EARLY ARCHITECTURE STYLES

Greek Revival Style 1850-1870

The antiquities of Greece inspired the Greek Revival style. A bold, orderly style, it was popularized by architectural handbooks for carpenters. Typical details—gabled roofs (like Greek temples) columns, pilasters, wide wooden entablatures (horizontal trim under roofs and over doors), wide corner pilasters, and pediments. The common Grand Ledge version was a small house with 1 1/2 stories, decorated with a roofline entablature supported by wide corner board pilasters. Windows in Greek Revival style houses were usually smaller with multiple panes of glass in each sash. The most popular paint color was white, giving the appearance of marble.

Spartan Style 1850-1900

This term is used for a style of home popular in Grand Ledge. It shares details of both Greek Revival and Italianate but in a simpler, pared down, form. First seen in the very first home built in Grand Ledge by Abram Smith in 1851, this style remained unchanged into the 1890s. Shallow hip roofs cover the main structure, although gables may be seen in wings off the main structure. Narrow corner boards with moldings forming simple capitals run up to wide entablatures. Window and door trim is kept simple. These homes lack ornamentation except on porches. Pioneering families (Abram Smith, Rueben Wood, and George Bull) built two story homes, but single story cottages were often built as rental properties during the Resort Era. Bracketed Italianate bay windows were often added later and compliment the proportions of the building very well. Because of its classical proportions and economical features, this style remained popular for half a century.

Italianate (Bracketed) Style 1870-1885

Italian country villas were the model for the Italianate style. Designs were available in popular building publications. Italianate houses are usually cube-shaped with shallow hip roofs. The characteristic feature of the style is the bracket--brackets ornament the cornice (the wooden trim under roofs and sometimes over doors and windows), bay windows, door hoods, and porches. Porch posts are usually chamfered (cut off at an angle). Bay windows are very common. Larger homes often have towers, cupolas or widow walks on the roof.  Windows in houses usually have two panes in each sash and may have round or arched tops with heavy trim. Paint colors generally were natural tones to blend in with the landscape. Commercial Italianate features heavy window hoods and bracketed cornices. 

Gothic Revival Style 1865-1880

The picturesque and pointed forms of the Gothic Revival style were derived from medieval Gothic architecture. Architects of the time also felt this naturalistic irregular style was more suitable for American country houses. Bargeboards cut in fanciful geometric or naturalistic shapes trim the steep roofs. Porches are trimmed with lacy cut out brackets. Modest houses are symmetrically built but have steeply pitched roofs, dormers, and porches edged with bargeboard. Windows are vertically divided and often feature pointed arches.  Paint colors were neutral shades to blend in with nature.

Queen Anne 1880-1905

Colorful, individualistic, and exuberant describe the Queen Anne style. Numerous architectural pattern books provided the designs and woodworking mills mass-produced turned porch posts, moldings, and other trim. This was the machine age and detail could easily be manufactured by skilled woodworkers. The feeling was--the more fanciful the better!
Most buildings in the style are irregular in form, with hip and gable roofs, and projecting bay windows, towers, and dormer windows. Wood-frame houses are sided with imaginative combinations of wood shingles with decoratively cut ends, clapboards, and vertical or horizontal boards dividing wall surfaces. Spacious porches have elaborately turned posts and balusters. Skirts below porch floors are made of latticework or vertical slats with fanciful cut-out designs. Windows come in a variety of shapes and sizes and often contain panes of stained glass. Multi-colored paint schemes highlight the ornate trim.

Eastlake/Stick 1890-1905

Often simpler then their Queen Anne contemporaries, these homes featured decoration with wooden boards or “sticks”. If there is one thing to remember about this style it is “lines”. Straight Lines in siding and moldings form the decorations.  In brick homes the decoration is kept to a minimum, usually only seen in a sun burst brick work around the windows, and on the wooden porch.

Princess Anne 1895-1915

This style evolved from the exuberant Queen Anne style. In massing and roof outline, the homes remain nearly identical. However Princess Anne looses the exterior detail in favor of simple clapboards. Colonial touches are often seen in the porches. Less expansive to build and maintain, this style was popular.

Colonial Revival 1900-present

American architectural styles of the 18th century were the inspiration for the Colonial Revival style. Numerous publications featured architectural plans and one could even order Colonial Revival style houses from Sears, Roebuck and other catalogs. Architectural elements from earlier periods were used in a regimental manner. Colonial Revival buildings usually were formal and symmetrical. The Palladian (three part) window became a standard feature of the new style. Porches with classical columns were used in the finest Colonial Revival style buildings, as well as on more modest houses. Paint colors returned to the chaste white or light yellows of the Federal era.

Craftsman Movement 1900-present

The Craftsman Movement is less a style then it is a philosophy. Fussy detail and small rooms were rejected. Gone were the Sunday Parlor and separate sitting room. When you walk into a Craftsman home you feel the sense of space. The openness of the rooms feel completely different from Victorian houses. The primary inspiration for the Craftsman style was to look to nature, local materials, local building traditions and to design and construct after the manner of honest craft traditions. The Craftsman Movement was the first step toward the modern Ranch home. The house layout emphasizes the horizontal, rather than multiple stories, and the philosophy is very middle class without space for maids and servants.
The Craftsman is typically one to one-and-a-half stories, with a sloping roof line and sheltering overhangs. The porch is still important and is wide enough to feel like an outside room. The woodwork is still heavy and dark, but is usually square and simple. Homes often have beamed ceilings, oak wainscoting in the dining room, built-in cabinets and cozy fireplaces. Windows are often grouped in pairs. Exposed rafters in the eves are a common feature. The Craftsman home comes in a variety of forms: from low bungalows to more cubical foursquare to Tudor inspired designs. But all of them feature open floor plans with lots of windows for light and fresh air. In many ways the Craftsman Movement continues in homes built today.