When one thinks of Southern style architecture, a number of motifs come to mind, such as a grand front porch flanked by white pillars and an elaborate staircase leading up from the front hall. However, there are many styles of architecture associated with the America's south, ranging from Spanish mission house plans to French Creole style through American Federal architecture, as well as traditional plantation homes. The one common denominator in Southern style architecture is charm. And the accent of Southern architectural charm is the genteel, slow-moving lifestyle which it suggests.
Antebellum architecture has reference to the elegant plantations residences constructed in the Southern United States from the Revolution until the Civil War. The term "Antebellum" refers not so much to a particular style as it does to a place and a time in history. The features distinctive of Antebellum architecture were brought into the South by English settlers who advanced into the region following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. The majority of Antebellum houses follow the Greek or Classical Revival styles; or else the Federal style, with its grand symmetry balanced around central entrances both front and in the rear; and with balconies and decorative pillars and columns.
Aficionados of the film Gone With the Wind may believe that Scarlett O'Hara's Georgia plantation house is typically indigenous to the South. But that type of antebellum architecture, with the expansive front porch and white pillars, is in fact derived from Greek and Roman architectural style. This style was common from the late 1700's through the middle 1800's throughout the U.S., not only in the South. However, the largest number of these Greek Revival houses survived there because the economy of the South was depressed following the Civil War, so Southern homeowners weren't able to afford to remodel or change their southern living ranch home plans, as was being done in the North. After World War II the Southern economy improved, but by then homeowners spent their money in restoration rather than replacement.
Some distinctly regional architectural styles emerged in the South, including Charleston Single. This Federalist influenced style usually had a central hallway which was flanked by several rooms on each floor. The houses were turned so that two doors to the outside as well as a front porch were facing the street, and the windows and doors were oriented to allow in breezes. Wealthy Charlestonians constructed of brick, while the less affluent made do with wood construction. Another distinctive regional architectural style was the French Creole style, which intermingled influences from the West Indies by way of France and Spain. This style emerged late in the 1700's and is best exemplified in New Orleans. These homes have hipped roofs, porches or galleries, French windows, and wrought-iron or wooden columns (and detailing).
In the mid-twentieth century the distinctive Southern style met and blended with prairie house building plans designed originally by Frank Lloyd Wright and his followers. These low-profile, wide-windowed, single-story homes were designed to blend in to their environments. Some of the box-like mass-housing built along these lines following World War II has proven functional in the warm Southern climate as well as revolutionary in design.
Southern living ranch home plans are the latest adaptation of traditionally Southern styles such as Spanish mission house plans. Whether traditionally styled or whether following the modern prairie house building plans style, the distinctive charm of Southern architecture is its accent on Comfort.
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