House & Garden 
4S 
DEFINING 
COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE 
WILLIAM B. BRAGDON 
W HAT is actually meant by 
the much discussed Colonial 
type of architecture? 
To the layman the term 
“Colonial” may vaguely suggest 
a column, or perhaps some antique 
dilapidated farmhouse, devoid of 
modern comforts, the habitat of 
our . rugged and unpolished fore¬ 
fathers. In the South, to be sure, 
the plantation idea creeps in with 
visions of hoop skirts, banjo 
clocks, smokehouses and slave 
quarters. One recollects a mas¬ 
sive pillared portico, and a monu¬ 
mental staircase seen on entering 
the front door. 
Here might be a good start in 
itself, but most of us get no fur¬ 
ther than a gabled house with a 
porch across the front, supported 
by a series of columns. Houses of 
this type are seen everywhere, and 
they are all referred to as Colonial. 
No wonder the prospective house¬ 
builder is either frightened at the 
suggestion of a Colonial house, or 
else believes himself thoroughly 
versed in its style. 
Let us see where he can be en¬ 
lightened and brought to a better 
understanding and appreciation of 
the subject. 
The history of architecture teaches us 
that the periods or schools in its develop¬ 
ment have been brought about by the spirit 
of the age. If we look for the spirit of 
Colonial times, we find that the answer is 
undoubtedly simplicity. The buildings con¬ 
structed in the early settlements from Maine 
to Georgia bear a striking resemblance to 
each other, and have all this quality of sim¬ 
plicity. No matter how imposing or how 
primitive the structure may be, whether it 
is a manor house on the James River or a 
farmhouse on Cape Cod, there is an un¬ 
mistakable element of refinement and do¬ 
mesticity about it. 
It is not so difficult to locate the origin 
of our so-called “Colonial Architecture” as 
it is to recognize its forms. 
During the early years of settlement of 
our country, housebuilding was confined to 
meager shelters of the log cabin type, but 
as the population increased and the hard¬ 
ships of pioneer days lessened, a more sub¬ 
stantial and permanent form of dwelling 
was sought. Many men in the Colonies 
who had been trained in the mother coun¬ 
try as builders and cabinet makers were 
now called upon to reproduce in the land 
of their adoption the style then in vogue in 
Europe. This style was known as Geor¬ 
gian, and its antecedents were classic. Its 
chief characteristics were simplicity and re¬ 
finement throughout. 
Tradition and Utility 
HOLLINGSWORTH & BRAGDON, ARCHITECTS 
The stairs are made the principal architectural 
feature of the true Colonial interior. This is 
the uncommon type 
One element of the Colonial plan was the house- 
depth hall that cut the building m half and 
gave it balance 
These qualities won for it quick favor in 
this country, and an adaptation of the 
architecture of the Georges began at once 
to spring up in the Colonies, departing from 
The second floor is usually a repetition of the 
first, the hall making a division of rooms that 
can be elaborated 
the traditional influence only as 
the limitations imposed by build¬ 
ing materials and the purse of the 
builder demanded. On account of 
the lack of brick and the great 
wealth of unclaimed forests, 
Colonial designers almost exclu¬ 
sively made use of wood. The 
richer population did import brick 
at times, but the majority of the 
houses were frame. 
Another element that influenced 
the character of the Colonial 
house was its general isolation 
and exposure, which demanded a 
compact all-under-one-roof ar¬ 
rangement, easier to protect and 
also to heat. 
On account of the extremes of 
climate between Maine and the 
Carolinas we find practical neces¬ 
sities producing different details, 
such as the high first story and 
free use of the porch in the South, 
and the Northern type of entrance, 
simple and flat to the ground. But 
in spite of minor variations of this 
sort, the arrangement of room and 
ornamental detail is consistent 
throughout the house. 
From origins like these, then, 
Colonial architecture had its rise. 
The sources from which the pres¬ 
ent day architect draws his inspiration for 
Colonial work are principally located in or 
near Salem, Mass.; the James River in 
Virginia; Charleston, S. C.; and Savannah, 
Ga., although there are many excellent ex¬ 
amples extant in every one of the thirteen 
original States. 
What are the characteristics of the style 
we refer to as Colonial? Since the first 
discussion of a house should concern the 
relation of its parts, we shall begin with the 
plan in general. 
The Colonial Plan 
A “Colonial” plan consists of a narrow 
hall continuing through the center of the 
house from the front door to the rear, thus 
cutting the building in half. The stairs, 
which with the fireplace mantels form the 
principal architectural decorative features 
of the interior, rise from this hall to the 
second story. From the entrance hall to 
right and to left two rooms open off on each 
side; these rooms are usually of equal 
dimensions, and their separating partitions 
stand at right angles to the direction of the 
hall. There are fireplaces in all the rooms, 
arranged back to back in pairs with a single 
chimney in the center of the dividing parti¬ 
tion ; or each fireplace may have a separate 
chimney on the outside wall of the room. 
These rooms were used as reception room 
and library on the one hand, and parlor 
and dining-room on the other. If the house 
was a small one, the reception room was 
used as a dining-room and the room be¬ 
yond as a kitchen, although it was more 
usual to locate the service quarters in an 
attached one-story wing with a lean-to roof 
