A Text-Book of the History of Architecture: Seventh Edition, revisedHamlin, A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster)
History
A Text-Book of the History of Architecture: Seventh Edition, revised
Hamlin, A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster)
Architecture -- History
From 1725 to 1775 increased population and wealth along the coast
brought about a great advance in architecture, especially in churches
and in the dwellings of the wealthy. During this period was developed
the _Colonial style_, based on that of the reigns of Anne and the first
two Georges in England, and in church architecture on the models set by
Wren and Gibbs. All the details were, however, freely modified by the
general employment of wood. The scarcity of architects trained in Old
World traditions contributed to this departure from classic precision of
form. The style, especially in interior design, reflected the cultured
taste of the colonial aristocracy in its refined treatment of the
woodwork. But there was little or no architecture of a truly monumental
character. Edifices of stone were singularly few, and administrative
buildings were small and modest, owing to insufficient grants from the
Crown, as well as to the poverty of the colonies.
[Illustration: FIG. 218.--CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA.]
The churches of this period include a number of interesting designs,
especially pleasing in the forms of their steeples. The “+Old South+” at
Boston (now a museum), Trinity at Newport, and +St. Paul’s+ at New
York--one of the few built of stone (1764)--are good examples of the
style. +Christ Church+ at Philadelphia (1727-35, by Dr. Kearsley) is
another example, historically as well as architecturally interesting
(Fig. 218); and there are scores of other churches almost equally
noteworthy, scattered through New England, Maryland, Virginia, and the
Middle States.
+DWELLINGS.+ These reflect better than the churches the varying tastes
of the different colonies. Maryland and Virginia abound in fine brick
manor-houses, set amid extensive grounds walled in and entered through
iron gates of artistic design. The interior finish of these houses was
often elaborate in conception and admirably executed. Westover (1737),
Carter’s Grove (1737) in Virginia, and the Harwood and Hammond Houses at
Annapolis, Md. (1770), are examples. The majority of the New England
houses were of wood, more compact in plan, more varied and picturesque
in design than those of the South, but wanting somewhat of their
stateliness. The interior finish of wainscot, cornices, stairs, and
mantelpieces shows, however, the same general style, in a skilful and
artistic adaptation of classic forms to the slender proportions of wood
construction. Externally the orders appear in porches and in colossal
pilasters, with well designed entablatures, and windows of Italian
model. The influence of the Adams and Sheraton furniture is doubtless to
be seen in these quaint and often charming versions of classic motives.
The Hancock House, Boston (of stone, demolished); the Sherburne House,
Portsmouth (1730); Craigie House, Cambridge (1757, Fig. 219); and
Rumford House, North Woburn (Mass.), are typical examples.
[Illustration: FIG. 219.--CRAIGIE (LONGFELLOW) HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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