Architecture and Folk Architecture Dr. Jacqueline Marn Chronology of Styles in American Architecture The Seventeenth Century: 17th Century Colonial         Term applies to both New England and Virginia architecture.  Note: regional differences, however. The Eighteenth Century: Georgian (1714-1776)         English-inspired colonial architecture.  Marked by a greater concern for style and higher standards of comfort.  Fairly homogeneous in both New England and Southern colonies. Neoclassicism (c.1780-1820)         There are several variations:         Federalist:  Especially common in New England; a traditionalist approach to classicism, heavily influenced by English models.  Charles Bulfinch, Samuel MacIntyre.         Idealist:  An intellectual and moral approach to classicism, at first linked to Roman models.  Symbolic and associational values stressed.         Best example:  Thomas Jefferson.         Rationalist:  Emphasized structure and classical building techniques, such as stone vaulting and domes.  Benjamin Latrobe. Source: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/amstyles.html Chronology of Styles in American Architecture The Nineteenth Century:  The period is characterized by Romantic revivals and eclecticism. Greek Revival (1818-1850)         The first truly national style in the United States.  Strong associational         values.  Permeated all levels of building. Gothic Revival (c. 1820-1860)         Strong associational values of religion and nature.  Found in both ecclesiastical and residential architecture.  A wide range of archaeological accuracy, from Richard Upjohn's urban churches to "Carpenter's Gothic" cottages.  The "Corporate Style" (c.1800-1900)         Practical architecture for engineering and commercial purposes; especially         early factories.  In its time thought to be a "style-less style."  Egyptian Revival (1820-1850)         Used primarily for memorials, cemeteries, prisons, and later, warehouses. Italianate, or Italian Villa Mode (1840-1860)         A residential style used by A.J. Downing and others; a Renaissance revival. Second Empire Baroque (1860-1880)         French origin; used for public and residential architecture. High Victorian Gothic (1860-1880)         English origin; used for ecclesiastical, public, and residential architecture. Richardsonian Romanesque (1870-1895) Shingle Style (1879-1900)         Used for residential architecture. Chicago School (1885-1915)         Commercial architecture; skyscrapers. New York Style Skyscrapers (1875-1910)         Typically use a historical style; block and tower format. Source: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/amstyles.html Chronology of Styles in American Architecture Classical Revival (1885-1920)         Also called Academic Classicism, or Beaux-Arts Classicism.         Related revivals:  Rena.

1. Architecture
and
Folk Architecture
Dr. Jacqueline Marn
Chronology of Styles in American Architecture
The Seventeenth Century:
17th Century Colonial
Term applies to both New England and Virginia
architecture.
Note: regional differences, however.
The Eighteenth Century:
Georgian (1714-1776)
English-inspired colonial architecture. Marked by a
greater
concern for style and higher standards of comfort. Fairly
homogeneous in both New England and Southern colonies.
Neoclassicism (c.1780-1820)
There are several variations:
Federalist: Especially common in New England; a
traditionalist approach to classicism, heavily influenced by
English models. Charles Bulfinch, Samuel MacIntyre.
Idealist: An intellectual and moral approach to classicism,
at first linked to Roman models. Symbolic and
associational values stressed.
Best example: Thomas Jefferson.

2. Rationalist: Emphasized structure and classical building
techniques, such as stone vaulting and domes. Benjamin
Latrobe.
Source:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/amstyles.html
Chronology of Styles in American Architecture
The Nineteenth Century:
The period is characterized by Romantic revivals and
eclecticism.
Greek Revival (1818-1850)
The first truly national style in the United States. Strong
associational
values. Permeated all levels of building.
Gothic Revival (c. 1820-1860)
Strong associational values of religion and nature. Found
in both
ecclesiastical and residential architecture. A wide range of
archaeological
accuracy, from Richard Upjohn's urban churches to
"Carpenter's Gothic"
cottages.
The "Corporate Style" (c.1800-1900)
Practical architecture for engineering and commercial
purposes; especially
early factories. In its time thought to be a "style-less
style."
Egyptian Revival (1820-1850)
Used primarily for memorials, cemeteries, prisons, and
later, warehouses.
Italianate, or Italian Villa Mode (1840-1860)
A residential style used by A.J. Downing and others; a

3. Renaissance revival.
Second Empire Baroque (1860-1880)
French origin; used for public and residential architecture.
High Victorian Gothic (1860-1880)
English origin; used for ecclesiastical, public, and
residential architecture.
Richardsonian Romanesque (1870-1895)
Shingle Style (1879-1900)
Used for residential architecture.
Chicago School (1885-1915)
Commercial architecture; skyscrapers.
New York Style Skyscrapers (1875-1910)
Typically use a historical style; block and tower format.
Source:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/amstyles.html
Chronology of Styles in American Architecture
Classical Revival (1885-1920)
Also called Academic Classicism, or Beaux-Arts
Classicism.
Related revivals: Renaissance, French Renaissance,
Flemish.
Gothic (Collegiate Gothic) (1885-1930)
Boston College is a good early (1913) example.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Traditional styles continue; Modernism arises.
Prairie School (1893-1920)
Frank Lloyd Wright and his followers.
Wrightian, or Organic Architecture (1920-1959)
F.L. Wright's later style.
Historicist Skyscrapers (1900-1940)
Gothic, etc.
Setback Style Skyscrapers (1920-1950)

4. Art Deco (1925-1940)
Also called Art Moderne, Streamlined Modern.
International Style:
International Style I (Early Modern) (1929-1940)
International Style II (1945-1970)
Formalism (1957-1996)
A renewed interest in monumental qualities and an interest
in form for
expressive purposes. Eero Saarinen.
Brutalism (1957-1996)
Style inspired by LeCorbusier's late works; characterized
by the use of
rough-cast concrete and massive forms. Boston City Hall.
Late Modern (International Style III) (1970-1996)
Philip Johnson (before his conversion to Post-Modernism)
and I.M. Pei, among
others.
Post-Modernism (1964-1996ff.)
Source:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/amstyles.html
Folk Architecture
Sometimes called vernacular architecture (that which is
common or native in a given area), includes all traditional
nonacademic building types (Brunvand, 1998).

