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

SHINGLE

The Shingle style of architecture was created and perfected by New England architects in the 1880's.  Above all, it was an attempt to impose order and discipline on the building mass and to do it in new abstract ways with no reference to historical precedent.  Where opportunities occurred, outside space was brought into the interior volume.  Innovative interior floor plans were attempted with multi axes.  The building was designed from the inside living space; windows were placed in the facade where there was a need for interior light with no regard to ranking or classical proportion.  The roof forms tended to flow downward to command as much of the volume as possible.  Horizontal volumes were introduced and then emphasized.  Cornerboards and cornices were minimized or eliminated.  In most cases, not all, wood shingles were used extensively to create a plastic skin around and over the frame.  Stone was often used on the lower floor and the semicircular arch was a commonly used form somewhere on the building exterior such as verandas and loggias.  Details were plain and thin in dimension . Some restrained Colonial Revival classical decoration was used.  For the Victorian period, this architecture was considered very modern.  At first, it is a difficult architecture to grasp, but it is perhaps the most satisfying to master.

When away from the East Coast, particularly New England, fully developed examples of this architecture are difficult to find.  In the Northern Pennsylvania Victorian Region, a few relatively small examples can be seen.  The Shingle influence can also be encountered on some of the Queen Anne forms in the Region.

The Mary Judd House at 115 Reed Street at the corner with West Second in Oil City is a nice example of a Shingle style house built on a city lot. 

	115 Reed Street, Oil City, Pennsylvania

Note the mass of this building is disciplined and controlled beneath the long roof ridge and defined at the ends by a large and simple gambrel roof shape.  In the Shingle architecture, the gambrel shape went beyond old colonial expressions and evolved into abstract forms such as massive, triangular gable sides and other simple shapes with no reference to the past.  There is a powerful horizontal character to this structure with the line formed where the second floor shingle wall cladding meets the first floor brick wall serving to accentuate this horizontality.  The windows are placed in the facade in a somewhat irregular fashion with the intention of providing light where needed.  The window frame details are simple and light.  Some classical detailing in the Palladian outline of the loggia on the third floor and the columned veranda facing Reed are consistent with the Colonial Revival interest of the day.  This Reed Street house was built in 1891.  Phillip H. Judd, a wealthy young oil producer, and his wife, Mary, bought the land in 1889 and began construction in 1890.  Mr. Judd died in February of 1891 while the house was still under construction.  Mary Judd moved into this house a young widow.