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Period Houses of Brunswick, Maine
Page 2
by David H. Boggs
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for explanations of technical terms used in this article.
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Transitional: Federal to Greek Revival |
8. What makes this a "transitional" house? The entry-door composition is classic Federal, with a fan ornament surmounting sidelights. The facade is five-ranked, and the six-over-six double-hung windows have louvered shutters. Although none of the preceding examples have had the giant corner pilasters of this example, this design element is not unusual in Georgian and Federal houses. Key differences are: (1) the continuous, deep entablature below the front and rear cornices, representing the characteristic heavy stone beam of a Greek temple; (2) the smaller size of the upstairs windows, necessitated by the entablature; (3) the lower slope of the gabled roof and a hint of prominence in the cornice returns, both further references to Greek temple architecture; and (4) the porticoed, off-center entry door in the gabled end wall- a typical feature of American Greek Revival houses.
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10. Although dated 1807, the Stowe House (where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin while her husband was teaching at Bowdoin College)has Neoclassical as well as Federal elements. We see the typical five-ranked Federal facade with six-over-six windows, and paired end chimneys. But note the Greek-Revival-type entry-door composition, the prominent entablature which the corner pilasters "support," and the smaller upstairs windows.
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11. Like House 9, this example has both Federal and Greek Revival features. It has the traditional Federal five-ranked facade with shuttered six-over-six windows. We have seen a flat-roofed entry portico before in Federal House 5. The roof slope is more Federal than Greek Revival. The balusters on the main roof are directly above the exterior walls as is typical of Federal balustrades. (Earlier Georgian balustrades usually surrounded a flat area at the top center of the roof, forming a "widow's walk.") The outside end chimneys are more often seen in the South, where retaining heat in the masonry was less desirable; but exterior chimneys had been used since Colonial times. However, note again the same Greek Revival elements we saw in Houses 8 and 9: the entablature, supported by giant pilasters, below the cornice of the main roof; the smaller upstairs windows which this design necessitates; and the prominent cornice returns, which in this example would be continuous across the end walls except for the intervention of the chimneys.
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11A. Here is another view of House 11. The wing at the rear has been built at an obtuse angle to the long axis of the main house, in order to conform to the shape of the in-town lot. Although the wing lacks the deep entablature which is the distinguishing mark of Greek Revival houses, the giant corner pilasters are present and the roofline and cornice returns are pure Neoclassical.
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9. This house shares many of the Greek Revival features of House 8: corner pilasters (slender in this case), an entablature (but not a very deep one) below the main-roof cornice, smaller upstairs windows, and a gabled roof of moderate slope. Also like House 8, it has (or had originally) an essentially Federal entry-door composition; the fanlight remains in place, but the sidelights and pilasters have apparently been removed to permit installation of double doors. However, the most striking feature of this house is its asymmetry; what would otherwise have been the familiar five-ranked facade has been extended to six by the inclusion of an additional bay on the right-hand end. (Note also that this bay is not in itself symmetrical; the upstairs window is out of line with its downstairs mate.) Asymmetry is characteristic of the Romantic styles (e.g., Greek Revival), as contrasted with earlier styles rooted primarily in Renaissance Classicism (Georgian, Federal, Early Classical Revival).
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