Emlenton
Franklin
Oil City
Tionesta
Titusville
Pleasantville
Meadville
Tidioute
Endeavor
Warren
Sheffield
Bradford
Smethport
Ridgway

Styles

Adam
Greek Revival
Classical Revival
Gothic Revival
Italianate
Second Empire
Stick
Queen Anne
Shingle
Colonial Revival
Neoclassical
Tudor
English Cottage

COLONIAL REVIVAL

A change in American domestic architecture occurred in the 1890's.  While the New England Shingle architects were pursuing order and open plans in new and innovative ways, a concurrent antiquarian movement emerged in the academic community around Boston supported by the wealthy old families of the City.  A well focused, well organized, well publicized and well financed effort was initiated to return to the all out classical massing, classical planning and classical details seen in the Boston area houses of the Colonial past.  This reactionary movement was a return to  simplicity, regularity and symmetry in mass and plan.  Familiar historical forms, actual copies of the Georgian and Adam periods, were emphasized.

Examples of Colonial Revival architecture can be found readily all over the Northern Pennsylvania Victorian Region and are quite easy to recognize.  The volumes are symmetrical, simple and emphasize the horizontal.  Entranceways and windows are distributed about the building’s centerlines and ranked.  The interior space is designed about the exterior demands for symmetry and regularity in the facade.  Classical cornices are universal, usually elaborated with dentil molding.  Pilasters at the house corners are common as are balustrades at balconies, above porches and along roof lines.  Dormers are symmetrically arranged about facade centerlines, surrounded by pilasters and crowned with pediments.  Infinite variations of the three-part Palladian window are prominently placed on wall facades.  A fanlight is very often placed above the main entrance and Adam decoration of garlands, swags and wreaths is profuse.

Many houses in the Region show the influence of the Colonial Revival architecture on an older, evolving style.  The house at 408 W. Second in Oil City (As Shown Below) shows the influence of Colonial Revival on a Queen Anne mass.

	408 West Second Street, Oil City, Pennsylvania

From the perspective shown, you get the impression the designer was attempting to impose classical order on the larger, asymmetrical, irregular Queen Anne mass.  The gable dormers facing Second are symmetrically placed over the facade and reinforce the move toward order.  The house is loaded with Colonial Revival details including the prominent porch columns with Ionic capitals, the strongly stated pilasters at the two front corners, and the Palladian window in the dormer facing west.  The paint scheme, a cream body with dark brown details and a third color, fawn, for emphasis, is historically appropriate.