The American Period

The American Period lasted from 1565-1776. It consisted of the Georgian, Postcolonial or Federal, Greek Revival, and the Victorian Period. The Georgian Period lasted from 1720-1790 and this period was very similar to Queen Anne, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton. Postcolonial lasted from 1790-1820 and the influence of this period was from Adam, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton. The Greek Revival had a temple style of architecture with English Regency and French Empire furniture. Lastly, the Victorian Period was from 1840-1880 and their architecture was influenced from Romanesque, Gothic and Mansart.

The Colonial period house designs had small windows and shutters, large central stone fireplaces, no closets, no plumbing, a family work center and simple hardy furniture.
The dutch was a common house which had steep-roofs with crow-stepped gables, decorative brickwork, dutch doors, shutters and ornamental tiles. Below is a dutch house in New Castle, DE in the 1600's.

The early Plantation houses had two floors and is in a shape of a 't' or cross. These homes had two square rooms with a center passageway between. They had enclosed porches and a stair tower. There was a fireplace on each end contrast to the north plan. Also, they had a center passageway for summer ventilation which was developed into the center hall. Below is an example of what a Early Plantation House looks like.

The Monticello was Neoclassical style that was apart of the Federal period and this was the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was built in 1796 by a classic architect and the furnishings inside were form his travels. It is located in Albemarle County, VA.

Exterior

Interior Parlor

Here is a video that further explains the Monticello home of Thomas Jefferson


Current Applications:

Discussion:

From Justine's blog I learned about the Victorian period. The houses were large with many smaller rooms and the rooms consisted of a lot of wood and heavy drapery. Also, I learned that the chair legs became shorter, seats thinker, deeper and crowned in the middle. I reviewed Rachael's blog as well and in hers I could really see the difference in the structures of homes and how much they have really evolved from the 17th century to the 18th century.