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| This house in Richmond, Maine, is a rare example of a false front employed on a residential building. In this case, the false front, in Greek Revival style, masks an older cape style house. (Photo: Deb Holmes) |
The vertical extension of the front of a building beyond the roofline creates the false front style. Almost always used for commercial purposes, false front buildings gave an air of dignity to a quickly growing town by providing visual continuity along the street.
The style was popular in the West, after the California Gold Rush of 1849, as a way to make hastily built town buildings look more like the impressive commercial buildings of the East. In Colorado, the false fronts did double duty: They made buildings look more impressive; and they also hid the view of the surrounding mountains that reminded residents they were not in the East.
In other parts of the country, the style was employed in smaller towns as a means to create a more urban atmosphere.
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| -- National Park Service graphic |
Rarely was the false front was used in residences. Houses possessing a false front tended to be along the town's main street. The new front allowed an older residence to conform to the general streetscape. The false front house pictured above is along Richmond's Main Street. Richmond was a thriving ship building community in the 1800s and possesses many fine commercial and residential buildings.
False front buildings in their ornamentation usually echoed the architectural styles of the day. Popular styles included Italianate and Jacobean. A bracketed cornice brand the building Italianate. Stepped or curvilinear fronts marked the Jacobean style, popular in the South. The semi-circular cornice, shown in the drawing above, provided space for a sign in a commercial building.
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| (Click on any photo for a larger view.) |
| (Photos: Deb Holmes) |
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This story is part of an occasional series by The Old House Web on housing styles in America. Click here to see other stories on housing styles.
