Author Archives: bruce

Shingle

Overview

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.

Stick

Overview

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.

Second Empire

Overview

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 17th 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 35th Street NW and the Folger’s offices on the 500 block of 8th 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.

Italianate

Overview

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

Overview

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.