A creative but short-lived movement, Art Deco designs not only influenced the architecture of most American cities, but also had an impact on fashion, art and furniture, too. From 1925 to 1940, Americans embraced Art Deco architecture as a refreshing change from the eclectic and revivalist sensibilities that preceded it. The style takes its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs held in Paris in 1925 as a showcase for new inspiration.

The Art Deco style was essentially one of applied decoration. Buildings were richly embellished with hard-edged, low-relief designs, geometric shapes (including chevrons and ziggurats) and stylized floral and sunrise patterns. Shapes and decorations inspired by Native American artwork were among the archetypes of the Art Deco lexicon. Although some buildings utilized expensive hand-crafted decoration, others used machine-made repetitive decorations. To keep costs down, ornamental treatment was often limited to the most visible parts of the building.

Art Deco projects produced dynamic collaborations between architects, painters, sculptors and designers — sometimes resulting in complete Art Deco environments like Old Miami Beach, Florida.

In its day, some of what we now refer to as Art Deco architecture was often called Moderne or Art Moderne, a term used to describe the most advanced design ideas from the 1930s to the end of World War II. Being close cousins, Art Deco and Art Moderne shared stripped-down forms, but Art Moderne had a horizontal rather than vertical emphasis, rounded rather than angular corners and little surface ornamentation.

Art Deco design was first applied to public and commercial buildings in the 1920s. Although individual homes were rarely designed in the Art Deco style, architects and developers, especially in Greater Washington, D.C., found that the Art Deco style adapted quite well to apartment buildings. Most of these buildings are still in use, a testament to the city’s richly varied architectural history.

For all its panache, Art Deco architecture was immensely practical in execution. For projects on a tight budget, the simple box could be decorated with motifs and embellished with appendages that made a conceptually rudimentary structure appear fashionable and up to date. Visual interest could be further enhanced by stretching linear forms horizontally and vertically throughout the building. This was frequently done with bands of brick, canopies or copings.

A 1984 book, Washington Deco by Hans Wirz and Richard Striner, catalogs over 400 Art Deco buildings in the Washington, D.C. area. Two examples of Art Deco design are on Capitol Hill: the former Kresge Store at 666 Pennsylvania Avenue SE built in 1936 and recently expanded and the Penn Theater at 650 Pennsylvania Avenue SE built in 1935. Although the Penn Theater itself was demolished, the marquee and a portion of the façade have been incorporated into the new building.

Additional examples of Washington, D.C. Art Deco are the Kennedy-Warren Apartments at 3133 Connecticut Avenue NW, the Hecht Company warehouse on New York Avenue NE and the sign of the former Greyhound Bus Terminal on New York Avenue NW.

Characteristics

In classic Art Deco, rectangular blocky forms were often arranged in geometric fashion and broken up by curved ornamental elements. The aim of classic Art Deco was always to achieve a monolithic appearance with applied decorative motifs.

Materials

Art Deco materials included stucco, concrete, smooth-faced stone and terra cotta. Steel and aluminum were often used along with glass blocks and decorative opaque plate glass (vitrolite).

Roof

Art Deco designers adorned flat roofs with parapets, spires or tower-like constructs to accentuate a corner or entrance. Decorative curiosities such as chimneys were added to further enhance the design

Windows

Windows in Art Deco designs usually appear as punctured openings, either square or round. To maintain a streamlined appearance for the building, they were often arranged in continuous horizontal bands of glass. Wall openings are sometimes filled with decorative glass or with glass blocks, creating a contrast of solid and void forms while admitting daylight.

Many large apartment buildings found aesthetic success with decorative embossed spandrel panels placed below windows. The Kennedy-Warren Apartments is an example of Art Deco design.

Entrance

Doorways in Art Deco architecture are sometimes surrounded with elaborate pilasters and pediments and door surrounds are often embellished with either reeding (a convex decoration) or fluting (a concave decoration). The quality and extent of the decorative motifs vary by project and designer.

Although the term bungalow is now commonly used to describe a small one- or one-and-a-half-story home or casual beach house, the word is actually derived from the Indian Hindustani word “bangala,” meaning “belonging to Bengal.” In fact, bungalows as we know them were first built in India in the mid-nineteenth century by the British. The intent was to design an informal, easily constructed, one-story rest house for travelers. Built low to the ground, the structure had large porches sheltered by wide overhanging eaves, a perfect way to deal with the country’s hot, sunny climate.

