1918 Colonial Revival?

[BenA]

Hello! I am new to this forum... My wife and I are lovers of old houses; we purchased our first house about a year ago. We've been trying to nail down the style, but always get mixed responses.

Our house was built in 1918. We believe its a Colonial Revival because of the side hall... The house is about 1950 square feet. Originally the house had a small railing around the top of the porch (hints of a mediterranian style). The inside has all of the original wood trim and several builtins. The trim and builtins remind us of a craftsman style house. On both sides of the house there are leaded glass windows... Any other thoughts and/or confirmations would be appreciated!

There are builtins around the fireplace, but couldn't upload that many pictures.

And there is a sun room off of the side of the house... You just can't see it in this picture.

Here are some pictures:

[S Melissa]

What a pretty house! Love the double french doors and the front is just so - American! I'd say that Colonial Revival is a pretty good bet. Like any architectural theme, there are tons of variations - great and modest of each genre which makes it hard to pin point just what "is my house?" Welcome to the forum/front of OH people!

[onthelake]

Hi

Sweet house . The built-ins were very common during that time.

Colonial revival - well sort of and sort of not.

It was built right on the cusp of when the Colonial (and Tudor and etc) Revival was the fad - started in 1920 through right after WWII. COlonial Revival btw drew heavily on Georgian and Federal design of the late 18th and early 19th century - and not the true colonial structures of saltboxes, small cape cods with a peacked gable or a ship's bottom gable, etc.

A true Colonial Revival generally

- have a rectangular footprint and

- may be one, one-and-a-half, or two stories.

- have either a hipped or gabled roof with a medium pitch.

Okay - so far so so good. BUT

- the façade is generally symmetrical which gives it formality and balance and often have often with side porches or wings balancing the facade

- double-hung, multi-paned windows are arranged symmetrically, frequently in pairs.

- the front door is centered and accentuated with a combination of pediment, pilasters, columns, fanlight, or sidelights.

ANd therein is the problem. Your house is asymetrical - more typical of Victorian, Arts and Craft, and Edwardian. It has touches of Greek Revival (early 19th century) and the built-ins of the Arts and Crafts and EDwardian periods.

Not all houses can be pigeonholed into the historic architectural styles. Often the local builder would have a desgin he liked or which had become popular in the community and which did not come from the 'popular' designs. The locally design concpet often borrowed a little from here (sa mayve the high ceilings of a Queen ANne or the mouldings of Arts N' Crafts) and a little from there (rectangular of the COlonial Revival or ture Greek Revival of the early 19th century) and some of this and some of that..... Kind of an eclectic approach - often called Folk Architecture as it developed from the local tastes.

Think of house design now. And imagine 100 years from now where someone says 'gee is this a xyz' as they are looking at Architectural Digest photos of post-modernist lofts and the house they are trying to figure out is the basic ranch that had been added onto and designed to meet the orignial owner's taste

[BenA]

Thanks for the input... I appreciate it. Looking forward to being around!

[airgrabber]

Okay - so far so so good. BUT

- the façade is generally symmetrical which gives it formality and balance and often have often with side porches or wings balancing the facade

- double-hung, multi-paned windows are arranged symmetrically, frequently in pairs.

- the front door is centered and accentuated with a combination of pediment, pilasters, columns, fanlight, or sidelights.

ANd therein is the problem. Your house is asymetrical - more typical of Victorian, Arts and Craft, and Edwardian. It has touches of Greek Revival (early 19th century) and the built-ins of the Arts and Crafts and EDwardian periods.

Not all houses can be pigeonholed into the historic architectural styles. Often the local builder would have a desgin he liked or which had become popular in the community and which did not come from the 'popular' designs. The locally design concpet often borrowed a little from here (sa mayve the high ceilings of a Queen ANne or the mouldings of Arts N' Crafts) and a little from there (rectangular of the COlonial Revival or ture Greek Revival of the early 19th century) and some of this and some of that..... Kind of an eclectic approach - often called Folk Architecture as it developed from the local tastes.

Okay, I'll bite on this one. First, I mostly agree with the ABOVE statements describing what features Colonial Revival houses generally tend to have. Having said that - THIS house is essentially a colonial revival with details borrowed from the Craftsman and Edwardian forms. Essentially, "Edwardian" is a later period of Victorian architecture (1900-1915 or thereabouts) with less bombastic, plainer styling. This particular house, built in 1918, is a perfect example of the Colonial Revival interpretation, a form that perhaps could be characterized as a bastardization of different styles with a "Colonial" foundation. Since the revival styles of the Teens and Twenties were more often than not "romanticized" versions of the real thing - borrowing bits and pieces from other styles and genres - they are, by definition. NOT exacting and precise copies of the genuine article.

Furthermore, Colonial architecture is a broad form and is not ALWAYS expressed with a symmetrical facade with a centered door, and I would disagree with using that "rule of thumb" to differentiate a later Colonial Revival "mutt". Subsets of colonial architecture - such as Georgian or Federal - might be symmetrical with a centered door, but not always...especially with Federal-style townhouses found in cities like Philadelphia or Baltimore. The key words are "usually" and "generally"...there's not many hard and fast rules in Revival architecture.

A true Colonial Revival generally

- have a rectangular footprint and

- may be one, one-and-a-half, or two stories.

- have either a hipped or gabled roof with a medium pitch.

Okay, this confuses me. According to THESE statements - you feel that a foursquare is not a subset of Colonial Revival architecture due to its generally square footprint? And, with it's steep roof pitch and or "cat-slide" roof details, neither is a Tudor Revival? How do you characterize a Storybook-style home?

[S Melissa]

Few of us have pristine examples of text book forms of architecture. Often we have to grasp at some key elements that are the strongest indicators of a specific form, and go from there. For instance, my house is "Italianate" - but it is a Michigan farm house, bereft of the exuberant forms of Italianate architecture found in more sophisticated cities. Truly, the most indicative elements are the double brackets under the eaves.

In this instance, this lovely home is "mostly" colonial revival. Probably from a pattern book or part of a "development" in the 1920's wherein the developer/builder took some artistic license and modified this that or the other thing to market his product. I've seen some colonial revival homes that are spectacular and many more like this one, that are modest, honest and lovely.

Onthelake - I do appreciate your in-depth knowledge of architecture and I do appreciate the exposure to additional information. We are all here to learn from each other. I've only come to know anything about "storybook" homes in the recent past, and the PA house seemed to have some of those quirky elements that I noticed in the pictures I've looked at. True enough, not the wild and exciting examples you provided - wouldn't that be wonderful!? Lacking any true straws upon which to grasp - I looked for other elements, and settled on the Storybook idea - but I think you're right - probably a summer cottage that grew and evolved as time went on - with elements of the Chalet type features - tho again - nothing truly "chalet" about it - just hints here and there.

Onthelake - thank you for providing all of us with more information - but I remain of the opinion that often, these things are, like a good dog from the pound - difficult to detect their ancestors, but you go with what mostly works!