Circa 1830 – 1955
The colonial Revival style was one of a series of revival styles that were popular in the United States in the early 1900s and up until the 1950s. The colonial Revival form was based on the English and Dutch colonial styles that had been popular in the early colonies on the Eastern coast. There were many variations on the shape of the colonial Revival home that ranged from the simple one-story form with a side-gabled roof and the two-story, hipped roof form to the three-story form with a hipped roof and the side-gabled form with a second-story overhang.
Unlike its English and Dutch predecessors. some Colonial Revival homes had asymmetrical façades, with porches and windows arranged irregularly. They usually had paired or triple windows (not Palladian windows) or bay windows on the main level and some had a single story, flat roof wing addition on a side elevation. Another difference between a Colonial Revival house and the older styles was the use of different types of pediments above doors and windows. A broken pediment or a segmented pediment was often used instead of the classic pediment that had been popular in Georgian and Federal homes. Other entryway differences included are use of a decorative pediment that was free standing and not supported by pilasters or the use of sidelights without a fanlight above. Some revival type homes were built with exposed eaves, which would never have been utilized on older colonial styled homes. Colonial Revival homes that were built as a nostalgic look back at Dutch Colonial homes were generally two-story and often had a cross-gable and dormer windows that were not used previously. All of the other decorative elements found on Colonial Revival homes, like decorative cornices and windows with double hung sashes, remained the same or very similar to what would have been found on me original English and Dutch style homes built during America’s colonial period.
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