The American version of the bungalow did not appear until around the turn of the century. First built in southern California, where most landmark examples of the style are found, the American Bungalow was the dominant architectural style in the United States between 1905 and 1930. Relatively few of these houses were built after 1930.

Much like its British prototype, the American Bungalow had a small interior, a low-pitched roof and ample porches. Well-suited to a warm climate, practical, and economical, the American Bungalow met the needs of young families and first-time homebuyers. For others, the appeal was more fundamental. Stylistically, the American Bungalow’s simplicity was a refreshing departure from ornate Victorian architectural designs that came the new century, somehow seemed less impressive.

Easy to build, American Bungalows could be adapted to almost any taste or region. At the height of the architectural style’s popularity, several companies even sold bungalow kits through mail-order catalogs. Sears and Roebuck & Company started selling plans and building supplies in 1895, but it was the Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan that in 1906 started to offer complete design kits. All the building components for an American Bungalow (e.g., pre-cut lumber, nails, doors and plumbing) were delivered to the construction site, where local craftsmen erected the homes according to the kit instructions. This practice quickly made the American Bungalow style ubiquitous. Many bungalows built from kits can be found throughout Washington, D.C. in Chevy Chase and the Palisades area of NW. A fine example can be seen at 5400 Galena Place NW.

Characteristics

Simple design, sparse decoration and natural materials —these were the essential components of the American Bungalow style. American Bungalows always had front porches and a low sloping gable roof.

Materials

The materials used for the American Bungalows’ exterior usually suggested warmth and informality. Clapboard was the most common siding, followed by cedar shingle with the wood usually stained a natural shade of brown. Stone, brick or concrete block molded into a decorative form were also used.

Geographic location often dictated the exterior material used. For example, in the West, stucco walls and clay-tile roofs, materials indigenous to the area, were commonly used for American Bungalows.

Roof

The roof for an American Bungalow was a low-pitched gable with wide overhangs to shield the house from the sun. Exposed rafters usually extended out from the house with their ends sometimes cut-to-profile for decorative purposes. Dormers, if present, tended to be in the front with a gable roof or occasionally a shed roof and usually had low shed roofs.

Perhaps the most distinctive decorative element on an American Bungalow was the triangular knee brace that projected from the face of the front gable of the roof. Although meant to suggest the extension of the beams that supported the roof rafter, they were usually decorative and could be assembled in a variety of ways, depending on aesthetic requirements.

Windows

In American Bungalows, windows were most often double-hung with large, single panes of glass in each sash. Occasionally, the top sash had multiple panes. Some bungalows had casement windows. The windows were usually arranged as singles, grouped in pairs or for a prominent gable feature, arranged as a threesome. Window trim was always simple and flat wood.

Entrance

A front porch was a quintessential part of the American Bungalow design. Most had a unique supporting-post design, with short, square upper posts resting on massive piers or solid porch railings constructed of any one of a variety of materials, including stone, brick, concrete block, stucco, clapboard or shingle. The piers, often used in place of posts, frequently began at ground level and extended without break up to the roofline of the porch. Often they tapered as they rose, thus accentuating their structural purpose. Front doors were usually wood paneled with a small multi-paned window in the top.

From 1890 to 1940, some American homes were built based on a medley of late Medieval and early Renaissance styles. Homes with these distinguishing characteristics were grouped under the heading of Tudor architecture. In the Washington, D.C. area, Tudor homes (along with Colonial Revival) made up the largest portion of homes built during the 1920s and 1930s.

European-trained architects, influenced by Old World styles, brought the eclectic, asymmetrical Tudor style to America toward the end of the nineteenth century. Built for wealthy homeowners, Tudor houses were of solid masonry with elaborate decorative stone and brickwork. They were sometimes called “Stockbroker Tudor” because their financially successful homeowners had frequently made their wealth in the booming 1920s stock market.

The Tudor style fell out of popularity around World War II when a resurgence of patriotism encouraged an appreciation for a more American style, that is, Colonial Revival. Tudor architecture was also expensive to build, not easily replicated and prone to maintenance issues.

One of the best examples of a Tudor style house in Montgomery County, Maryland is the landmark Newlands/Corby Mansion in Chevy Chase at the juncture of Chevy Chase Circle, Connecticut Avenue and Brookville Road. This Tudor home has a variety of dormer styles, window types and richly decorated chimneys that make it a highly stylized Tudor design. It has uncoursed stone, half-timbering, wide, decorated verge boards and a stone porte cochere. Just east of the mansion at Western Avenue and Brookville Road is a fine example of a more modest, but beautifully detailed, Tudor home.

