1876–1955 · United States, Canada
Colonial Revival
Also known as Georgian Revival, Neocolonial, American 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.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Craven-Bassett_House,_Buffalo,_New_York_-_20200624_-_01.jpg
Across disciplines
- Interior Design: Colonial Revival Interior
About the style
Colonial Revival arose from a surge of patriotic nostalgia surrounding the 1876 Centennial, as Americans rediscovered and idealized the Georgian and Federal architecture of the colonial and early-republic period. Rather than copying any single house, the style distilled a vocabulary of order and propriety: a strictly symmetrical façade arranged around a central entrance, a balanced rhythm of double-hung, multi-paned windows flanked by shutters, and crisp classical trim in white against brick or clapboard walls. The front door is the ceremonial focus, framed by a pediment, fanlight, sidelights, or a small columned portico, and the roof is typically a side-gable or hipped form with dentil-trimmed cornices. Through the early twentieth century the style matured from loose, eclectic early versions into more academically 'correct' Georgian and Federal reproductions, becoming the default look for respectable American suburban houses, schools, banks, and civic buildings. Its associations with tradition, stability, and national heritage kept it in continuous favor, and a simplified Neocolonial form persists in tract housing to this day.
Notable examples
- ▸Craven-Bassett House (Buffalo)
- ▸Wren Building reconstruction, Colonial Williamsburg (Williamsburg)
- ▸Typical Colonial Revival residence (Dearborn)
Anatomy of Colonial Revival
The numbered markers call out the design elements that define this style. Hover or tap a marker to see its breakdown.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Craven-Bassett_House,_Buffalo,_New_York_-_20200624_-_01.jpg
A side-gabled (or hipped) roof meets the wall at a trimmed classical cornice, often enriched with dentils, capping the composition with quiet formality.
Double-hung, multi-paned windows are arranged in an even, balanced rhythm to either side of the central axis, expressing inherited Georgian order.
The front door sits dead-center and is dressed with classical trim — a pediment, sidelights, or small portico — the ceremonial focus of the symmetrical façade.
Paired louvered shutters flank double-hung sash windows divided into small panes (such as six-over-six) — a signature colonial detail.
How Colonial Revival connects
Styles form a network, not a tree. Explore the direct neighbours below — click any to travel the map one hop at a time.
- Evolved from
- Parallel / cross-current
- Influenced by
Evolved from Georgian Architecture — revives the symmetry, central entrance, and classical trim of American Georgian houses, usually larger and freer
Evolved from Federal Architecture — also draws on Federal delicate detailing, fanlights, and sidelit doorways
Parallel / cross-current Greek Revival — shares a classical American lineage and white-trimmed formality, but looks to 18th-century colonial precedent
Parallel / cross-current Neoclassical Architecture — belongs to the same early-20th-century academic-classical climate, applied to a domestic colonial idiom
Queen Anne parallel / cross-current Colonial Revival — its later 'Free Classic' phase introduced classical columns, forming a transition toward Colonial Revival
Cape Cod evolved from Colonial Revival — its 20th-century popularity is tied to the Colonial Revival; the colonial original predates and feeds that revival
American Foursquare parallel / cross-current Colonial Revival — frequently dressed in Colonial Revival trim; a relationship of shared early-1900s taste
Shingle Style influenced by Colonial Revival — draws on early American colonial forms, paralleling the rising Colonial Revival of the same decades
Colonial Revival Interior parallel / cross-current Colonial Revival — the Colonial Revival architecture movement
Describe it like this
Prompt-ready vocabulary for describing or re-creating the Colonial Revival look.