American Domestic Architecture, 1600-1990: Sources and Socioeconomic Patterns.

340 Pages·1.292 MB·English

by  Wood, Richard J., Wood, Rodger H.

American Domestic
Architecture
1600-1990
Rodger H. Wood
Richard J. Wood, Ph.D.
Frank Hoffmann, Ph.D.
Infosential Press
American Domestic Architecture
1600-1990
Rodger H. Wood
and
Richard J. Wood, Ph.D.
Edited by Frank Hoffmann, Ph.D.
Infosential Press
2000
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER NOTES 18
CHAPTER TWO
AMERICANAND BRITISH ARCHITECTURE, C.1619-1860
I AMERICAN COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE 23
II FEDERAL PERIOD ARCHITECTURE WITH PALLADIAN AND
REGENCY INFLUENCES 29
III DEVELOPMENT OF NEO-CLASSICAL GRECO-ROMAN
ARCHITECTURE 34
CHAPTER NOTES 39
CHAPTER THREE
ITALIANATE, NEO-CLASSICAL, BEAUX-ARTES, AND COLONIAL REVIVAL,
C.1800-1980
I ITALIANATE ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN AND THE UNITED
STATES 55
II FRENCH SECOND EMPIRE AND BEAUX-ARTES ECLECTIC
DESIGNS 59
III BRITISH WRENAISSANCE INFLUENCE ON NEO-GEORGIAN AND FEDERAL
PERIOD REVIVAL HOUSES 66
CHAPTER NOTES 73
CHAPTER FOUR
BRITISH AND AMERICAN GOTHIC REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE, C.1800-1929
I BRITISH GOTHIC-REVIVAL AND PICTURESQUE
CONCEPTS 89
II EARLY GOTHIC-REVIVAL IN AMERICA,
C.1830-1860 93
III ENGLISH QUEEN ANNE DESIGNS AND MIDDLE-CLASS
HOUSING ESTATES 99
IV AMERICAN ECLECTICISM: QUEEN ANNE, STICK, SHINGLE,
AND ROMANESQUE 101
V LATE VICTORIAN TUDOR/ELIZABETHAN HOUSES IN AMERICA,
C.1879-1929 111
CHAPTER NOTES 113
CHAPTER FIVE
ARCHITECTURAL THEORY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE
I NINETEENTH CENTURY ARCHITECTURAL THEORY IN
AMERICA 133
II DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DOMESTIC DESIGNS IN BRITAIN
AND AMERICA, C.1880-1917 143
CHAPTER NOTES 147
CHAPTER SIX
EARLY MODERN AMERICAN DOMESTIC DESIGNS, C.1895-1925
I THE PRAIRIE SCHOOL: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S INFLUENCE IN MIDWEST
AND EUROPE 155
II CRAFTSMAN HOUSES AND THE ULTIMATE
BUNGALOWS 164
III EARLY FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA AND
EUROPE 166
IV WRIGHT AND LE CORBUSIER: ORGANIC VERSUS
FUNCTIONALISM 168
CHAPTER NOTES 181
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA, 1937-1963
I WRIGHT'S ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE AFTER 1937 195
II EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE,
1937-1990 202
CHAPTER NOTES 209
CHAPTER EIGHT
MINIMALIST MODERN TO POST-MODERNISM ARCHITECTURE
I MINIMALIST MODERN HOUSES, C.1940-1966 219
II POST-MODERN DESIGN APPROACHES 224
CHAPTER NOTES 234
CHAPTER NINE
DEVELOPMENT OF MIDDLE-CLASS SUBURBAN HOUSING, C.1890-1970
I INTRODUCTION 245
II HISTORICAL COLONIAL HOUSES, C.1635-1775 248
III MIDDLE-CLASS COLONIAL-REVIVAL HOUSES, C.1900-1930 251
IV OLD ENGLISH AND HALF-TIMBERED COTTAGES 255
V SUBURBAN BUNGALOWS 258
VI SOUTHWEST INDIAN ARCHITECTURE 259
VII SPANISH COLONIAL-REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE, C.1890'S TO 1935 260
VIII MASS-PRODUCED HOUSING AND PLANNED COMMUNITIES 262
CHAPTER NOTES 264
CHAPTER TEN
STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES
I SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUBURBAN EXPANSION 279
II SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURAL TYPES 281
III TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENTS AND RESIDENTIAL
PATTERNS 283
IV EARLY COLONIAL HOUSE TYPES 285
V GEORGIAN/PALLADIAN HOUSE TYPES 287
VI NINETEENTH-CENTURY VERNACULAR HOUSES 288
VII TWENTIETH-CENTURY VERNACULAR HOUSES--BUNGALOWS
AND RANCH HOUSES 290
CHAPTER NOTES 293
APPENDIX 301
BIBLIOGRAPHY 304
INDEX 331
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
This work presents an outline of American domestic architecture from the early
colonial period to the late twentieth century. The influence of English and European
architects and European models of architectural design is of particular interest. During
the colonial period, architectural forms can be explained as an expression of traditional
building practices imported from the home country. By the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century, however, a preference for traditional English, French, and Spanish
architectural forms must be defined by a nostalgia for historical forms that confers
social status and family heritage.