Characteristics

Tudor homes are characterized by their steeply pitched gable roofs, playfully elaborate masonry chimneys (often with chimney pots), embellished doorways, groupings of windows and decorative half-timbering. The latter is an exposed wood framework with the spaces between the timbers filled with masonry or stucco.

Materials

There are several easily identifiable features of American Tudor architecture. The first is stucco walls with or without decorative wood half-timbering. A few Tudor houses of this style had weatherboard or shingled walls with stucco and half-timbered gables. Other Tudor style houses used stone for the walls often with a decorative stone trim. The most prevalent building material for American Tudor homes was brick, frequently laid out in an elaborate pattern on the first story with a second story of stucco or wood and false half-timbering in a decorative pattern.

Roof

A distinguishing feature of Tudor architecture and design was the steep gabled roof, often punctuated with small dormers and clad with slate. The main gable frequently had a secondary side or cross gable. Gable ends were often decorated with verge boards whose decoration ranged from simple to highly carved. A few variants had gables with parapets, which is very English.

Windows

Tudor style houses usually had casement windows grouped in rows of three or more framed in either wood or metal. Double-hung windows were less common. Windows were often divided into six or eight panes and were sometimes made up of rectangles and other times arranged in a diamond pattern. Windows were usually placed symmetrically in the main gable.

Entrance

A Tudor home’s entrance was part of an asymmetrical assemblage of architectural elements, some decorative and some meant to provide protection. Protection came from a thick masonry wall that allowed the door to be recessed, a projecting bay window or a small roof over the door. Renaissance embellishments included arched openings, board and batten doors, luxurious black metal door hardware and tabs of cut stone set into the brick wall, giving a quoin-like effect.

Colonial Revival is the single most popular architectural style in the United States in great part because of its richly varied vocabulary and inherent eloquence.

The name of the architectural style reflects the late 19^th century fascination with homes built by the early English and Dutch settlers, an affection that intensified through the World War I and II years before peaking in the mid-1950s.

Colonial Revival architecture is essentially a mixture of styles, all uniquely American. Roof forms such as gabled, hipped and gambrel identify the style – diversity that allows a greater degree of adaptation when remodeling than the more rigidly defined architectural styles.

History

Colonial Revival homes built in the first wave of construction (1880 and 1945) tend to be professionally designed and often boast interesting architectural details fashioned from highly durable materials. The so-called Neo-Colonials built in the movement’s second wave from 1945 and on tend to dominate many of our newer suburbs. These homes tend to be plainer, less detailed and more assembled than crafted. Neo-Colonial homes reflect the common practice of constructing a brick façade on a structure otherwise wrapped in aluminum or vinyl siding.

The Basics

About one-quarter of the Washington, D.C. area Colonial Revival homes are detached two-story houses with a center hall and simple gabled roof. Another 25 percent or so feature hip roofs that slope on four sides.

The larger Colonial Revival houses often have an asymmetrical façade to accommodate a garage or porch. The effect is more complicated, but leaves a more interesting roof form. Roughly 10 percent of Colonial Revival homes are designed this way. The remaining subtypes feature variations of the primary roof forms.

Characteristics

Materials

Clapboard and shingle are often found in Colonial Revival architecture, but brick is the preferred material. This is especially true for Colonial Revival homes built after 1920 when brick veneer construction made brick more affordable. A fine example of Colonial Revival architecture executed in brick and stone is the Woodrow Wilson house at 2340 S Street NW in Washington, D.C. designed by architect Waddy Wood and built in 1915. On the corner of Newark Street and 34^th Street NW, a good example of a brick center hall colonial can be found.

Roof

Gable roofs are the typical roof form found in Colonial Revival homes followed by gambrel and hip roofs. An excellent example of a Colonial Revival home design with Gambrel roof (ca. 1900) is found on Highland Street NW in Cleveland Park.  Slate shingles were commonly used until around WWII when asphalt shingles began to replace slate because of cost.

Windows

Windows were designed simple, although never reproducing the original Colonial style primarily because by then glass manufacturers had learned how to produce larger windowpanes that were too convenient and functional to ignore. Thus, most windows in the Neo-Colonial are rectangular with double-hung sashes, each one consisting of six, eight, nine or even twelve panes. Multipane sashes with only a single sheet of glass serving as the lower pane are also common.

Entrance

Colonial Revival homes frequently present a notable decorative entrance. This may consist of a paneled front door flanked by sidelights, a broken pediment over the door, a modest portico with columns and perhaps a pediment supported by pilasters.

