Architecture Home Designs

Article by John Adams

Santa Barbara has many different styles of architecture sprinkled around the city. From Spanish Colonial to Craftsman, Santa Barbara homes run a wide range of diverse architectural ideas. A walk around this dynamic city shows a number of different styles and looks, allowing home buyers to find their dream home regardless of what kind style of building is preferred.

Spanish Colonial is the architectural style most associated with Santa Barbara homes. A great example is the Town Hall downtown as well as the Santa Barbara Mission. With arches, courtyards, plain wall surfaces and tile roofs, Spanish Colonial is a romantic look that does well with lush gardens and outdoor living.

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Article by jekky

History and definition a former guildhall in Dunfermline, Scotland built around 1807 and 1811 Georgian succeeded the English Baroque of Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Major architects to promote the change in direction from baroque were Colen Campbell, author of the influential book Vitruvius Britannicus; Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and his proteg William Kent; Thomas Archer; and the Venetian Giacomo Leoni, who spent most of his career in England. The styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking world’s equivalent of European Rococo. From the mid-1760s a range of Neoclassical modes were fashionable, associated with the British architects Robert Adam, James Gibbs, Sir William Chambers, James Wyatt, Henry Holland and Sir John Soane. Greek Revival was added to the design repertory, after Georgian architecture is characterized by its proportion and balance; simple mathematical ratios were used to determine the height of a window in relation to its width or the shape of a room as a double cube. “Regular” was a term of approval, implying symmetry and adherence to classical rules: the lack of symmetry, where Georgian additions were added to earlier structures, was deeply felt as a flaw. Regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of Georgian town planning. Georgian designs usually lay within the Classical orders of architecture and employed a decorative vocabulary derived from ancient Rome or Greece. The most common building materials used are brick or stone. Commonly used colors were red, tan, or white. However, modern day Georgian style homes use a variety of colors. General characteristics Identifying Features (1700 – c.1780): A simple 1-2 story box, 2 rooms deep, using strict symmetry arrangements Panel front door centered, topped with rectangular windows (in door or as a transom) and capped with an elaborate crown/entablature supported by decorative pilasters Cornice embellished with decorative moldings, usually dentilwork Multi-pane windows are never paired, and fenestrations are arranged symmetrically (whether vertical or horizontal), usually 5 across Other features of Georgian style houses can include – roof to ground-level: Roof: 40% are Side-gabled; 25% Gambrel; 25% Hipped Chimneys on both sides of the home A portico in the middle of the roof with a window in the middle is more common with post-Georgian styles, e.g. “Adam” Small 6-paned sash windows and/or dormer windows in the upper floors, primarily used for servant’s quarters. This was also a way of reducing window tax. Larger windows with 9 or 12 panes on the main floors Colonial Georgian architecture Hammond-Harwood House Main Facade Cornelius Low House built in 1741 in Piscataway, New Jersey Georgian Architecture was widely disseminated in the English colonies of the time. In the American colonies, colonial Georgian blended with the neo-Palladian style to become known more broadly as ‘Federal style architecture’. Georgian buildings were also constructed of wood with clapboards; even columns were made of timber, framed up and turned on an over-sized lathe. The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is an excellent example of Georgian architecture in the Americas. Unlike the Baroque style that it replaced, which was generated almost solely in the context of palaces and churches, Georgian had wide currency in the upper and middle classes. Within the residential context, the best remaining example is the pristine Hammond-Harwood House (1774) in Annapolis, Maryland. This house was designed by colonial architect William Buckland and modeled on the Villa Pisani at Montagnana, Italy as depicted in Andrea Palladio’s I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (Four Books Of Architecture). The establishment of Georgian architecture, and the Georgian styles of design more generally, were to a large degree aided by the fact that, unlike earlier styles which were primarily disseminated among craftsmen through the direct experience of the apprenticeship system, Georgian was also spread through the new medium of inexpensive suites of engravings. From the mid-18th century, Georgian styles were assimilated into an architectural vernacular that became part and parcel of the training of every architect, designer, builder, carpenter, mason and plasterer, from Edinburgh to Maryland. Post-Georgian developments After about 1840 Georgian conventions were slowly abandoned as a number of revival styles, including Gothic Revival, enlarged the design repertoire. In the United States this style declined in popularity after the revolution, due to its association with the colonial regime; but later in the early decades of the twentieth century when there was a growing nostalgia for its sense of order, the style was revived and came to be known as the Colonial Revival. In Canada the United Empire Loyalists embraced Georgian architecture as a sign of their fealty to Britain, and the Georgian style was dominant in the country for most of the first half of the 19th century. The Grange, for example, a manor built in Toronto, was built in 1817. The revived Georgian style that emerged in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century is usually referred to as Neo-Georgian; the work of Edwin Lutyens includes many examples. Versions of the Neo-Georgian style were commonly used in Britain for certain types of urban architecture until the late 1950s, Bradshaw Gass & Hope’s Police Head Quarters in Salford of 1958 being a good example. In both the United States and Britain, the Georgian style is still employed by architects like Quinlan Terry for private residences. See also John Nash (architect) Golden ratio Townhouse Jamaican Georgian architecture Further reading McAlester, Virginia & Lee, A Field Guide To American Houses 1996 ISBN 0-394-73969-8 Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 3rd ed. 1995. John Cornforth, Early Georgian Interiors, (Paul Mellon Centre) 2005. James Stevens Curl, Georgian Architecture. Christopher Hussey, Early Georgian Houses,, Mid-Georgian Houses,, Late Georgian House,. Reissued in paperback, Antique Collectors Club, 1986. Frank Jenkins, Architect and Patron 1961. Barrington Kaye, The Development of the Architectural Profession in Britain 1960. Sir John Summerson, Georgian London, (1945). Revised edition, edited by Howard Colvin, 2003. Sir John Summerson, Architecture in Britain (series: Pelican History of Art) Reissued in paperback 1970 External links Media related to Georgian architecture at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Georgian homes in Sydney at Wikimedia Commons Georgian Terrace in Horsham v d e Revival styles in Western architecture and decorative arts International Baroque Revival Beaux-Arts Byzantine Revival Chteauesque Egyptian Revival Gothic Revival Greek Revival / Neo-Grec Neoclassical Renaissance Revival / Italianate Romanesque Revival Second Empire British Empire Bristol Byzantine Edwardian Baroque Indo-Saracenic Revival Jacobethan Queen Anne Style Scots Baronial Style Tudor Revival France Napoleon III Style Germany Rundbogenstil Nazi architecture Greece Mycenaean Revival Portugal Neo-Manueline Russian Empire and USSR Byzantine Revival Russian Revival Stalinist architecture Spain Moorish Revival / Neo-Mudjar United States Carpenter Gothic Colonial Revival Mayan Revival Mediterranean Revival Mission Revival Queen Anne Style Richardsonian Romanesque Spanish Colonial Revival Modern architecture Categories: Georgian architecture | Architectural styles | British architecture | House styles | Colonial architecture in the United StatesHidden categories: Articles to be expanded from November 2009 | All articles to be expanded