The designs utilized by wealthy builders for large plantation houses in colonial
America tended to follow English models. Their designs influenced related plans
adopted by middle-class house builders. Even small house designs were influenced by
vernacular English, French, German, or Dutch architecture, particularly by
architectural plans being published in Britain. Since colonial society was a mixture of
cultural influences and of colonists from different countries and social circumstances,
the architectural forms that developed were necessarily very diverse. These
architectural forms, that is, tended to be reflected in the overall social diversity of the
colonists.
In the Southern colonies, domestic architecture and social patterns tended to emulate
aristocratic English models. But in the Northern colonies, with their large urban centers
and commercial activities, English or Dutch middle-class urban architecture
predominated. In rural areas various European vernacular forms were experimented
with, as well as Scandanavian log construction and native Indian houses1 Such
experimentation continued until c.1810-1830 when a distinct Greek Revival house type
emerged. It was closely followed by Gothic and Neo-Classical Revival forms. These all
were influenced by English models and by English architects. An American form of
house design and construction slowly developed after c.1840-1850 with the publication
of numerous books by native trained craftsmen who introduced new construction
techniques suited to American social conditions.
Distinct stylistic variations in house design are generally found only in those societies
with a professional system of architectural education. The first American born
architects did not practice, however, until after c.1830. Before 1800, colonists and
settlers relied upon traditional building techniques and designs derived from English
and European models. Many colonial builders had been trained in Britain and tended
to copy plans from familiar aristocratic houses or from architectural books published in
England. British architects who had emigrated to the American Colonies were also
2 AMERICAN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
hired whenever possible to create house designs. Through these means, English
architecture dominated public competitions for important civic buildings, churches, or
commercial buildings until 1830. Foreign-born architects became prominent in
America,2 particularly in the larger commercial cities such as Newport, Charleston,
Mobile, Savannah, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or New Orleans.
Unlike Britain with its rigid class structure, the American Colonies were a much more
egalitarian society dominated by planters, merchants, and traders who determined the
social trends and prevailing architectural traditions of the new nation as it developed
towards self-rule. At first, houses of the wealthy resembled the middle-class manor or
townhouses of England in elevation or in interior furnishing. After the emergence of
nationhood, however, American architecture began to diverge from English design
and began emphasizing native building materials and forms over traditional British
forms. By 1840, moreover, an urban middle-class began to dominate society and
architectural books appeared promoting cottages or villas intended for suburban sites.