The peak period of Queen Anne architecture was 1880–1900, although the style persisted for another decade. The Queen Anne style was named and popularized in England by the architect Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) and his followers. The term inaccurately implies aesthetic ideas from the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714). However, Queen Anne architectural design was actually based on much earlier English buildings, mainly those constructed during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras (Elizabeth I reigned 1558–1603; James I, 1603–1625).

In 1874–75, the first important expression of the Queen Anne style by an American architect rose in Newport, Rhode Island, where H.H. Richardson designed the Watts-Sherman house. However, many Americans first saw the Queen Anne design in 1875 at the Philadelphia Centennial, where the British government built several houses in the Queen Anne style.

As with other ornate Victorian-era architecture, the Queen Anne style found its most complete expression in detached homes that showcased its sculptural shapes and ornamented skin. These houses were typically built of wood, allowing the designer unfettered artistic expression in the patterns and details that define the Queen Anne style. Bold and unconventional color schemes were also a Queen Anne design trait of which San Francisco’s famous Painted Ladies are an example.

The decorative details on most Queen Anne homes in Washington, D.C. and other large eastern cities tended to be more subdued because of the urban preference for patterned brick and carved stone. Thanks to a building boom during the late nineteenth century, many Queen Anne townhouses were built in Washington, D.C. and fortunately, many of those buildings survive today. Round towers and broad decorative gables, as well as elaborate Queen Anne chimneys, dormers and windows are showcased on homes throughout Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Dupont Circle and elsewhere. There is a wonderful detached Queen Anne home at 36^th Street NW on Macomb Street NW and others on Newark Street NW in the Cleveland Park area.

The historic district around West Montgomery Avenue in Rockville, Maryland boasts excellent examples of detached Queen Anne homes sited on generous lots.

Characteristics

Eclecticism, asymmetry, contrast and even excess were the hallmarks of the Queen Anne style. Every building sported a variety of surface textures. Elaborate motifs decorated gables, spandrel panels and, indeed, almost any flat surface. Newark Street NW in Cleveland Park features many highly decorative examples.

Materials

The Queen Anne style was achieved in a variety of ways with an array of materials that included patterned brick or stone, wood shingles and clapboard, slate, occasionally stucco and sometimes, terracotta panels. Decorative stone panels were frequently set into the wall, as were custom-molded and colored bricks, allowing some variation and detailing. Wood buildings could assume the full range of color and design with paint.

Roof

Steeply pitched and complex, Queen Anne roofs provided visual interest and variety with gables, dormers and turrets or towers often all in one roof.

Towers

Queen Anne towers — square, round or polygonal — were a favorite feature among architects designing Queen Anne homes. In some Queen Anne homes, instead of a tower, a turret supported by a corbel, projected from the second floor. The towers and turrets were capped with a conical, tent, domed or other artfully shaped roof and finished off with slate shingles and a copper finial ornament.

Windows

Typically, Queen Anne homes were embellished with bay windows and oriels. Sometimes the latter was part of a turret. Window surrounds were, as a rule, simple. Lower window sashes usually had only a single pane of glass. The upper sash may have followed suit, although it was frequently multi-paned or framed by small square panes. More elaborate window sashes featured stained glass in the upper portion of a double-hung window or in a transom.

Curved glass is unique to Queen Anne architecture, occasionally found in round bays and towers.

Entrance

Single-story, wrap-around porches were essential to detached Queen Anne style homes. Frequently, the porch was framed by decorative columns, brackets or applied ornaments. In urban areas, townhouses often featured a second-story porch, sometimes recessed into gables or towers. Several good examples of Queen Anne homes with upper-level porches can be found on townhouses along the 600 block of East Capitol Street NE on Capitol Hill.

Queen Anne doors may have delicately carved decorations, surrounding a single large pane set into the upper portion of the door.

Appearing on the American scene between 1880 and 1900, the Shingle style is distinctly American in its wood construction, typically blending into natural surroundings. The Shingle houses were often built on stone foundations that seem to emerge from bedrock. Thus, the massive, horizontal structures appeared to hug the ground. Porches, balconies and large windows encouraged a tactile interaction with the outdoors. Today, Shingle architecture evokes a slow and romantic lifestyle that most of us can only dream of. Developed in New England, the Shingle style was most popular in seaside resorts.

Although indisputably of American origin, the Shingle style borrowed liberally from other Victorian architectural styles. For example, Shingle style porches, shingles and asymmetrical forms were from Queen Anne. Palladian windows, gambrel roofs and the complexity of the forms and stones are often attributed to the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural design popular at the same time.

