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tyguy_gw

Architectural gurus - American Colonial or Revival?

tyguy
15 years ago

After looking at a few of the magnificent houses posted on here, I am wondering if people educated in Architectural styles could tell me. This is my house built in 1932, and I was wondering if people here would consider it an American Colonial or a Colonial Revival, Georgian? Something in between?

Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: My Home

Comments (11)

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    15 years ago

    IMO, it's like an Irish/Georgian type. A period-house revival style. It's not "pure" because of the mulled windows. Pure would have the windows as singles. The coupled windows do occur in British and Irish subtypes.
    Casey

  • mightyanvil
    15 years ago

    It's not clear what kind of windows it has or if they are original but I would say paired double-hungs suggest Colonial Revival.

  • jegr
    15 years ago

    Colonial Revival, probably remodeled in the 1970's or '80's when casement windows were very much in vogue. I expect the original windows were wide d/h's that fit the whole space. The room to the right would have started as a screened porch. Many were enclosed from the '60's on when a/c units became readily available - ie, no longer a great need for a cool place on a hot day.

    If you can post a picture of the front showing the windows it would be easier to tell you more about the evolution of your house.
    The portico over the front door and the little windows above (which might have been casements originally) are typical Colonial Revival details from the era between the Wars. The box shape of the house, the symmetrical front, its eve returns, the dormers are all Colonial Revival hallmarks.
    It's a nice big house for 1932. I expect it was built for someone resonably well to do and has nice interiors too.

  • tyguy
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks so much to all of those who have helped out so far. Since that picture was taken, the windows have been replaced. However, they were original. There were absolutely no scars from a retrofit, and materials that had never been disturbed. The windows in the dormer are the only ones that had been replaced, and they replaced them with vinyl(yuck).

    The interior certainly was nice at one time, and there are still many parts that are, but over the years it has seen some renovations that really were not in keeping with the houses original beauty. I have grand plans to bring this house back to its original glory, and beyond.

    The story behind how the house came to be. This house is located one street to the east of the main street of the town(the main street is literally a 60-90 second walk from my door), which has since grown into a city. And although the "new" downtown has sort of centered around a wide street with every box store imaginable, I still love the old downtown location for pedestrian convenience. And yes, apparently the original occupants were fairly well known and probably upper middle class. They owned the hardware store in town. As everyone knows we were 2-3 years into the great depression, and a lot of local contractors had racked up accounts with the hardware store that they did not have money to pay. So the owner of the store and contractors that owed him agreed to build him this house to pay off their debts. I love this story, and it just adds to the value of the house(to me).

    I just adore old homes, and this one definitely is extremely well built. The brickwork is in perfect condition with not one structural crack. The foundation is the same. The floors are as straight and flat as a billboard table.

    Anyway, I would like to rebuild a new portico on this home. I want to build it out so that the front of the portico protrudes equal to the top of the front stairs, with two columns holding up the roof. Now here is a serious question; Are there any do's and dont's with this? Should the columns be round or rectangular? How bout roof? Flat? Pitched? I also plan on adding shutters. We really like the paneled shutters, but notice a lot of louvered shutters on similar houses. Any thoughts on this? Also keep in mind that I do not have to stay 100% "pure", as I do not believe this house is 100% pure to any design. But I would like to avoid a mistake that is very out of line.

    Here is a link that might be useful: I found picture of the front

  • tyguy
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Dug around and also found a picture of the inside of the windows. It is an "inswing casement" with a lock lever and "staybar" to hold the window in place.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Inside of window

  • mightyanvil
    15 years ago

    The sash are obviously not original. Perhaps the windows were replaced inside the original frames.

  • tyguy
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    mightyanvil-Yes, that could be true, it may be original frames with replacement sash's, I wasn't too sure about that myself. However, from your perspective what gives it away? I would say the hardware is definitely not 60's or 70's. Looks very 20's or 30's in my opinion. But I am not an architect or specialist in old homes, so I can not say for sure.

  • mightyanvil
    15 years ago

    The window muntins don't appear original to me.

  • allison1888
    15 years ago

    I say flat roof on the portico. Here's a link to ways to find the architectural history on a house. Interesting way to research.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Architectural history of a home

  • tyguy
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    mightyanvil-Those muntins are actually just some tape that was applied to the inside of the window. Probably a bad experiment of the 80's! lol. Anyway, I was talking to my neighbour who has been living there for 54 years and he said the windows have not been changed since he has lived there.

    allison1888- thanks for the link. Any other idea's for the portico? Do you think round columns or square?

  • lsst
    15 years ago

    Colonial Revival
    Round columns for the portico