Of all of the early publications, the most popular and influential were those of Andrew
Jackson Downing who was trained as a horticulturalist. He became famous as an
architectural writer popularizing designs for smaller country houses that could be
integrated within landscape compositions. Downing's writing promoted his view that
American houses must be designed for industrious and independent artisans and
workers. He used the term 'cottage villas' for many of his designs, and wrote that:
What we mean by cottages, in this country, is a dwelling of small size, intended
for the occupation of a family, either wholly managing the household cares
itself, or, at the most, with the assistance of one or two servants. The majority of
such cottages in this country are occupied, not by tenants, dependants, or serfs,
as in many parts of Europe, but by industrious and intelligent mechanics and
working men, the bone and sinew of the land, who own ground upon which
they stand, build for them their own use, and arrange them to satisfy their own
peculiar wants and gratify their own tastes.3
A useful comparison can be made between Downing's plans for cottages and the
artistic cottages designed by John Nash in Blaise Hamlet, Gloucestershire, in 1810-18114
or the various cottage orné designs that he produced.5 In England, the word 'cottage'
could have a wide variety of meanings, sizes, and social connotations,6 and the term
'villa'7 was a newer word that was adopted in the architectural literature by the late
eighteenth century to denote a larger suburban house of a gentleman. In general, the
best way to distinguish the two terms is to define a cottage as being smaller and less
pretentious than a villa, and to define a villa as a medium-sized detached house
surrounded by extensive grounds in a suburban setting.8 In America, an English
trained architect Calvert Vaux popularized 'villa' designs in his book Villas and Cottages
of 1857. According to Vaux
By far too many of the villas that are built are extensive and costly, and many
persons in easy circumstances are deterred from building a home in the
country, because they are impressed with the idea that they must erect a large
house or none at all…All that appears to be necessary for real comfort in a villa
or cottage residence, exclusive of the bedrooms and offices, is a parlor of
tolerable size, which shall be the general living-room of the family, and another
INTRODUCTION 3
apartment contiguous to, or connecting with it, to be used as a break-fast and
dining room. If a third large room, to be called either library or drawing-room,
is required, the whole scale of the house is materially enlarged, and its cost
increased.9
A comparison of the plans in Vaux for villas and cottages, with an intermediate
'country' or 'suburban' house, shows that cottages generally have three to four rooms
per floor, and are at most two stories in height. Villas are two-story houses having at
least four large rooms per floor and a minimum of eight rooms. Villas often provided a
central tower or balcony, and a limited third or attic story. The cost of cottages,
furthermore, was significantly less than that of villas, by at least half. And villas tended
to have more elaborate architectural details and were often constructed from more
expensive and permanent materials. As with English examples, American villas of the
period favored Italianate designs. That is, American villas had elaborate cornices and
soffit brackets, as well as windows that were hooded, framed, or pedimented. Some
villas were Gothic, having pointed or arched windows with elaborate ornamental
tracery, pinnacles, or battlements. Such villas, moreover, were generally built of brick
or stone in the country, and were considered prominent suburban estates.
The earliest published designs for American cottages or villas were in the popular
English Gothic mode, and are adaptations of well-known English designs by Regency
architects such as John Nash and Jeffrey Wyatt(ville) or are by Gothic Revival
architects like A.W.N. Pugin and William Butterfield during the early Victorian Period.
Gothic designs by English-trained architects Richard Upjohn10 or John Notman,11 or
those by American-born architect A.J. Davis,12 are adaptations of English cottages.
Later house designs published by A.J. Downing,13 Calvert Vaux,14 A.J. Bicknell,15
Samuel Sloan,16 and George E. Woodward and Edward G. Thompson17 introduced a
variety of different design approaches. They included 'Italianate', 'Norman',
'Castellated', 'Elizabethan', 'Ornamental', 'Suburban', 'Old English', and even
'Picturesque' which had some Gothic elements mixed with neo-classical features or
Renaissance details. Although a few Gothic designs could be found after 1850,18 they
were clearly in a minority by this time, particularly with architectural publishers. This
reflected either a general change in public taste or a professional aversion to Gothic
architecture by designers. Since similar changes were occurring in England with Gothic
designs being supplanted by Italianate or other neo-classical forms, the preferences of
American publishers may simply reflect current trends in England.
One reason for the dominance of neo-classical architecture in America after 1860 can be
attributed to the influence of Beaux-Artes trained American architects. Besides Calvert
Vaux and Gervase Wheeler, who were both born in England and emigrated to America
in the 1850's, Richard Morris Hunt became the first native American architect to study
at the École Des Beaux-Artes in Paris from 1846-1854, where he developed a thorough
knowledge of classical and French design.19 After returning to the United States and
opening a studio in New York in 1857, he became the most popular domestic architect
for wealthy clients.