Still, Shingle style’s informality and eclecticism was a clear expression of American individualism. Freedom of design was encouraged and asymmetry was preferred. Architects handled proportion and architectural details as sculptural compositions.

Because of the complexity of the forms in a Shingle style design, the cost of construction was often beyond that of the average homeowner. As a result, Shingle architecture was never adapted to mass vernacular housing and in many ways remained a high-fashion style. One of the best examples of a Shingle style home in Washington, D.C. can be found in Cleveland Park at 3030 Macomb Street N.W.

Characteristics

In contrast to the other Victorian-era architectural styles, Shingle style de-emphasized applied decoration and detailing in favor of complex shapes wrapped in cedar shingles. Its few decorative details tended to enhance the irregularity of the construction with the shingles tying the diverse forms together.

Materials

Roofs and walls were covered in shingles, which could be stained, painted or weathered naturally, depending on the weather and location. Occasionally, the roof shingles would be a different color from the wall shingles. More expensive Shingle style homes had rough-hewn stone foundations, stone porch columns and stone walls on the first floor.

Roofs

Complex roof forms were common in Shingle architecture. A small percentage of Shingle style houses had hipped roofs, typically handled as a large form punctured by smaller roof forms. Gables were usually arranged asymmetrically, although paired or symmetrically arranged cross gables were not unheard of.

Less than one quarter of Shingle style houses had a side gabled roof with a tower placed in the front. For Shingle houses with a T or L plan, gables were often placed to intersect each other or the larger gable was crossed with several smaller roof forms.

The gambrel roof form used in nearly one quarter of Shingle style homes allowed a full second floor to be incorporated into the steeper roof shape, while giving the appearance of only one floor.
Dormers were sometimes used to add visual complexity to the roof. The most common dormer was the gable, although the careful observer can find dormers with hip roofs, shed roofs, eyebrow windows, polygonal shapes and curved tops.

Towers

About a third of Shingle style homes had towers with tower roofs often blended into the main volume of the house to form a continuous roofline. In lieu of a tower, a portion of the wall was often curved out, forming a bulge to provide more interior space and additional visual complexity on the exterior.

Windows

Shingle style houses had numerous windows, some of ample proportions and some rather small. The typical double-hung window was commonly arranged with a single-pane sash at the bottom and a multipane sash above. For large wall areas, windows were arranged in rows of two, three or even more. Palladian windows, as popular then as they are today, were a common eclectic ingredient. For the more complex Shingle designs, large windows were placed in bays of one, two or three stories. Transoms or decorative windows in round, square or rectangular shapes were also used in Shingle architecture.

Entrance

Most Shingle style homes had porches, possibly because homeowners actually had the time to relax on them. Porch supports were often plain with simple straight balusters used for railings. Other support options used in Shingle architecture were classical columns, shingle-clad columns or stone supports. All porch designs were in some way related to the adjacent wall or trim material.

Of the many architectural styles prevalent in the United States during the Victorian era, the Stick style was the most expressive of a building’s underlying structure. Decorative wood trim, called stick work, was applied to the exterior of Stick homes to emphasize the basic wood frame structure underneath.

Popular between 1860 and 1890 and built predominantly using wood, there are few pure examples of the style remaining in urban areas. However, many fine examples of Stick style may be hidden beneath slipcovers of aluminum, vinyl, stucco or asbestos shingle installed in an attempt to modernize the appearance of an older home.

The Stick style evolved from the work of architect Gervase Wheeler, an English immigrant and author of Rural Homes and Sketches of Houses Suited to American Country Life, which was an influential treatise on residential architecture first published in 1851. Over several years and eight editions, the book popularized Wheeler’s ideas on architectural design, particularly his notion that buildings should be structurally truthful.

Wheeler was particularly influenced by Tudor style architecture with its exposed heavy oak framing and half-timbering, the consummate expression of structural honesty. However, his creations were more subtle, using decorated façades to express the structural wood framing that lay beneath the surface.

The purest form of Stick style can best be appreciated with a visit to the Emlen Physick House (1879) at 1048 Washington Street in historic Cape May, New Jersey. This beautiful example has most of the design elements of Stick style architecture on display, including steeply gabled roofs, tall proportions and decorative structural overlay. Unusually large brackets form curved diagonal braces along the porch. Extended rafters with brackets support the overhanging roofs and applied trim frame windows and surround panels of diagonal bead board. Large sash windows are fit into the rectangular pattern of the façade and decorative brickwork panels are inset into large brick chimneys.

