Architecture in the United States
The architecture of the United States demonstrates a broad variety of architectural styles and built forms over the country's history of over two centuries of independence and former Spanish, French, Dutch and British rule.
Architecture in the United States has been shaped by many internal and external factors and regional distinctions. As a whole it represents a rich eclectic and innovative tradition.
Pre-Columbian
The oldest surviving non-imported structures on the territory that is now known as the United States were made by the Ancient Pueblo People of the four corners region. The Tiwa speaking people have inhabited Taos Pueblo continuously for over 1000 years. Algonquian villages Pomeiooc and Section in what later became coastal North Carolina survive from the late 16th century. Artist and cartographer John White stayed at the short-lived Roanoke Colony for 13 months and recorded over 70 watercolor images of indigenous people, plants, and animals.The remote location of the Hawaiian Islands from North America gave ancient Hawaii a substantial period of precolonial architecture. Early structures reflect Polynesian heritage and the refined culture of Hawaii. Post-contact late-19th-century Hawaiian architecture shows various foreign influences such as the Victorian, Georgian, and early-20th-century Spanish Colonial Revival styles.
Colonial
When the Europeans settled in North America, they brought their architectural traditions and construction techniques for building. The oldest buildings in America have examples of that. Construction was dependent on the available resources. Wood and brick are the most common elements of English buildings in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the coastal South. It had also brought the conquest, destruction, and displacement of the indigenous peoples existing buildings in their homeland, as their dwelling and settlement construction techniques devalued compared to colonial standards. The colonizers appropriated the territories and sites for new forts, dwellings, missions, churches, and agricultural developments.Spanish influences
The Spanish colonial architecture in the United States was markedly different from the European styles adopted in other parts of America such as the simple French colonial houses in the Mississippi Valley, which were consisted of adjoining rooms that opened upon a galerie. The Spanish architecture built in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Florida, and Georgia was similar to the design adopted in Mexico. According to scholars, the Spaniards built without any consideration to the cost, believing that their tenure in America would be eternal.Florida
was built in Florida and the Southeastern United States from 1559 to 1821. The conch style is represented in Pensacola, Florida and other areas of Florida, adorning houses with balconies of wrought iron, as appears in the mostly Spanish-built French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Fires in 1788 and 1794 destroyed the original French structures in New Orleans. Many of the city's date to late-18th-century rebuilding efforts.The two earliest continuously occupied European settlements in the United States are St. Augustine, Florida founded in 1565 and Santa Fe, New Mexico. St. Augustine, the first continuously European-occupied city in North America, was established in 1565. Beginning in 1598, quarried coquina from Anastasia Island contributed to a new colonial style of architecture in this city. Coquina is a limestone conglomerate, containing small shells of mollusks. It was used in the construction of residential homes, the City Gate, the Cathedral Basilica, the Castillo de San Marcos, and Fort Matanzas. The city of St. Augustine is one of the rare vestiges of 17th-century Spanish colonial architecture in the present day United States.
Southwest
Spanish exploration of the North American deserts, the present day Southwestern United States, began in the 1540s. The conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado crossed this region in search of the mythical cities of gold. Instead they found the ancient culture and architecture of the Pueblo people. The Pueblo people built dwellings of adobe, a sun-dried clay brick, with exposed wooden ceiling beams. Their cubic form and dense arrangement gave villages a singular aspect. The modest unadorned structures remained constant and cool. The Spanish conquered these pueblos and made Pueblo de Santa Fe the administrative capital of the Santa Fe de Nuevo México Province in 1609. The Palace of the Governors was built between 1610 and 1614, mixing Pueblo Indian and Spanish influences. The building is long and has a patio. The Mission San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico dates from the 1770s and used the adobe technique as well, which gave the edifice a striking look of bold austerity. Centuries later the Pueblo Revival Style architecture style developed in the region. The Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, Arizona, has Churrigueresque detailing from southern examples in New Spain. Its facade is framed by two massive towers and the entrance is flanked by estipites.California province
In the late 18th century, the Spanish founded a series of presidios in the upper Las Californias Province to resist Russian and British colonization there, the Presidio of San Diego, Presidio of Santa Barbara, Presidio of Monterey, and Presidio of San Francisco were established to do this and support the occupation by new missions and settlements. From 1769 to 1823, the Franciscans created a linear network of twenty-one Missions in California. The missions had a significant influence on later regional architecture. An example of a period residence is the Casa de la Guerra, in Santa Barbara.Dutch influences
Developed from around 1630 with the arrival of Dutch colonists to New Amsterdam and the Hudson River Valley in what is now New York and in Bergen in what is now New Jersey. Initially the settlers built small, one room cottages with stone walls and steep roofs to allow a second floor loft. By 1670 or so, two-story gable-end homes were common in New Amsterdam.French influences
French Colonial developed in the settlements of the Illinois Country and French Louisiana. It is believed to have been primarily influenced by the building styles of French Canada and the Caribbean. It had its beginnings in 1699 with the establishment of French Louisiana but continued to be built after Spain assumed control of the colonial territory in 1763. Styles of building that evolved during the French colonial period include the Creole cottage, Creole townhouse, and French Creole plantation house.English influences
Excavations at the first permanent English-speaking settlement, Jamestown, Virginia have unearthed part of the triangular James Fort and numerous artifacts from the early 17th century. Nearby Williamsburg was Virginia's colonial capital and is now a tourist attraction as a well-preserved 18th-century town.The New World population of 200,000 in 1657, ninety percent of whom drew from England, used the same simple construction techniques as those in their respective mother countries. These settlers often came to the New World for economic purposes, therefore revealing why most early homes reflect the influences of modest village homes and small farms. The appearance of structures was very plain and made with little imported material. Windows, for example, were extremely small. The size did not increase until long after the British were manufacturing glass. This was because the Venetians had not rediscovered the strictly Roman clear glass until the 15th century and it did not come to England until another hundred years later. The few windows that did exist on early colonial homes had small panes held together by a lead framework, much like a typical church's stained glass window. The glass that was used was imported from England and was incredibly expensive. In the 18th century, many of these houses were restored and sash windows replaced the originals. These were invented by Robert Hooke and were made so that one panel of glass easily slid up, vertically, behind another.
File:Newport parish west facade.jpg|thumb|right|St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Smithfield, Virginia, thought to be the oldest surviving brick church in the English Colonies of what would become the United States, dating to the mid-late 17th century
Timber, especially white and red cedar, made for a great building resource and was readily abundant for the settlers in the English colonies, so naturally many houses were made of wood. As for decorative elements, as said before most colonial houses were built plainly and therefore most colonial house designs led to a very simple outcome. Although one subtle element of ornamentation that was used on the front door. The owner would take nails, think of an object or pattern to make with them, and nail that decoration onto the door. The more nails one had, the more extravagant and elaborate the pattern could become.
The most prized architectural aspect of the house was the chimney. Large and usually made of brick or stone, the chimney was very fashionable at this time, specifically 1600–1715. During the Tudor period in England, which lasted up until around 1603, coal became the popular material for heating the home. Before that, a wood fire was burned on the floor in the center of the house, with the smoke escaping only through windows and vents. With coal, this method could not suffice because the smoke was unacceptably black and sticky. It needed to be contained and the function of a chimney was to do just that.
The oldest remaining building of Plymouth, Massachusetts is the Harlow Old Fort House built 1677 and now a museum. The Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts is the oldest remaining wood-frame house in North America. Several notable colonial era buildings remain in Boston. Boston's Old North Church, built 1723 in the style of Sir Christopher Wren, became an influential model for later United States church design.