The Colonial Styles Of North America - Northern European

The Americas have a long and complex history of colonisation by European settlers

commonly understood to date back to the adventures of a certain C Columbus but in truth starting with the earliest visits of the Viking sailors in the first millennium AD. Whilst much might not survive of their influence on the land, the styles of the later medieval European settlers are still displayed in the colonial styles of old and modern North American architecture alike. Thanks to the mix of settlers there are a variety of influences to choose from.

French

The legacy of French settlers in North America can still be felt strongly in certain parts of French speaking Canada as well as around the Mississippi and its delta in the USA. Their buildings are typically characterised by being timber framed with large upright log pillars/columns set into the ground, known as porteaux-en-terre, or on platforms, known as porteaux-sur-solle. They are often distinctive in having a large porch along the front extent of the building, under the span of the main roof, with the raised porch and living quarters perching upon raised basements. The porches are also used to connect the building separate rooms with entrances leading through french (floor to ceiling glass panelled) doors. Entrance ways and windows can also feature plantation style shutters, whilst the walls between the timber frames are usually constructed of mixtures of clay, mud, animal hair, stones and latterly brickwork.

This French colonial style has become particularly associated with the American South, the Mississippi delta and the Plantation style due to its aptness for humid, hot and sometimes boggy environments.

Dutch

Migrants from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northern Germany and northern France settled extensively along the eastern seaboard of the USA, south of New England, particularly around the town then known as New Amsterdam, now known as New York (following its later purchase by the English). The term Dutch Colonial is commonly used to refer to houses with gambrel roofs - roofs that have a shallow slope towards the top of the roof and a steeper slope on the roof"s bottom portion (with an additional flare on some styles) - as well as some revivalist versions of these styles from the twentieth century. In reality however, Dutch settlers imported a mixture of styles and features including the use of brick, chimneys on each end of the roof, sash windows, stable (Dutch) doors and exterior wooden shutters whilst the earliest examples Dutch colonial architecture would have been simple single room houses which could have been developed over time.

German

Rather misleadingly the term German colonial can be applied to the architectural imports of settlers from across northern Europe, from Scandinavia to the Celtic nations of the UK, as well Germany itself. These migrants colonised similar territories as the "Dutch" settlers from the Low Countries as mentioned above, just slightly to the south and inland, in places like Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They also imported similar features from their homelands such as the use of exposed brick work and wishbone chimneys. Indeed Dutch Colonial is seen by some as a derivation of Deutsch (German/Germanic) rather than specifically referring to styles from the Netherlands. However, German colonial styles in particular also feature the use of very thick walls, medieval European style half-timbering and stone reinforcement arches over window and door frames, whilst roofs tend to be steep in design rather than the Dutch gambrels.

by: Stuart Mitchell

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