Melrose spotlight: The Georgian building style

This is the second in our series on Melrose architectural styles. Starting in the second quarter of the 18th century, imported consumer goods and fashions from Great Britain swept the American colonies and changed the way people lived here. British architectural pattern books called for builders to adhere to Classical ideals of proportion and symmetry, a style we today call Georgian. The Georgian look became so dominant in the 18th century that our popular image of the “colonial” house is largely based upon it.

Take a look at 51 Ashland Street, the Timothy Vinton house, which was built in about 1758. Note the differences with the Upham House which we looked at last week. Instead of a purely functional yet seemingly whimsical placement of windows, we have five evenly proportioned bays which convey a sense of premeditated order. The first-floor windows are taller than those on the second, which creates an illusion of greater height, while bringing more light to the public, formal rooms of the house. The front door is the visual centerpiece of the façade; it has a transom, which is probably not original but is certainly appropriate to the period, and the owner has recently installed a Greek portico, which is also wholly in keeping with the Georgian aesthetic.

The Phineas Sprague house at 301 West Foster Street, built in about 1798, is another fine example of the form. Again we see the symmetrical five bay façade with a portico-framed door. It also sports a hipped roof, giving it a squared, symmetrical appearance from all approaches. On the west elevation you can also see a chimney, another telltale Georgian element. First Period houses had been dominated by massive central chimney stacks; Georgian houses placed the chimneys along the peripheries, freeing up the center of the house for sweeping stairways and back-to-front hallways. Finally, note that both houses have ells that threaten to ruin their symmetry—and they are carefully hidden in the back!

Around Melrose you will see many other houses built in this style, albeit over 200 years after it was first popular; fashions have come and gone, but the appeal of the Georgian aesthetic remains.