In Washington, D.C., a trip to Capitol Hill will yield examples of Stick-influenced brick Victorians, many with decorative X bracing and drilled holes for balcony railings and porches. Above the balconies, a cornice uses the same elements. Ornamental brackets, railings, steps and newel posts all enhance the wood detailing in a Stick design.

Numerous examples are located on the 500 block of Constitution Avenue N.E. These rare Stick styled homes feature steeply pitched gable roofs over their bays. The houses may have been remodeled using Stick style detailing or they may be an unusual eclectic mixture of Queen Anne and Stick architecture. The rafters and cross bracing are expressed through applied decoration. The townhouses have decorative gable ends and a few incorporate scroll work into the panels.

Characteristics

The Stick style is characterized by verticality, angularity, asymmetrical composition, and because it was expressed predominately in wood, a certain fragility.

Materials

Predominately executed in wood, the wall surfaces of Stick style houses are angled, ornamented, varied in plane and generally accentuated for an overall effect. Applied wood trim creates a paneled effect that is filled in with various materials such as vertical, horizontal or diagonal boarding. The boarding is often beaded. Wood shingles of various patterns may also be used as infill.

Roof

Freestanding Stick style houses were designed with steeply pitched gable roofs. Smaller cross gables often intersected the larger roof where small shed dormers could be found. Urban townhouses had an ornamented cornice that concealed the roof. Often the townhouse had a bay window with a decorative gable roof built over the top of the bay. On costly examples, the roof shingles were slate or wood and sometimes laid out in a multicolored pattern.

Windows

In Stick architecture, windows were typically double-hung units with large panes of glass in a simple pattern of one over one or two over two. The window trim was kept simple, so it would integrate with the overall applied ornamentation on the exterior walls. Windows in Stick designs were often grouped within a grid of applied trim. Beneath the windows, the space created by the grid was often filled with decorative wood bead board or shingles.

Entrance

The entrance to a Stick style house was usually announced with a porch or wood canopy. Freestanding homes had generous porches that provided a protected entry. Townhouses were designed with small but highly ornamented canopies.

As its name implies, the Second Empire architectural style can be traced to France, specifically to the reign of Napoleon III (1852–1870). Under the emperor’s direction, much of Paris was rebuilt with wide avenues and striking monumental buildings, replacing medieval alleys and structures. The reconstruction of Paris in the Second Empire style had a major impact on building design throughout Europe and the United States.

As public architecture, the Second Empire style was meant to exude character and a sense of permanence. Therefore, residences designed in this style were generally large and built for the affluent homeowner. At its most elaborate, the Second Empire design was sometimes described as a “wedding cake.” Yet, at the peak of its popularity in the United States (roughly 1855–1885), the Second Empire architectural style was considered both fashionable and a contemporary statement of modernity. The Second Empire design’s popularity led to a widespread remodeling boom during which mansard roofs were incorporated into formerly pitched-roof homes.

The Second Empire style was most popular in the Northeast and Midwest, but less common on the Pacific coast and rare in the South. Second Empire homes and buildings were generally built in the more affluent regions of the country. Predictably, the architectural style’s popularity dropped rapidly following the economic depression of 1873.

The Second Empire style appropriated the design characteristics of several historical languages, thereby departing from the custom of slavishly imitating established idioms. Free adaptation, allowing architects far more leeway in their design, mirrored the belief that in America, one could pick and choose the best from the past. This philosophy drove a mix-and-match sensibility.

In addition to eclecticism, a constant of the Second Empire style is the mansard roof, a slightly corrupted expropriation from François Mansart, the seventeenth-century architect who introduced the mansard roof in the enlargement of the Louvre.

Beneath their distinctive roofs, Second Empire homes had much in common with other Victorian styles. For example, Queen Anne homes were often remodeled and enlarged by adding extra floors and a mansard roof. Similarities between Second Empire and Italianate are found in their stylistic use of overhanging eaves with decorative brackets and ornate door and window hoods.

Two fine examples of Second Empire buildings, familiar to many in the capital city, are located directly across from each other not far from the White House in Washington, D.C. The Renwick Gallery designed by architect James Renwick, at the northeast corner of 17^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., was built in 1859. It was the first major U.S. building designed in the Second Empire style. A decade later, work began directly across Pennsylvania Avenue, on the complex now known as the Old Executive Office Building. Designed by architect Alfred B. Mullet and notorious for its rich embellishment, the OEB is perhaps our nation’s grandest example of the Second Empire style.

