architecture – John Angell – Paragon Realtors

Architectural Corner: Low Country

Originating during the 1700s in South Carolina’s low-lying coastal areas. Low country brought European style, adapted to the area’s subtropical climate. It embraced the god-forsaken humidity by taking advantage of the coastal breeze, with huge, often double-hung windows to facilitate circulation and huge, often screened, wrap-around porches.

Low Country homes are mostly elevated to avoid flood damage, they also feature symmetrical, usually open floor plans, multiple columns, window shutters, tall ceilings, and wood planks, shakes or simulated wood exteriors, Newer builds often boast metal roofs. Single-story floor plans have multiple dormers, two-story plans have large balconies and even the occasional widows walks on the roof.

Architectural Corner: Carriage House

Also called a coach house, the term describes a house that served as an 19th century garage, sheltering horse-drawn carriages, tack & other equipment. They were typically two stories with quarters on the second floor.

Small, utilitarian and typically only large enough for one carriage, they were nonetheless part of larger,Coachmen or caretakers typically occupied the second floor quarters.

While the need of horse carriages has oddly dwindled since Henry Ford, many of these homes have been converted into either residences, restaurants, garages or workshops. Quite a few still exist in Manhattan and outside of North America’s older large cities.

Architectural Corner: Modernist

Also called modern architecture, modernism is a style that came to prominence in between WWII & the 1980’s, between the Art Deco and Postmodern movements, although it can be traced as early as the 1890s. Based on innovative technologies such as glass, reinforced concrete and steel, it embodies function, minimalism, and a rejection of the ornate. (Given all the glass it could embody exhibitionism, but I digress…)

There are many subdivisions of modernism, such as Bauhaus, Expressionism & Mid-century Modern.

I want to hate modernism. It’s cold, soulless, reminding me of Cameron’s house from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but they’re just so cool.

Architectural Corner: Saltbox

Originating in Colonial New England during the 17th & 18th centuries , Saltbox homes were named after (surprise!) salt storage boxes from the era.

Typical of houses of that period, they were wood framed, using post-and-beam construction – cleverly joining timber pieces with joints, pegs and interlocked beams rather than nails, which were a rarity in Colonial America.

What separated Saltbox homes from other colonial homes were the so-called catslide rooflines, the result of adding sheds to the back of the house to increase square space and functionality, resulting in the front of the house being two stories and the back being one. It was a clever, economical way to add space.

Architectural Corner: Second Empire

Popular in the later half of the 19th century, Second Empire was influenced by bot the renaissance and Napoleon III’s Second French empire.

Characterized by mansard roofs (two slopes on each side, the lower slope at a steeper angle, often featuring dormers), boasting emphatic pavilions and being of enormous size, Second Empire buildings were solid and flat in their facades, projecting both an air of decor and formidability. They were almost always cubic or rectangular, sometimes featuring interior courtyards, adopting themes from Italianate floor plans. They were symmetrical, often with a tower in the center.

Architectural Corner: Colonial

Colonial architecture is a blanket term for homes that were built in the US beginning in the 1600s, that can be broken into categories based on location, the ethnicity of its settlers, the local climate and available materials. Despite this variety they have many features in common.

Built for large families, they typically had 4+ bedrooms, large attics that could be easily used as playrooms and finished basements (basement is a trigger word for me I want one so badly). Front doors are centered, flanked by multi-paned rectangular windows. Built centuries before furnaces, they either featured a central chimney or chimneys on both sides. They were typically 2-stories (minus the attic), stressing symmetrical architecture and floorplans.

Architectural Corner: Italianate

Often considered more popular at it’s peak than Greek Revival Style, from the 1840s-1880s the splendor of Italian architecture was brought to the US in the form of Italianate. Inspired by farmhouses and villas of the 16th century, Italianate was popular across the western world.

Characterized by asymmetrical layouts, low-pitched or flat roofs, tall narrow windows, stately cupolas, masonry blocks at corner walls (quoins), exterior gallery corridors (loggias), triangular gables (pediments) and several other terms I had to look up, Italianate carried both romance and dignity. Some even featured towers.

Lasting until shortly after the Civil War, many residential and commercial buildings alike can still be seen in the US, mostly in the coastal states like New York and California.

Architectural Corner: Romanesque Revival

Romanesque architecture was a style synonymous with 10th-12th century Medieval Europe, found across the continent. From 1840-1900, the style began to stretch around the world. From the 1840s-50s it became particularly popular in the US, when German immigrants brought their artisanal skills to the New World.

Featured both in public and private structures, Revival buildings featured round arches, corbels & historically accurate features such as lozenges chevrons. Either of decorated brick or stone construction, they boasted 3rd or 4th story towers with arched openings, low roofs, dramatic chimneys and asymmetric designs. The style was particularly popular in churches all around the world in the 1800s. Pretty much every TV haunted house ever is this style…

Architectural Corner: Beaux Arts

Originating in France in the 1830’s, Beaux Arts was an attempt to vary from Louis XIV-style neoclassicism, injecting elements from the renaissance and middle ages to ,”imprint upon our architecture a truly national character.”. It emphasized components of Imperial Roman architecture popular from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius with Italian, French Renaissance and Late Gothic.

Relying heavily on sculptural decoration and modern lines, Beaux Arts combined realism and impressionism. Flat roofs, arched windows & pedimented doors, symmetrical layouts and hierarchical spaces like grand staircases juxtaposed with utilitarian ones were but a few characteristics. Many of the great buildings of Paris feature this style. The D’Orsay, Monte Carlo Casino, Grand Palais & Sainte-Genevieve Library are to name a few.

Architectural Corner: Mission Revival

Drawing inspiration from the missions of old in California through both Southwestern and Spanish Colonial styles, Mission Revival pays homage to the rich Hispanic history of the Golden State. Ranging from single-family residences to train stations to hotels, this style became very popular in the 1920’s and 30’s, invoking a romanticized feel of California long ago.

Characterized by stucco walls (usually white), deep windows and doors, shallow rooflines covered with red clay roofs and even bell towers, Mission Revival is very distinctive. Inside one usually finds rough, exposed wood beams along ceilings, wide hallways, Terracotta tile flooring, dramatic archways and tons of natural light.

Unlike many fad revival styles that died out, Mission Revival is still wildly popular among new construction.