When you're looking for your new home in Cincinnati, Ohio, you'll probably find that in a lot of areas the houses are rather different from the ones in the neighborhood where you put up your house for sale in Oshawa. This is because some parts of the United States are very old - so old, in fact, that they had enough time to establish an architectural style, forget it, and then return to it once more many years later once nostalgia had set in. These returns to old architectural styles are known by the prefix "neo" or as "revivals." Colonial is one of the most popular home styles to revive.
When colonization of the New World really got into full swing in the mid 1700s, a style of architecture known as Georgian to a London architect living in England and as Colonial to an architect in North America, was very popular. The name "Georgian" stems not from the country of Georgia or the state of Georgia, but from the four kings, all named George, who ruled England at the time the style was popular. The last - George IV - died in 1830, and with him the popularity of Georgian architecture.
Georgian built homes were very symmetrical and rectangular. Made of brick or clapboard, the windows were rectangular and usually small, almost never paired. The roofs of Georgian homes often had a shallow slope, and some featured gables. The door was centered in the front and often sheltered by a small peaked roof supported by columns. Their study construction, especially in the brick versions, is what makes it possible for Brantford Realty to show you examples even now. Some of the more famous ones include Hammond-Harwood house in Annapolis and Cornelius Low house in Piscataway, New Jersey.
After the Revolutionary War, all things British became anathema and the style fell out of favor. However, British Loyalists moving north to Canada brought it with them, so you may see some Colonial styled buildings while searching for a Mississauga home for sale. It wasn't until the 20th century that the Colonial or Georgian style was revived in the United States, largely because of a desire for a return to order. The movement that reinvigorated the features of the old Georgian architecture was known as Neo-Colonial or Colonial Revival.
The new Colonial Revival homes were more elaborate than the original style. They featured more ornamentation around the front door (which, in addition to being adorned by columns, would also feature a small balcony on top). The woodwork was often less intricate, owing to the fact that by them most Middlesex, Ontario real estate featured machine made instead of hand made adornments, and the windows were paired or tripled to let in more light.
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