The Architecture of Colonial AmericaEberlein, Harold Donaldson
History
The Architecture of Colonial America
Eberlein, Harold Donaldson
Architecture -- United States; Architecture, Colonial
The last phase of New England Georgian architecture was distinctly a
period of Adam inspiration as it was in other parts of the country, with
this difference, however. Elsewhere the third Georgian phase was
forsaken all too soon for the newer glamour of the Classic Revival for
which, in a manner, it prepared the way. In New England, under the
influence of such men as Charles Bulfinch and Samuel McIntire, the
delicate proportions and fascinatingly refined details brought into
English architecture by the Brothers Adam remained in favour until well
into the nineteenth century and exercised a beneficial effect that has
not yet lost its force. With excellent taste both Bulfinch and McIntire
employed the Adam heritage of urns, pendent husks, anthemia, ovals,
spandril fans and all the rest of the Pompeian refinements, and McIntire
unhesitatingly lengthened out the proportions of pillars and pilasters
until he had removed all suggestion of grossness from his design and
imparted a slender grace to all his work. Though he made various
innovations, McIntire really prolonged the Adam period in New England
and saved domestic architecture, wherever his influence was strong
enough, from the deplorable banality into which the more unconsidered
forms of the Classic Revival degenerated.
In the felicity of its local adaptations, in the dignity it imparted to
the visible side of public life, in its virile development manifested in
the churches and other public buildings, the Georgian architecture of
New England has given us numerous patterns worthy of emulation _in toto_
or in part and has left an indelible and beneficial impress upon the
nation’s artistic consciousness.
[Illustration: PARSON WILLIAMS HOUSE, DEERFIELD, MASS. 1707.]
[Illustration: VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE, VAN CORTLANDT PARK, N. Y.
New York Georgian of second phase.]
CHAPTER VII
GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE IN NEW YORK
Strange as it may seem, the territory comprised in the present state of
New York is not nearly so rich in Georgian remains as are the other
parts of our country contained within the boundaries of the original
Colonies. At first it may astonish the student of architectural history
to find one of the oldest, wealthiest and most important communities,
rich not only in material resources but in history, so devoid of the
Georgian landmarks that characterise the adjacent sections of the
country. New England is filled with well preserved memorials of the
eighteenth century. So likewise are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
and the South. How is it, then, that New York is, by comparison, so
deficient in this respect?
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