Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 8/24/2005

Question
Hi Richard,

I wanted to thank you in advance for participating in allexperts.com.  Allexperts has really been a help to me in the past.  Now for my question:  I just purchased a house in Western New York.  The house was built in 1825 and was the "master" of two houses on the lot.  The house has clearly gone through several changes through the years, but I would like to know what style it was originally.  I know the front posts were put up some time in the 1980s.  To the inexperienced eye, I see elements of Federal, Georgian and Greek Revival.  The house is also coated with 1950s-style china glaze siding, but I know there is *something* underneath because the siding is flush with the windows.  I have enclosed a link to the house, but I am not sure how long they will keep the link up, since I already purchased it.  I believe there was a major remodel some time around the turn of last century, as the floor is covered with that very thin hardwood and there is not too much left on the first and second floor that looks 1825.  The doors and windows have very wide molding, and the door molding is arched. The stairs are in the center of the house and go straight up, but I believe there was a second set of stairs that was located in the dining room. The stairs do have an original banister and short little post with a top that looks like a huge M&M.  The house has been mistreated in its last few years and I would like to bring it back to its former glory, but I am not sure how to decorate (i.e. paint, architectural features, etc), or even in which style, since the interior is so very 1900. To make matters worse, there was another major remodel about 10 years ago.  The basement is new, as the house was moved, so I didn't get a lot of clues from that, other than I can see the original wide floor planks and the beams and logs (complete with bark) used to hold the house up.  I'm not sure what other information you might need, but anything you could provide me with would be a great help.  I have been researching online, but I have heard everything from "muted colors" to "dark blues and reds", so I am not sure what I should trust.  I called every local historical and preservation society for advice and all they could tell me was "well all the pictures back then were in black and white so..." I guess the colors were shades of grey!

Thanks for your help!
Carolyn

http://rusabuffalo.leadmaxx.lantrax.com/search/index.cfm?Action=Details&DetailLi...

Answer
Hi Carolyn - thanks for your question!  I greatly appreciate the information and the photo - it helps a lot.

The house is undoubtably an early original Greek Revival.  GR was very popular after 1840 but started well before that.  The full front porch style is unusual in NY according to "A Field Guide to American Houses" by McAlester.

The wide planks, rough beams, and log supports would be consistent with the location - that area of NY was still the frontier in 1825 and milled lumber would have been hard to come by.  "Frontier 1825" architecture isn't the same as "high-style 1825" design.

It was probably built by someone who'd been to the big cities and had seen the latest in architectural style and/or had gotten a hold of a plan pattern book of the era.  It might be most accurately described as a "carpenter greek revival" rather than a high-style design.  Because of that, you're probably going too far in researching the "appropriate" paint colors and trim profiles; he probably just used what he thought looked good.

The best source of what was there originally is to peel back layers to find what's underneath - and hope there's something there!

You might poke around at www.oldhousejournal.com and www.period-homes.com for detailed information about early Greek Revival homes.

Hope this helps!

Richard Taylor, AIA
Richard Taylor Architects, LLC
www.rtastudio.com
www.betterhomedesign.blogspot.com