Colonial Revival vs Shingle Style

Shingle Style was influenced by Colonial Revival — draws on early American colonial forms, paralleling the rising Colonial Revival of the same decades.

Craven-Bassett House, Buffalo — Colonial Revival

Colonial Revival

An American revival of Georgian and Federal colonial-era building — symmetrical brick or clapboard façades, a centered classically framed entrance, and balanced rows of multi-paned, shuttered windows.

  • Strictly symmetrical façade organized about a central axis
  • Accentuated central entrance with pediment, fanlight, or portico
  • Balanced rows of double-hung, multi-paned windows with shutters
  • Side-gabled or hipped roof with classical cornice detailing (dentils)
  • Brick or clapboard walls with white-painted classical trim
Full Colonial Revival guide →
Isaac Bell House, Newport — Shingle Style

Shingle Style

A sophisticated New England resort style wrapping irregular, flowing building masses in an unbroken skin of wood shingles — prizing horizontal continuity over applied ornament.

  • Continuous unbroken wood-shingle skin over all surfaces
  • Asymmetrical, freely flowing massing
  • Broad gambrel or gabled roofs with sweeping planes
  • Deep wraparound and recessed porches
  • Rounded towers, eyebrow dormers, and minimal applied ornament
Full Shingle Style guide →

At a glance

Colonial RevivalShingle Style
Era1876–19551874–1910
DisciplineArchitectureArchitecture
RegionUnited States, CanadaNew England, Atlantic seaboard resorts, United States
FamilyRevivalVictorian
Formal traitssymmetrical, central-entry, shuttered, dentil-corniceshingle-skin, flowing, sweeping-roof, wraparound-porch

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