THIS WORD LIST is one I use to help people learn the features to look for in these two styles of building in early America. Newport has many examples of both styles, often found side-by-side on the streets in the colonial Historic District.
VERNACULAR 1600s / GEORGIAN mid-1700s on to end of 18th cent.
VERNACULAR 1600s / GEORGIAN mid-1700s on to end of 18th cent.
Folkways / Academic influences
Oral / Written, drawn
By craftsmen, housewrights / By “architects”
Organic, rural / Formal, urban
Asymmetrical / Symmetrical, balanced
Corporate / Individual
Slow to change / Trendy, fashionable
Collective living / Private rooms
Local materials / Imported materials
Uncalculated / Mathematical
Random / Purposeful, proportional
Acceptance of nature / Control of nature
Growing from the earth / Placed on a site with intent
Common, low style / Genteel, high style
Traditional, long-lasting / Innovative, short-lived
Rooted to a place, local / Linked to a point in time, of a certain era and appear everywhere
Post- medieval elements / Neo classical details
Oral / Written, drawn
By craftsmen, housewrights / By “architects”
Organic, rural / Formal, urban
Asymmetrical / Symmetrical, balanced
Corporate / Individual
Slow to change / Trendy, fashionable
Collective living / Private rooms
Local materials / Imported materials
Uncalculated / Mathematical
Random / Purposeful, proportional
Acceptance of nature / Control of nature
Growing from the earth / Placed on a site with intent
Common, low style / Genteel, high style
Traditional, long-lasting / Innovative, short-lived
Rooted to a place, local / Linked to a point in time, of a certain era and appear everywhere
Post- medieval elements / Neo classical details