Greek Revival architecture in North America

Greek Revival was an architectural style popular in the United States and Canada from about 1800 to 1860. Marcus Whiffen states that the "first building in the United States to incorporate a Greek order was the Bank of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1798".^[1] Talbot Hamlin says that "The period called 'Greek Revival,' extending roughly from 1820 to 1860."^[2]

The style was employed in ecclesiastical, institutional, and residential buildings. Virtually all the buildings in the style are characterized by the use of columns, usually from the Greek orders, "bilateral symmetry is the rule," the buildings were block (that is, "temple") shaped, with a low pitched or flat roof. Arches were not employed because "the arch had no place in Greek temple architecture."^[3]

Several factors led to the style's popularity in the United States, two of them wars. The War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain led the former colonials in America to wish to disassociate themselves from things British,^[4] such as the previously popular Adam style, while the Greek War of Independence, begun in 1821, helped make things Greek admired and emulated.^[5]

Second Bank of the United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1798
Rural Greek Revival in Michigan, ca. 1850

References[]

^ Whiffen, Marcus, American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969 p.38
^ Hamlin, Talbot, Greek Revival Architecture in America: Being an account of important trends in American architecture and American life prior to the War Between the States, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1944, a 1964 edition, p. xv
^ Wiffen 1969, p. 38.
^ McAlester, Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1986 p. 177
^ Rifkind, Carole, A Field Guide to American Architecture, Bonanza Books, New York, 1980 p. 39

show v t Historicism and Revivalism in architecture and decorative arts
International	Art Deco Art Nouveau Arts and Crafts Baroque Revival Beaux-Arts Byzantine Revival Carpenter Gothic Egyptian Revival Gothic Revival Greek Revival / Neo-Grec Mayan Revival Moorish Revival Neoclassical New Classical Renaissance Revival Châteauesque Italianate Palazzo style Rococo Revival Romanesque Revival Second Empire French European North American Spanish Colonial Revival Swiss chalet style Vernacular
France	Henry II style Henry IV style Louis XIII style Louis XIV style Louis XV style Louis XVI style Neoclassicism Directoire style Empire style Louis Philippe style Second Empire style Belle Époque
Germany, Austria-Hungary	Biedermeier Gründerzeit Jugendstil Nazi architecture Resort style Rundbogenstil
Great Britain	Adamesque Bristol Byzantine Edwardian Baroque Egyptian Revival Georgian Revival Indo-Saracenic Revival British India Jacobethan Neo-Palladian Queen Anne Revival Regency Romanesque Revival Scottish Baronial Tudor Revival / Black-and-white Revival
Greece	Mycenaean Revival
Italy	Stile Umbertino
Netherlands	Traditionalist School
Nordic countries	Dragon style National Romantic style Gustavian style Nordic Classicism
Portugal	Neo-Manueline Neo-Mudéjar Soft Portuguese style
Poland	Zakopane Style
Romania	Romanian Revival
Russian Empire and USSR	Neo-Byzantine Neoclassical Revival Russian Revival Stalinist
Serbia	Serbo-Byzantine Revival
Spain	Neo-Mudéjar
United States	American Renaissance Collegiate Gothic Colonial Revival Dutch Colonial Revival Federal style Greco Deco Jeffersonian Mediterranean Revival Mission Revival Pueblo Revival Polish Cathedral style Queen Anne style Richardsonian Romanesque Territorial Revival

show v t Architecture of the United States
Colonial and post-colonial	American colonial architecture Colonial Georgian Dutch Colonial French Colonial German Colonial Spanish Colonial Territorial
Early Republic	Adam Federal Jeffersonian
Mid-19th century	Greek Revival Italianate Gothic Revival
Victorian	Richardsonian Romanesque Second Empire American Renaissance Folk Stick style Queen Anne Shingle
Late-19th to mid-20th century	Art Deco (Streamline Moderne) American Craftsman American Foursquare Beaux-Arts California bungalow Chicago School Colonial Revival Dutch Colonial Revival Googie International style Mayan Revival Mediterranean Revival Mission Revival Pueblo Revival Prairie School PWA Moderne Rustic Spanish Colonial Revival Territorial Revival Tudor Revival
Post–World War II	Blobitecture Deconstructivism High-tech Mid-century modern Modern Neo-eclectic Neo-futurism Neomodern New Classical architecture Postmodern Ranch Shed style Usonian
Vernacular	Critical regionalism Hall and parlor house Central-passage house Log cabin Cape Cod Saltbox Creole cottage Dogtrot house I-house Shotgun house Sod house Carpenter Gothic First Period
Cities	Atlanta Boston Buffalo Chicago Detroit Houston Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami New Orleans New York City Omaha Philadelphia Portland San Antonio San Francisco Seattle St. Louis

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Ancient Greece