During the 19th century in America, there were many different styles of homes and buildings, with new ones coming and old ones leaving over the years. Probably the most prominent style of homes during the early 1800s was the colonial style. These homes were usually made with a wooden frame, had two stories, and simples doors and windows. At around the 1820s, this style of housing saw a large downturn as other styles became more and more popular. Lasting until the 1830s, the Federal style of architecture was very popular. Much more complicated in decoration than colonial houses, federal houses were most of the time built using bricks and consisted of two or three stories. Today, they are most seen in rows, side-by-side in cities at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Two styles of architecture both hit their peak at around the mid 1800s and include Greek revival and Gothic revival. Houses in the Greek revival approach were typically rectangular shaped, had emphasis on the doorway (such as framing or placing it off to a side), and had tall rectangular windows. On the other hand, houses that used the Gothic revival approach, usually were tall and narrow, had large windows on the first floor, and overall had a castle-like feeling to them. Beginning in the 1830s and lasting until about the 1910s, the Victorian style reached major popularity. It was able to become very popular around the middle-class and possibly a small amount of lower-class American citizens because of the growing technology. Railroads were built, so lumber and other materials could travel long distances. Also, mailed catalogs containing pictures of architectural styles were in the process of being mass-produced to the public. Victorian architecture has many sub-styles within it, but the styles all in a way resemble that of European architecture. When Victorian homes weren’t in as high production, multiple sub-categories, each being a revival of older styles, made their way into the American architectural culture.
Sources:
http://www.masterpieces.com/arch2.htm
