ITALIANATE
1840-1880

Italianate style homes and buildings in the US emerged out of the popular Greek Revival and Gothic Revival styles and became one of the most-popular architectural designs in the last half of the 19th Century. Italianate architecture featured an asymmetrical floor plan with two or more stories, low pitched roofs, and wide eaves with large brackets – sometimes grouped in pairs (as in photo). The exterior was often stucco or painted clapboard. Houses in this style were usually shaped in rectangular sections to imitate the look of an Italian villa, and incorporated such decorative features as wings, towers, balconies (often balustrade*), angled bay windows, columned porches and quoins** (after 1860). Other aesthetic details include wrought iron columns, railings, and fences, as well as arches above the doors and windows. Italianate structures also feature the square tower or cupola, often located in the center of the structure as opposed to the Italian Villas which more commonly incorporated the ‘entrance’ cupola.

*Balustrade: A balustrade is a row of repeating balusters – small posts that support the upper rail of a railing.

**Quoins: Structural or decorative cornerstones (see photo below)