5. What is Vernacular Architecture?
“Vernacular architecture (VA) is a distinctive type of
architecture as well as a distinctive paradigm for studying
architecture.
As in folk architecture, vernacular architecture generally refers
to most buildings, built environments, and landscapes—tangible
aspects of cultural heritage—that evolve organically from
everyday human practices.
As a paradigm, vernacular architecture embraces almost all
human buildings and built environments as worthy of scrutiny,
finding folk and vernacular practices evident even in what we
might consider non-vernacular buildings and environments.
Most specialists are trained as historians and architectural
historians, although cultural geographers, landscape historians,
and folklorists are influentially involved in the field.”
Source: http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/oral-history-
folklore-and-vernacular-architecture/
Vernacular Architecture continued…
“Vernacular architecture also emphasizes a kind of historical
archeological inquiry that we might call “reading the building,”
which is comparable to “reading the landscape” or “reading an
object.”
An important method for reading a building involves careful
observation and documentation through examination of its
structural components and delineation (measurement and
preparation of scaled drawings), as well as photography, field
documentation through ethnographic interviews and oral
histories, and appraisal of the building’s historical and
contemporary contexts, both functional and structural.
This work is coupled with archival research in a distinctive
range of primary records- particularly property and land
records- and altogether supports the field’s involvement in

6. historic preservation and museum curation.
Vernacular architecture studies thus require a distinctive
mixture of research methodologies that are undergoing change
as digital technology revolutionizes field methods, field
equipment, the production and stewardship of documentation,
preservation of historic buildings and landscapes, and access to
library and archival resources.
Each one of these research areas requires familiarity with
specialized research methods, tools, formats, access, and
degrees of accuracy that are currently challenged by newer
digital methods, technologies, and capabilities.”
Source: Gilmore, J.C., & Reeves, T. (2012). Case study: oral
history, folklore, and vernacular architecture. In D. Boyd, S.
Cohen, B. Rakerd, & D. Rehberger (Eds.), Oral history in the
digital age. Institute of Library and Museum Services. Retrieved
from http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/oral-history-folklore-
and-vernacular-architecture/.
Folk Architecture
Consists of
cabins,
houses,
barns,
smokehouses,
washhouses,
summer kitchens,
spring-houses,
privies,
stables,
other agricultural out buildings, carriage houses, sheds,
ice-fishing shacks,

7. boat houses,
tree houses,
covered bridges etc…
Google images
Source: Brunvand, J. (1998). The Study of American Folklore.
W.W. Norton and Company. New York.
Folk Housing
The United States was typified during the settlement period by
the use of the most easily available local materials for building
in inherited traditional forms.
The teepees, wigwams, and lodges of the Native Americans;
the first log, frame, or half timbered houses in the Eastern
half of the country;
the forts, dugouts, and lean-tos of explorers,
pioneers, and homesteaders;
the sod houses of the great plains;
the adobe houses of the Southwest;
and many other vernacular forms all follow this principle
(Brunvand, 1998).
Google Images
Double-cantilever, two-crib barn at the Tipton Place in Cades
Cove, Great Smokey Mountain National Park, in East
Tennessee. The cantilever barn design, which is Western
European in origin, is common throughout Southern Appalachia
but rare elsewhere in North America. National Register of

8. Historic Places 77000111
Google Images
Sod House
Google Images
Log House
Google Images
The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History
defines vernacular architecture as the ordinary buildings and
spaces constructed, shaped, or inhabited by a particular group of
people, vernacular architecture characterizes a place by giving
it a specific social identity.
African-American vernacular architecture is characterized by
the plantation houses built during the colonial era.
It was discovered that slave houses had the same characteristics
as the houses built in West and Central Africa.
Much of the African American identity was created on the
plantation since 2.6 million blacks were living on plantations by
1860.
Within the plantations and communities, blacks created their
own expressions.
Within these communities, there were also certain types of
housing associated with African Americans.
These types were the “pen”, the I-house, and the shotgun
house.
The “pen” was a single room cabin that was often combined
with other cabins.

9. The I-house was a house type that was two pens stacked on top
of one another.
These houses were usually used to house four families. The
shotgun house was the main type of housing associated with
African American culture” (Vlach, 1996).
Source:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/Jeffersn.html
http://www.eslarp.uiuc.edu/arch/ARCH371-
F99/groups/t/afrarch.html
Discussion Topics
Answer the three discussion questions below and place in the
drop box Sunday night no later than 11:30 p.m. Please answer
completely.
1. Is there a social and symbolic center to the modern American
home? Is it perhaps the kitchen, deck or patio, or the television
set for some dwellings? Or is it the fireplace? Do memories of
family life refer to certain dwelling places or spaces more than
to others?
2. Do any modern Americans maintain a formal seldom used
area of the dwelling as a counterpart to the old fashioned
parlor?
3. Prepare an annotated display of photos (5-7) showing recent
trends in home building and the materials motivated by a desire
for energy efficiency plus a rustic “back to nature” appeal.