A second American architect to study at the École was Henry Hobson Richardson who
was in residence at Paris from 1860-1865, and upon his return to the United States he
formed a partnership with Charles Gambrill in 1867.20 Like Hunt, Richardson designed
his early houses for upper middle-class or wealthy clients combining French château
4 AMERICAN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
details with distinctly American and English Victorian elements.21 After 1880, however,
Richardson's mature style emerged, and his designs combined massive stone masonry
with small window and door openings, small porches, large turrets or towers, and
monumental arches that have been called 'Richardsonian Romanesque'.22
Richardson and Hunt also created the earliest 'stick' and 'shingle style' designs,
influencing other architects23 to develop similar designs. In the metropolitan New York
and Boston areas and in Newport, Rhode Island (utilized as a summer resort by
wealthy New York families), the first 'stick' houses designed by Hunt and Richardson
are found after c.1862, with the earliest shingle houses appearing after c.1874. Late
shingle houses of c.1880-1887 have distinctive low and horizontal lines, roofs with
steep pitches and ridges, and patterns of shingles on their exterior surfaces.24
Oftentimes, turrets or towers were added (borrowed from Richardson's Romanesque
designs) as well as large wrap-around porches on the front or sides to provide
additional outdoor living space and spatial elaboration.
Shingle houses promoted experimentation with Colonial-Revival forms combining
Georgian and Palladian facades and plans. Particularly in country houses or weekend
villas a restoration movement was fostered that could be considered part of nation-
building. Or as Axelrod says
…to create a central national experience and a central core of myths and values.
Repeatedly in the accounts of American colonial revival efforts we find that
patriotism is perceived as a major motive for preservation or restoration…The
evidence of the past…demonstrates that people realized the necessity of
preserving relics in order to keep ideas and ideals alive. The most abstract
cultural values need to be grounded in some tangible and verifiable truths.
Some of these relics, like Mount Vernon, were unique but were given
widespread impact through such strategies as designing a governing board
with representatives from all states….That the colonial became the vehicle for
national identity is again largely an accident of history, since any objects
associated with the formative years of nation building probably could have
been transferred into positive and potent icons of that period….All societies
need shared symbols and values, without them they are only an agglomeration
of people…every society evolves the rules by which it will operate and the
symbols it will honor….Better to see the extra-ordinary success of the colonial
revival into our own day as evidence of a need to continue to reaffirm in non-
verbal terms certain tenets and values perceived as central to American life and
the American experience.…25
Antecedents for 'shingle style' designs came primarily from English Queen Anne
designs created by the leading British architects (R. Norman Shaw, Basil Champneys,
Ernest Newton, James MacLaren, E.W. Godwin, J.D. Sedding, C.H. Townsend).26 While
house designs presented in American publications were somewhat similar to English
Queen Anne designs,27 designs by many of the leading American architects featured
more simplified elevations and treatments than contemporary English work. This
simplicity primarily resulted from differences in building materials and construction
methods, for American architects primarily utilized standardized lumber and shingles
to create designs that were often intended only for summer occupancy.
INTRODUCTION 5
In England, by contrast, Queen Anne houses were being built in large suburban
housing estates around larger cities specifically intended for middle-class clients as
primary residences or as studio houses for artists/architects. English Queen Anne
houses, moreover, were predominantly built of brick and stone (with limited use of
terracotta tiles or mouldings), and this choice of materials gave English houses a more
homogeneous character than American designs constructed from wood. In America,
stone was generally utilized only for the largest and most expensive houses, for only
wealthy clients could afford the great expense involved in quarrying, transporting,
working, and erecting stone structures. Terracotta architectural elements were also
more difficult to obtain in America. Therefore, terracotta tended to be used only on
commercial or public buildings.
American shingle and stick designs were primarily publicized in the growing
architectural press consisting of numerous professional journals and books featuring
house plans. An extensive architectural press developed after the Civil War in response
to a widespread public demand for housing to meet the needs of an expanding
population that was moving West at an unprecedented rate. When the transcontinental
railroad was completed, and the early gold and silver miners of the wild West were
replaced by farmers, ranchers, and merchants, there was a steady demand for new
housing that continued until the new century. From the Appalachians to the Sierra
Nevadas and the Pacific Ocean, new towns and homesteads were being created daily.
