Christine Franck // is a designer, author and educator with a practice focusing on custom residential design and decoration. A leader in education, she served as the first executive director of the ICAA and has taught at the University of Notre Dame and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her published work includes the Winterthur's Traditional American Rooms, Jose M. Allegue: Legacy of a Builder, and the forthcoming ICAA's Handbook of Classical Architecture.
From the middle to the end of the nineteenth century, the landscape of American domestic architecture was a kaleidoscope of revivals of European historic styles. Gothic Revival, Italianate, Tuscan Villa, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and even Egyptian Revival houses were being built around the country. Out of this cacophony a new, uniquely American style emerged: the Shingle Style.
The term Second Empire refers to the period in France from 1852-1870 when Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon I, reestablished imperial rule by a coup d’etat, thereby ending the Second Republic of 1848-1852. In an ambitious building campaign, Napoleon III appointed Baron Haussmann to oversee a vast program of work including modernization, improvements to living conditions in the revolution-breeding slums through demolition and rebuilding, and turning Paris into an imperial capital replete with magnificent buildings housing new institutions.
The Gothic Revival style, popular in America from the 1830s through the 1860s, could be seen as a mere revival of medieval motifs, but peer beneath the scrolls and trefoils that animate this style and one finds more profound meaning.
After emerging independent and free from the colonial yoke of Great Britain, post-revolutionary America began to form its national identity. Whether inspired by the works of Seneca or the life of Cincinnatus, early leaders like George Washington understood this nation to be the inheritor of Roman republican traditions. They sought to imbue America’s Novus Ordo Seclorum with symbols and architecture evocative of this. Concurrently, a growing class of merchants and landowners desired ways to show their taste and wealth. This confluence of interests in symbolic meaning and fashionable forms flowered into America’s Federal Style.
In the early days of America’s founding, along the eastern seaboard, English colonists built robustly beautiful homes that are today often referred to as Colonial. However, Georgian, or more descriptively American Georgian, better describes these houses and distinguishes them from earlier colonial traditions of our English, Dutch, Spanish, and French colonists. The term Georgian refers to the period of British history encompassing the reigns of Kings George I through IV (1714-1830). American Georgian architecture is most prevalent prior to and just after our revolution, after which other stylistic influences drawn from discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum captivated popular taste.
Following close upon the heels of the Virginia Company’s 1607 settlement of Jamestown, a second group of English colonists put down roots in the Northern parts of what was then known as Virginia. Settling Plymouth in 1620 “for the glorie of God, and advancemente of the Christian faith, and honour of [their] king and countrie,” the Pilgrims brought with them to New England their belief in simplicity of worship and strict morality. The English Colonial architecture of New England is perhaps best seen in relation to the character of its Puritan and Separatist settlers.
With population expanding, immigrants arriving, rapid industrialization, and urbanization, it is little wonder that late-19th century Americans viewed their simpler colonial past as a Golden Age. Emerging wearily from Reconstruction, Americans patriotically celebrated their past and future at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition. The “New England Farmer’s Home and Modern Kitchen” was a particularly popular exhibit. Inside this log cabin, women in colonial dress exhibited artifacts such as a Pilgrim’s cradle and spinning wheel, idealizing an America heroically hewn out of New England by hard-working colonists.
Of all American colonial building traditions, that of the French is one of the richest. While the houses of French Colonists owe a debt to their native traditions, they also wisely responded to the materials and climatic conditions found in America. From St. Genevieve, Missouri (1735) to New Orleans, Louisiana (1718) and beyond, French colonists created a diverse tradition including the Creole and Acadian Cottages, and the classic French Colonial house of the raised cottage type.
Colonial is a common adjective used to describe American houses. Yet which colonial do we mean? Normally we are referring to English Colonial Houses. Yet, from Florida to California, our colonial history is primarily Spanish, not English. Our oldest continuously inhabited city, St. Augustine, Florida, and early Southwest missions were built by Spanish conquerors, colonists, and missionaries.
a lecture by Christine G. H. Franck and Brent Hull
The lecture will explore the Winterthur Museum’s period rooms, the role of the Colonial Revival throughout America and the South, and their relevance for the best of design and craftsmanship today.
Set in the bucolic Brandywine Valley, Winterthur Museum and Country Estate is a treasure of historic American architecture and decorative arts. Created by avid collector and connoisseur Henry Francis du Pont, the vast collection includes period rooms from all thirteen original colonies. Central to the revival of taste for colonial America, today Winterthur is an unparalleled resource for architects, decorators, and patrons alike.
For the first time, with full color photography and original measured drawings, the architectural millwork of selected rooms is examined by master craftsman Brent Hull and designer Christine G. H. Franck in Winterthur Style Sourcebook: Traditional American Rooms.
Christine G. H. Franck is a designer and educator with a practice in New York City. She served as director of the academic programs of The ICA&CA from 1998 to 2005, and has held faculty appointments at the University of Notre Dame and Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture. Ms. Franck also serves on the Board of Directors of the ICA&CA and the Steering Committee of INTBAU. In 2002 Ms. Franck was honored by HRH The Prince of Wales with the first Public Service Award of the Prince’s Foundation for “her outstanding contribution to the study of architecture and design.”
Brent Hull is a leading expert on architectural design and historic construction. A master builder, Brent’s company, Hull Historical, works throughout the country consulting and manufacturing fine custom millwork for discerning clients. Brent speaks nationally and writes frequently for publications like Old House Journal, Period Homes, Fine Homebuilding, Remodeling and Tools of the Trade.
$50 ICA&CA members, $75 non-members, Free to paid Dream Dallas competition participants.
