Chronology
- 1915-1945 (Whiffen)
- 1700-1800 (Blumenson)
- 1700-1780 (McAlester)
- 1680s Early Georgian, 1706-1785 New England, 1695-1775 Maryland Virginia, 1703-1775 Middle Colonies, (Roth)
Description
The Georgian house is characterized by a formal arrangement of parts employing a symmetrical composition enriched with classical detail. The façade often is emphasized by a pedimented projecting pavilion with colossal pilasters or columns, and a Palladian or Venetian window. Sliding sash windows are common on houses of the eighteenth century. Each sash has several lights using as few as 6 or as many as 20 panes of glass in one sash (Blumenson, 19).
Variations
Gibbsian Georgian (Maryland, Virginia)
Gibbsian Georgian (Middle Colonies)
Gibbsian Georgian (New England)
Leading Examples
Gunston Hall (1755-1759), Mason Neck, Virginia.
The Wren Building (1695), College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. Its axiality, geometrical proportions, central pavilion, and belt course are Georgian features. (Poppeliers, 19)
Blandfield (1769-1773), Essex County, Virginia. Palladian five-part composition of a central block connected by hyphens to identical dependencies. (Poppeliers, 18-19)
The Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House (1759), Cambridge, Massachusetts. Projecting central pavilion, emphasized by Ionic pilasters, which was still a much-used feature of Georgian design more than 50 years after the Wren Building was constructed. (Poppeliers, 20)
Mount Pleasant (1761), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Palladian window in the center of its facade, This High Renaissance motif occurred in Philadelphia as early as 1727 in Christ Church, but its general use in American Georgian design did not come until several decades later. (Poppeliers, 20)
Drayton Hall (1738-1742), near Charleston, South Carolina. Likely the first American example of a Palladian double portico. The raised basement is appropriate to the climate and topography of the Carolina Low Country. (Poppeliers, 20)
Glossary
- Segmental arch
- Gabled dormer
- axiality
- geometrical proportions
- central pavilion
- belt course
Sources Cited
- Poppeliers, John C.S., et al. What Style Is It? A Guide to American Architecture. Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1983.