I. GEORGIAN 1700-1800. Why is it called "Georgian?"

A. Features.
1. First stylistic system designed more from abstract concepts than practical designs.
a. Formal arrangement of parts.

b. Symmetrical composition enriched with classical details

c. First use of published guides to building, including classical orders and principals of symmetry.

d. Period of greatest intensity: After 1750 and becomes generic after 1787.

2. Attention to texture of wall surfaces.
a. Coursed ashlar walls

b. water table divides foundation and wall zones, belt course defines floors.

c. moldings built out of semi-circular profiles

d. modillion cornice defines top of wall.

e. Pilasters and quoins horizontally bound walls.

3. Elaboration of openings.
a. Pedimented dormers and entries.

b. Flat arches [jack arches with pronounced keystones].

c. Panelled doors

d. Double hung windows

e. Wide muntins with small lights, typically 9 over 9

f. Palladian/ Venetian window

4. Plan and massing is symmetrical. Five part Palladian villa.
a. Central passage. However, many buildings continue the use of the lobby entry, but now pulled into the principal massing.

b. Pedimented pavilion

B. Building Types. Most colonial buildings used domestic form and scale. Through the 18th century civil and religious building forms began to develop. These new forms embrace classicism as a dominant decorative and design component.
1. Churches. Rural churches remain domestic in scale and reflect conservative values of the social elites within the region. Urban churches borrow more completely from English designs developed after the fire of London in 1666.
a. Pohick Church, Fairfax County, 1769-1774

b. Aquia Church, Stafford Co., VA 1751

c. Old Ship Meeting House, Hingham, MA, 1681, 1731, 1755 (restored 1930)

d. Christ Church (Dr. John Kearsley) (spire: Robert Smith), Philadelphia, PA, 1727-44.

e. Old South Meeting House (Robert Twelves), Boston, MA, 1729-30

f. St. Michael's (Samuel Cardy?), Charleston, SC, 1752-61

g. Touro Synagogue (Peter Harrison), Newport, RI, 1759-63

2. Court Houses. These buildings were largely new constructions derived from the division of the market house as a consolidated secular government function in England. The design reflected both the technical needs of the court (including separate spaces for jury and justices) and the conservative decorative vocabulary of the sacred churches. Urban court houses were more academically classical.
a. Hanover Court House, Hanover County, VA, 1735.

3. Market Houses. The English Market House was a combination building with court function above and commerce below. American cities often divided these activities, but colonial examples exist.
a. Brick Market (Peter Harrison), Newport, RI, 1761-62

4. State Houses. Functioning as an emergent architectural form giving substance to colonial popular government. The forms developed used church and public building designs from English models.
a. Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) (Andrew Hamilton and Edward Wooley), Philadelphia, PA.

b. South Carolina Statehouse, Charleston, S.C. 1753

5. College Buildings. Educational buildings expanded upon the domestic model.
a. College of William and Mary, Wren Building (Alexander Spotswood) (H: C. Wren?), Williamsburg, VA, 1695-1702

C. Domestic Examples.
1. Stratford Hall, King George County ca 1730

a. Great Room
b. Floor Plan

2. Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC ca 1738-42


a. Mantel
a. Floor Plan

3. Miles Brewton House, Charleston, S.C. built by Ezra Waite, 1767


a. Floor Plan
b. Dining Room
c. Entertaining Room
d. Frontispiece

4. MacPheadris/Warner House, Portsmouth, NH 1760

5. Westover, Charles City Co., VA 1730


a. Floor Plan
a. Passage

6. Gunston Hall, Fairfax County, VA 1755


a. Dining Room
a. Parlor

7. Wentworth/Gardner House, Portsmouth NH 1760

8. Chase-Lloyd House, Annapolis, MD 1769-74


a. HABS Photograph of Elevation
b.HABS drawing of Elevation
c.HABS drawing of Elevation Detail of Frontispiece
d.HABS drawing of Transverse Section

9. Governor Langdon Mansion, Portsmouth, NH 1783-86

a. HABS Drawing of Elevation

II. FEDERAL 1780-1820 (but in Virginia effect lasts to 1860)
A. Period of greatest intensity 1790s through 1820. Becomes generic in 1830s.
1. Robert Adam was a major English source, Americans included Asher Benjamin, Charles Bulfinch, Benjamin Latrobe.

2. Carpenter Guides, such as Peter Nicholson's Carpenter's New Guide first published in the United States in 1792, gave more accurate information for rendering details.

B. Features.
1. Delicacy of decoration.
a. Swags, urns, rosettes and festoons used in frieze.

b. smooth facade reduced importance of surface.

2. Openings are more delicately trimmed.
a. Elliptical fan light with slender side lights

b. Thin muntins with larger lights, 6 over 6

c. Lintel window architrave

d. Patera or bull's eye corner blocks on interior door surrounds.

e. Tripartite windows in recessed openings.

3. Greater experimentation with polygonal, round and elliptical walls and rooms.

4. Low pitched roof

C. Examples.
1. Harrison Gray Otis House, Boston, 1796. Charles Bulfinch, architect.

2. Gardner-White-Pingree House & Garden, 128 Essex St., SALEM, Essex County, MA 1769-74 (Roth says 1805)


a. HABS Photograph of Elevation

3. Tudor Place, 1644 Thirty-first St. NW, WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, DC

a. HABS Photograph of Elevation
b. HABS Photograph of Staircase

4. Langley Boardman House, Portsmouth, NH (1803-1806)

5. 131 Church St., Charleston, S.C. 1809 interior

6. "Woodlands", Philadelphia, PA, 1786-89 (William Hamilton house)

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URL http://101-01/101-georgian.htm
Name: Gary Stanton, Department of Historic Preservation
Email: gstanton@umw.edu