Freedom of Design
In the architecture of the colony of Pennsylvania, the designs of buildings and homes in the colony were often designed after the old-world European homes of those who had settled in the colony. At a time where many people were escaping their previous European homeland for various reasons, (religious persecution, economic, etc.) it is easy to question why the colonists would not try to also escape and leave behind the architecture of their homeland as well. Why did the colonists of Pennsylvania continue to draw on and look to the architectural designs of the Old-world, and how did they make these designs their own in their homes. As the colonists began to build houses, they continued to use European designs because it is what they knew from their past. They made it their own by often designing their own homes and customizing the traditional and classic designs to fit their needs in a home.
A common style of architecture used during this period in Pennsylvania was the Georgian style. It is appropriately named for its use during the reign of the King “Georges” of England.[1] The colonists adopted this style of architecture in because it matched the formality and stateliness that the Colonial gentry required for their country houses. The Georgian style home “bespoke a comfortable consciousness of firmly established and easy affluence which justified the builders in planning broadly both for their own day and for future generations.” [2] These were grand houses that were built to last beyond just the generations of those currently living. The colony of Pennsylvania was known for its wealth in shipping, textile, and other manufacturing. This allowed these stately houses to be built, often in the country side of Pennsylvania. During the colonial period learning architecture and design were considered to be a part of a young American man’s education. Because of this, many men often designed their own homes while the building was executed by skilled carpenters and woodworkers of the colonies.[3]
Because the owners of the homes were often the ones designing their homes, this allowed them the freedom to stray away from the strict rules of classical architecture. While the colonists often pulled from the ideas of the architecture and designs of the countries they once lived in, they used their freedom of design to build for what they needed in a home, not what society dictated that they were required to have. For example, houses that were asymmetrical like Graeme Park built in Horsham, Pennsylvania built for William Keith were unusual at the time but fit the mold he was looking for. He chose the Swedish style to model his home after a “parstuga, two large corner rooms joined by a smaller room in between” which accommodated for the staircase.[4] The Georg Müller House is a German designed house in Pennsylvania that takes its design from those of multiple other countries. The balusters of the staircase have bee described as reflecting German influence but being “Baroque in their fullness” and as the door being Dutch while the rubble stone construction as reflecting Pennsylvania tradition.[5] For those that did not require or could not afford the stately Georgian country homes, or did not want to pull from a multitude of designs from other countries, the Swedish log cabin design was very popular. There were a variety of log cabin house type plans. This enabled the colonists to still able to make their homes their own even if they did not have the finances to have as grand a home as some other designs required. The lack of financial burden of this home style is likely why this design of home spread a great distance further south into the United States from Pennsylvania.
Many of the European settlers who became colonists in the United States fled from persecution of many different forms in their home country. Because of this it’s easy to wonder why they would not try to get away from architectural designs that could potentially remind them of this rough and sad chapter in their life and instead create something completely different. In most cases it seems that the colonists wanted to honor their past by taking elements of the architecture that they already knew. At the same time, they were also celebrating their new-found freedom in the United States away from the persecution of their government. This is seen in the architecture of colonial time period when nods are made to certain architectural types, but the rules aren’t followed to a tee.
Notes:
[1] Harold D. Eberlein, “Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, Georgian, 1720–1805,” in The Architecture of Colonial America (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1929), 128.
[2] Eberlein, 121.
[3]Eberlein, 134.
[4] James D. Kornwolf, “Pennsylvania Homes: A Baroque Start and a Palladian Picturesque Finish, 1683–1776,” in Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America, vol. 2 (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2002), 1224.
[5] James D. Kornwolf, “The Pennsylvania Germans,” in Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America, vol. 1 (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2002), 450–51.