The townhouse, a typical residential form built in Washington, D.C. between 1860 and 1880 was dominated by the Second Empire style (along with the Italianate).  The mansard roof is particularly well-suited for townhouses, making them appear tall, but not massive.

Characteristics

As with other Victorian trends, Second Empire ornamentation was inspired and unstinting. Decorative details in Second Empire architecture included iron cresting on the roof, heavily bracketed cornices, quoins and balustrades. The general effect is monumental and ornate, appropriate to the Second Empire style’s Napoleonic roots.

Second Empire homes often had a simple box form, square or rectangular, and were highly symmetrical. Many examples exist in Washington, D.C. such as Cooke’s Row on Q Street NW in Georgetown. Other good examples are the Visitation School located on 35^th Street NW and the Folger’s offices on the 500 block of 8^th Street SE.

There was also an asymmetrical form of Second Empire architecture, usually designed as an L plan. It could have two wings or be built as a single block with a strongly projecting bay that called attention to an entrance where the wings meet.

Towers were also a common Second Empire feature. Today, visually compelling towered houses are frequently featured in Halloween illustrations and horror films. (Remember Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho or the Addams Family TV series?) The tower can be square or rectangular and placed either symmetrically or asymmetrically.

Materials

In Second Empire architecture, roofs were almost always slate shingles and occasionally the slate was stylized with a decorative pattern. The primary building material was wood and brick. Brick buildings were sometimes embellished with cut stone to make them more ornate. The style alluded to grandeur the buildings with clapboard utilized wood quoins at the corners of the building and heavily ornamented wood trim with hoods at windows and doors.

Roof

Beyond its sheer visual strength, the advantage of a mansard is the added space it offers. Behind what appears to be a roof, there is room for a full floor instead of a mere attic. The mansard roof took on several shapes over the course of the Second Empire style’s development: straight-angled, convex, concave and even “S” curved shapes all with or without dormers.

Windows

In Second Empire architecture, central feature windows often placed over an entrance were arranged in pairs and occasionally as triple sets. Elaborate public buildings (such as the Renwick Museum) had windows flanked by columns or pilasters. Wood clapboard homes were designed with elaborate window hoods supported by brackets, multiple layers of wood trim, usually with incised patterns. Whimsical eyebrow shapes placed over windows, doors and dormer windows were common. Brick homes tended to be simpler than wood because of the expense associated with elaborate brick and stone work. Bay windows were often used as a Second Empire architectural feature on a façade that accommodated an abundance of ornamentation.

Entrance

There is never a doubt as to where the entrance is located on a Second Empire home. A central projecting pavilion often highlights the entrance in the form of a porch or elaborate canopy with some form of protection from weather. Second Empire entrances are typically elevated above the grade by several steps and doors are typically double or an extra wide single door.

Often included in the so-called Picturesque Movement, the Italianate style began in England as a reaction to the rigid formalism that had come to dominate nineteenth century architecture. The Italianate style derived from Italy’s rambling farmhouses, usually built of masonry with their characteristic square towers and informal detailing. By the 1830s, Italianate had spread to the United States, where architects began to transform the style into something truly American with only hints of its Italian origin. Thus, working in the Italianate style, architects had a higher degree of artistic freedom than they had in earlier, more rigid architectural styles.

Much of the Italianate style’s popularity can be credited to architect Andrew Jackson Downing, whose own Italianate home designs were featured in two books he published: Cottage Residences (1842) and The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). Widely read by home designers and the public alike, his influential book set off a wave of Italianate homebuilding around the country. The best surviving examples of Italianate architecture are wood frame with clapboard exteriors. The style waned during the economic depression of 1873.

Of the many Victorian-era variants represented in Washington, D.C.’s historic neighborhoods, Italianate architecture is one of the most passionate — a feast for the eyes. Washington homes in this architectural style generally date from 1840 to 1885 with the majority built in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. The expense and craftsmanship lavished on the exteriors offer testament to the prosperity and optimism of the era. An attractive group of Italianates can be seen at 204 Ninth Street SE. The 600 block of East Capitol Street NE also has good examples of Italianate style architecture.

Characteristics

The typical Italianate design was a two-story building, but examples survive in many variations, from three-story detached homes with towers and cupolas to urban townhouses. For stand-alone houses, there were six basic categories (noted here in architectural shorthand): box with a hip roof, box with a centered gable, L or U plan, L plan with a tower and a front gable.

Italianate town houses are identifiable by their wide projecting cornices with heavy brackets and their richly ornamented windows, porches and doorways. Most American examples of Italianate homes mix details derived from both informal rural models and formal renaissance townhouses.