House designs were required particularly in areas without established architects or
builders. In the Northeast and in New England, by contrast, established families were
building seaside or mountain vacation homes. This also created a demand for simple
house plans suitable for local builders. Publishers such as William T. Comstock and
R.W. Shoppell in New York28 produced numerous catalogs containing house plans,
while other publishers produced books of photographs featuring the latest country or
urban houses of the period.
Another related subject that was of interest to women was domestic science, or
housekeeping By the late 1860's, the first books began to appear giving specific advice
on how to design and organize house interiors. One of the first books to appear in
America on this subject was that of Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe titled
The American Woman's Home: Or, Principles ofDomestic Science, etc., of 1869. In addition,
many of the new illustrated magazines published articles on house design and these
had an enormous impact on house owners, builders, and architects.29 Such journals
also had a widespread influence on the development of a distinctive American type of
house by 1900, contributing directly to the development of modern architecture. By
demonstrating the advantages of laborsaving equipment, central heating, modern
kitchens, and washing machines, domestic publications promoted functional house
plans.
Perhaps the most dramatic development in the field of domestic design, however,
came when architectural publishers issued plans and elevations of houses complete
with working drawings. Such publications permitted a builder to construct a house at
a much lower price than that normally charged by a local architect. Published plans not
only promoted design standardization, but also tended to foster a degree of
competition between architects and designers for the growing middle-class market.
While large architectural firms could still make a reasonable living designing mansions
6 AMERICAN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
or large country houses for nouveau-richè families, architects were no longer needed to
provide designs for typical suburban houses. Architectural publications had a dramatic
impact particularly in rural areas, where no architectural services were available,
permitting builders in the country to erect the latest designs. Plans could even be
purchased with a complete list of building materials and detailed information on the
finishing of interiors and exteriors.
By c.1900-1908, moreover, lumber mills and building suppliers, and later Sears,
Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward's, began to offer builders complete kits
containing all the lumber, fixtures, hardware, and materials required to construct a
house.30 By the 1920's, builders of small houses had a complete array of services
available. Contractors as well as homeowners could purchase building materials and
erect houses without consulting an architect or calculating lists of supplies or fixtures
required for a project. This increased the speed and efficiency of home construction
and lowering building costs. These advances were particularly important in an era
without power tools, when most construction involved hand labor and specialized
tools that were not readily available. The savings in both time and money made the
purchase of complete house kits economical for standard designs.
During the late nineteenth century the federal government began compiling census
statistics on population, transportation networks, and business/manufacturing data.
This data can be utilized to define residential housing patterns. Population data, in
particular, can provide an insight into the general movement and character of urban
growth, as well as suburban architectural developments.
American middle-class house design after the Civil War was shaped by a variety of
demographic and economic factors. The largest urban areas (New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, San Francisco)
experienced dramatic population growth from 1870-1920 (See table 2) primarily
stimulated by railway expansion. (See table 3) The major cities contained almost 41% of
the urban population by 1910.31 Between 1870 and 1910 there was an average
population growth of 400% for the largest Northeastern industrial cities (for New York,
Philadelphia, and Boston) and over 1000% for the large cities of the Midwest and
Southwest (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles).
As a result of this phenomenal growth, suburban housing developments began to
appear around cities, particularly those with a railway system.
American industrial growth was largely a product of rapid expansion in
manufacturing and of the development of a national transportation network,
specifically railroads. Industrial development led to an increase in jobs that had, says
Pred,
...an initial multiplier effect; that is, new local demands created both by the
factories themselves and by the purchasing power of their labor force will call
into being a host of new businesses, service, trade, construction (of housing,
streets, street railways, sewers and water mains, schools and other public
buildings, and stores and other business establishments), transportation, local
government, professional, and miscellaneous white-collar jobs. Large doses of
new manufacturing may also be expected to amplify the initial multiplier by
encouraging the local appearance of linked industries that either provide inputs