Download - Colonial Houses
Choosing Your Colonial House
Choosing Your House
Think about your character– Are you wealthy?– Where do you live? – What materials are available for building?
– How big is your family? Keep these answers in mind when you learn about the different houses of the 18th century.
Hmmm…what house
should I buy?
New England Characteristics
• Wooden houses• Timber frames covered with wooden boards and shingles
The “Saltbox” Style 1620-1740
Central chimney
Central wooden door
3-4 rooms onground floor
Equal numberof windows on either side of the door
2 1/2 rooms second floor
Moreton House
Hatfield, Massachusetts
Traditional Saltbox Floor Plan
The Georgian Design 1700-1780
Chimneys on the ends
Made of both brick and wood
Paneled central door with decorative crown
Symmetricalwindowdesign
This house was built in 1760by Captain RichardDerby of Salem, MA.Brick was rare inNew England; this shows how wealthy of a merchanthe was. It was a gift to his son.
This style was found in all 13 colonieswith various differences
A Wooden Georgian
Can you find the features from the previous page?
Georgian Floor Plan4 rooms upstairs
4 rooms downstairs
Central hallway - allows public and private space
Kitchen
3 rooms downstairs used as work rooms,entertaining rooms, or eating spaces.
Second story rooms were mainlyused for sleeping and storage
The Mid Atlantic States
• Mostly stone or brick
• Look more like New England houses rather than Southern houses
• A lot of Dutch and German influence
Dutch Colonial 1625-1840
Little or nooverhang
Usually 1 floor
Dutch door: the doorhas an upper and lower half.
Highpeakedroof
Made of brick or field stone2 rooms
German Colonial 1680-1800 Central
chimney
Field stone withwooden framing
Similar to the Georgian Style
These houses would have been common in rural Pennsylvania
Philadelphia TownhouseLooks like a German Colonial
cut in half
2 room house1 room on each floor
This is Betsy Ross’s
house - the creator of the American Flag
Southern States
• Large plantation houses– Farmers had main house, smaller slave houses
– Plantations could be miles apart
• Usually made of wood, sometimes brick
• Wealthy houses had many designs
• Poorer houses were very small
Drayton Hall Plantation House
Large, open porch
to stay cool in the heat
4-5 large roomson each floor
Georgian - Palladian Style
Drawing of Drayton Hall
First Floor Plan
Large doorsat both ends
allow for crossventilation.
The Grand StaircaseThis room
gives a remarkable
first impression for
anyone arriving from the Ashley River.
The Great Hall
This room was the primarywelcoming space.
Most southern homes did not have a kitchen in the living space in order to keep the heat down.
Second Floor PlanThe second floor
has four large bedrooms.
Upper Great Hall
This room was used for entertaining.
1
2
34
Outside Drayton Hall
Guests would have arrived from the
Ashley River.
Most work houseswould
have beenseparate from the
main house.
Slave Cabins
Very simple1 room houses
Inside a Slave Cabin
Charleston Courtyard House
Gable end of the house faces the street.By changing
the alignment of the house, builders were able to fit more houses
into the city.
Charleston Courtyard House
Side View
Long piazzas (porches) on every floor
1-2 rooms on the second floor
1 room and a kitchen on the first floor.
Street Facing Charleston House
Simple Southern Home
2 Rooms
Central breezeway with a door on both sides of the house
Small attic space for sleeping or storage
Your Assignment
• Choose the style of your house
• Draw a picture of it or design a floor plan
• On the back of your picture, write a paragraph explaining the decisions you made in planning your house.
Remember, only buy a house
that you can “revere.”