Materials

Brick and wood clapboard were the most common building materials for Italianate homes with brick being more expensive. The ornamentation was typically wood and occasionally the brick homes had elaborate, durable cast iron window and door hoods.

Roof

Italianate roofs were low pitched, often with a square cupola on top. Projecting eaves with large brackets in a variety of shapes and spacing dominated the cornice. Arranged singly or in pairs, the brackets were usually underscored with wide decorative bands and sometimes further elaborated with panel moldings.

Windows

Italianate window sashes typically had one-over-one or two-over-two glazing. Window trim had exuberant variations including U-shaped crowns with brackets or pedimented crowns with decorated hoods. Arched and curved windows were popularized in America by the Italianate trend.

Entrance

Doors occurred in as much variety as windows. Paired and single doors were both common in Italianate homes, often announcing themselves with a large, elaborate hood supported by brackets. Italianate doors were the first to have large panes of glass in the door itself in lieu of side lights with small panes.

Compared to other Victorian styles, Italianate porches were restrained in their size and decoration and often contained only one story. The most common type of porch column was a square post, usually 6 inches square with beveled or chamfered corners.

Greek Revival is an excellent example of an architectural style that gained popularity by exploring parallels between an earlier culture and the present day. With British influence waning considerably after the War of 1812 and the nation rapidly expanding westward, the Greek Revival architectural style was fundamentally an expression of America’s triumphant sense of destiny and the sense that our newly formed nation was the spiritual descendant of Greece, the birthplace of democracy. Americans’ sympathy and support for Greece’s war of independence from Turkey also contributed to this idiom’s influence. Popular from 1825 to 1860 in more isolated parts of the country, the Greek Revival style was prevalent right up to the Civil War.

In time, Greek Revival architecture became known as the national style, so pervasive were the temple-fronted façades on the nation’s churches, banks, town halls and houses.

Appropriate to the nation’s emerging sense of self, one of the country’s first Greek Revival buildings was the Second Bank of the United States built in Philadelphia between 1819 and 1824. Fostered by building handbooks used by carpenters and builders, the Greek Revival style moved West with the early settlers and acquired subtle regional differences along the way. Not surprisingly, the fastest growing regions ended up with the largest number of Greek Revival homes.

Popular fascination with Greek Revival began to wane toward the late 1800s as architects in the East explored other architectural styles, such as Gothic and Italianate.

Characteristics

Homes in the Greek Revival style were usually painted white to resemble the white marble of impressive and costly public buildings. The details were bold, but with simple moldings. Heavy cornices, gables with pediments and unadorned friezes were typical. The gable-fronted house, found throughout America is one of the Greek Revival style’s enduring legacies.

Materials

Stucco, wood and occasionally stone are essential building materials of the Greek Revival style. Intended to resemble stone or marble temples, the buildings were usually painted white or enhanced with a faux finish such as the Lee Mansion at Arlington National Cemetery.

Roof

Low pitched gable and hip roofs were typical. The cornice line was embellished with a wide band of trim to emphasize the temple-like roof. Standing seam tin or cedar shingles were materials used at the time.

Windows

The size of window panes in historically accurate Greek Revival homes typically reflected mid-nineteenth century glazing technologies. Thus, windows were mostly double hung with six panes to each sash. Decorative windows were frequently in three-part assemblages. Among the Greek Revival style’s unique features are small rectangular windows set into the frieze beneath the cornice that replaced the common dormer. Window surrounds tended to be less elaborate than doorways.

Columns

Columns and pilasters were among the most common elements of Greek Revival architecture. Although classical columns were round, by definition, the Greek Revival style also used square or even octagonal columns. The columns were designed without bases as in the Greek style or with bases as in a Roman adaptation. Columns could be fluted or smoothed, but they were almost always built of wood.

The most common and simplest capital style found in Greek Revival architecture is Doric. Only a small percentage of Greek Revival designs are Ionic with even fewer in the Corinthian mode. Occasionally designers used pilasters much like columns, marching them across the front façade of the wall to which they were attached.

Entrance

Because the vault design was unknown to the Greeks, a simple post-and-beam construction was widely used. For this reason, the arched entrances and fan lights common in the Georgian and Federal styles were not part of the Greek revival movement.

Elaborate door surrounds were frequent features of Greek Revival homes. Typically, small-paned side lights and a rectangular transom were framed by heavy, wide trim sometimes recessed for a more three-dimensional look.

The door itself might be single or double, divided into one, two or four panels. Almost invariably, a portico or porch was added in front of the entrance.