thumb|Memorial City Hall in [[Auburn, New York, built between 1929 and 1930 in the Colonial Revival style]]

The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.

The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the architectural traditions of their colonial past. Fairly small numbers of Colonial Revival homes were built –1910, a period when Queen Anne-style architecture was dominant in the United States.

Characteristics

While the dominant influences in Colonial Revival style are Georgian and Federal architecture, Colonial Revival homes also draw, to a lesser extent, from the Dutch Colonial style and post-medieval English styles. Colonial Revival homes are often eclectic in style, combining aspects from several of these previous styles.

Since Colonial Revival architecture pulls structural and decorative elements from other styles, there is not one single combination of elements that defines the style. However, some commonly found characteristics of Colonial Revival buildings include:

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File:Robinson Hall at LA Tech IMG 3763.JPG|Historic Robinson Hall on the Louisiana Tech University campus in Ruston, Louisiana, is named for the second president of the institution, William Claiborne Robinson.

File:Hyattsville PO Nov 08.JPG|Hyattsville Post Office in Hyattsville, Maryland, built in 1935

File:Henry M. Jackson's Home-1.jpg|Colonial Revival home of Henry M. Jackson in Everett, Washington

File:UD North Green.JPG|Brown and Sypherd Residence Halls, University of Delaware. Much of the central campus is built in Colonial Revival style.

File:16 24 062 little white house.jpg|The Little White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt's personal retreat near Warm Springs, Georgia

File:Town Hall Lawn.jpg|Mount Kisco Village Hall

File:Former Post Office, Manchester CT.jpg|Weiss Center, a town-owned facility in Manchester, Connecticut, was a former post office. It is made of brick with limestone trim and contains a portico.

File:Robert A. Stranahan residence, exterior views, 2019 - DPLA - eed3161fa610da19ad462be4f1d0fb8d (page 1).jpg|The Robert Stranahan residence in Toledo, Ohio, now a part of Wildwood Preserve Metropark

File:FSHS front.jpg|Fairmont Senior High School, a public secondary school in Fairmont, West Virginia

File:2016 Brooklyn College Library.jpg|The Brooklyn College Library, designed by architect Randolph Evans

File:Prince Albert Court House.jpg|Prince Albert Courthouse, built in 1927

File:McNeil Center for Early American Studies - IMG 6579.JPG|The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, at the University of Pennsylvania, named for Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

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See also

  • Colonial Revival garden
  • Dutch Colonial Revival architecture
  • Mission Revival Style architecture
  • New Classical architecture
  • Spanish Colonial Revival architecture
  • Wallace Nutting
  • Colonial Williamsburg

Further reading

  • Alan Axelrod, ed. The Colonial Revival in America. New York: W.W. Norton, 1985.
  • William Butler, Another City Upon a Hill: Litchfield, Connecticut, and the Colonial Revival
  • Karal Ann Marling, George Washington Slept Here: Colonial Revivals and American Culture, 1876–1986, 1988.
  • Richard Guy Wilson and Noah Sheldon, The Colonial Revival House, 2004.
  • Richard Guy Wilson, Shaun Eyring and Kenny Marotta, Re-creating the American Past: Essays on the Colonial Revival, 2006.

References