Colonial Revival Style - The American Nationalistic Movement in Architecture

The Colonial Revival architectural style is the building style in which designs prevalent in the Colonial period – more specifically, from around the Revolutionary War – were reused much later.

Following the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the Colonial Revival style took on a nationalistic hue and the builders began using architectural elements from earlier periods in American history in bank buildings, churches and suburban homes built during the early 1890s.

Common characteristics of the style were buildings typically with two stories with the ridge pole parallel to the street and a symmetrical front façade. The front doors themselves were ornate – machine-made woodwork (as opposed to deeper hand-made doors in the colonial period houses of similar style of the early 1800s) with crown pediments, topped with fanlight and sidelights. The main doorways were embellished with large, side porches or sun rooms that were usually multi-columned. Windows were symmetrically arrayed in the front façade on both sides of the doorway, typically double-hung adjacent pairs or three adjacent windows – Palladian windows, with louvered shutters, straight window heads and splayed lintels. The interior of the Colonial Revival style buildings typically were composed of grand staircases, paneled wainscot and fireplaces with fans. The furnishings were often modeled on antique pieces.

Of the areas that display relatively more Colonial Revival style buildings, three strips that were built in the 1920s are the Windsor Farms area in the west end of Richmond, Virginia; the Country Club District of Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis; and the Country Club District in Kansas City, Missouri, a residential district lying south and built around the former grounds of the Kansas City Country Club (now Loose Park).

It is to be noted that the Colonial Revival style has been undergoing changes with time, and is often a combination of the British colonial style and contemporary variety. During the 19th century, the Colonial Revival frequently used columns, by the 1930s, the style became more modest and columns were rarely used. By 1976, there was an amalgamation of the Colonial style and the ranch-style house resulting in eagle, cannon or drum motifs and occasionally wooden shake roofs. By the early 21st century, the Colonial style leaned towards the Anglo-Caribbean design of architecture.

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