Circa 1880 – 1900
The style known as Richardson Romanesque was one of the few of the Victorian styles that was used for commercial buildings along with homes. Another of the uniquely American styles, Richardson Romanesque was popularized by the architect Henry Hobson Richardson who was in turn influenced by the polychromed masonry walls of the Gothic Revival, the European Romanesque style, and the use of Syrian arches. He also emphasized the importance of the lower level by the use of heavy rustification. The main subtypes of these buildings could be broken into three basic subtypes. The most common subtype was the hipped roof form with one or more cross gables. The other basic Richardson Romanesque subtypes was the town home and any other version, like the simple hipped roof, mansard roof, side-gabled roof, or a cross-gabled roof.
The majority of Richardson Romanesque buildings had at least one tower as well as multiple dormers, Almost all of these buildings had some sort of elaborate arch, such as the Syrian arch, that originates and terminated closer to the ground than a traditional arch, or arches that had elaborate surrounds or detailed cushion capitols. Richardson Romanesque windows were often found in groups of two or more and were always arched or rectangular.
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