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Article by Chris Hegi

Home décor is an important aspect of our lives today. Unlike past, people like residing in well embellished homes that attract visitor attention. In fact, with the rise of décor furniture, tools and appliances, it has become easier to create your own unique style statement. Seattle city is well versed with the art of home décor and keeps introducing various home remodeling measures to ensure that it has slick houses. Home remodeling Seattle WA is not an impulsive process. It requires a lot of planning; homeowners first draw their dream draft or blue print (it might be an amateurish idea but deep down it is always good to get your home remodeled on your choice), next they consult an architect who figures out your plans and takes it up from there. Such an architectural contractor may work on a contractual basis and try to work out most cost-effective measures for you. Sometimes, home remodeling Seattle WA measures imply the addition of another room. In such cases, it is mandatory to look for a synchronized setting that matches with the old rooms and decors. In other words, the new addition should look like an extension of your home rather than looking out of place. Of course, you can achieve such synchrony by trying out an exact contrast too but a lot will certainly depend upon your architect and his expertise. God is not creating any further space and thus it is important for a contractor to work out all the plans in existing area and also create an illusion of space. This is possible as many such designers use form, symmetry, leveling, designing and formatting of an area in a way that produces the maximum out of it. Home remodeling Seattle WA can be seen in a macro as well as a micro light. A designer can look at each room separately and try to introduce kitchen remodeling measures and bathroom remodeling techniques and even go on to change the attic, bedroom and living room area. The central idea is to work on the budget of the homeowner and provide him with a decent fare within his budgetary restrictions. Not many homeowners know it or want to know it but in large parts of the world it is mandatory to take a permit before changing the existing structure of your home. Your entire architecture may be termed illegal by State Boards if you do not first fetch a permit for home remodeling. The role of architect is supreme and a good one can make the changes look brilliant. At the same time, you can try and read as much about décor and designs as possible. Internet is filled with various websites that impart instruction about remodeling techniques. Through them, you can learn about garden landscaping as well as attic flooring and these are just a couple of instances. If you learn in advance, you may even be able to provide your architect with a few home remodeling Seattle WA ideas when he decides to implement his plans.

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