Neoclassical Homes & Architecture - Symmetry & Simplicity

All About Neoclassical Style Homes

 

Inspired by the art and culture of Ancient Greece and Rome, the Neoclassical style emerged in the mid-18th century as a reaction to the flamboyance and decorative frivolity of the Baroque and Rococo styles. Neoclassical architecture – in its purest form – is derived from classical Greek and Roman architecture as well as the principles of French architect Claude Perrault, who is renowned for his participation in the design of the East Facade of the Louvre, and the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who emphasized symmetry, order, and harmony with the site in his designs.

Let’s explore the Neoclassical style and its influence on the design of public buildings and modern residences – and on America’s Founding Fathers.

 

What is Neoclassical Style Architecture?

Designed with the perfectly proportioned buildings in mind, Neoclassical architecture includes simple geometric forms, symmetry, and balance, which presented a dramatic contrast to the Baroque’s and Rococo’s style’s elaborate ornamentation, asymmetry, curves, moldings, and serpentine lines. The style, with its uncluttered appearance and grandeur of scale, often features full-height front porches topped by a front facing pediment; massive columns with classical Corinthian, Doric, or Ionic capitals; and flat roof lines enhanced by a dome or tower.

The style features these distinct elements:

1.  Symmetrical purity and balance that reiterate the concepts of simplicity and order.

2.  An even number of tall classical columns that support a full-height front porch. The columns are generally Doric in style, but Ionic and Corinthian styles can also figure in.

3.  Elaborate doorways with triangular pediments that serve as decorative touches.

4.  Evenly spaced windows across the front facade and flanked by shutters.

5.  Flat roofs with a center dome.

This architecture was eagerly adopted by municipal building architects, the wealthy in their mansions and plantations, and many presidents over the years.

 

Influences Today

Today, it’s not just U.S. presidents, plantation owners, and the wealthy who have designed Neoclassical homes – or incorporated elements of the style in their residences.

Since its beginnings in early America, it has captivated diverse groups across many geographical and economic areas. And that appeal is alive and well in the 21st century.

The fascination for symmetrical shape and balance, huge columns, elaborate doorways, the triangular pediment, and full height porches continues to this day. While not every element or distinct feature of Neoclassical architecture may be present in a residence, there may be enough to give it character and curb appeal.

Although we may associate neoclassicism primarily with grand public buildings, the approach has also shaped the way we build private homes. Here’s a look at several house styles that have incorporated these features in their designs.

 

Examples of Neoclassical House Plans

Two-Story Colonial

Symmetry and balance are exhibited in the amazing two-story, five-bedroom Colonial style home shown here. A pediment is atop the full-height double portico supported by tall columns, and there are evenly spaced windows across the front facade to complete the Neoclassical accents. The house plan definitely exudes the feeling of a historic home.

 

One-Story Colonial

You don’t have to go all formal to achieve the effect of the Neoclassical style. Take the one-story, three-bedroom Colonial home shown above with the covered front porch and matching number of columns across the exterior facade that frame the wood and glass door. There’s symmetry in the windows with the decorative shutters. Even the rockers and planters on the porch are balanced in numbers and positioning.

 

1.5-Story French Country Plan

The 1.5-story, three bedroom, two-bath French Country home we focus on here will stop you in your tracks. There are just so many attractive features – clean lines, soft paint tones on the exterior, a pair of dormers, a covered front porch with tall columns, a pair of windows with shutters, and planters and sconces framing the wood and glass-paned door.

 

One-Story Craftsman

The attractive one-story, three-bedroom Craftsman home above combines classical details – columns on stone pedestals, windows that flank the front door – with relaxed country accents to achieve a comfortable, homey feel.

 

Southern Plantation / Colonial

Take one look at the covered front porch of the Southern Colonial home you see above, and it immediately feels like a grand home, not the least because of the classical styling. The two-story columns on the porch and the pediment up top are giveaways of Neoclassical tradition so prevalent in large Southern homes. Meanwhile, everything else has a comfortable home-like quality. The study, dining room, living room, and master bedroom all make the main floor into a comfortable family gathering place. The second floor also brings that feeling with a fun game room, TV area, and Juliet balcony

 

History of Neoclassical Architecture around the World

The Neoclassical style, which includes Roman and Greek revivals, was a loud and clear expression of a return to order and rationality. As it thrived throughout Europe, almost every important city exhibited memorable examples of Neoclassical houses and architecture. From Rome to London, Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, major architects were designing historic landmarks, lavish mansions, and estates in thi style.

 

England

Early neoclassical architecture in England (1640-1750) includes St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Observatory, and the Royal Chelsea Hospital – all designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Other architects in the early period were William Kent (Charing Cross) and Robert Adam (Theatre Royal London).  

 

England, which never really showed an inclination toward the Baroque style, used Neoclassical elements in its public buildings, museums, theaters, hotels, banks, and post offices. But the British Royalty had other ideas – and commissioned John Nash (1752-1835), one of the country’s greatest architects, to redesign city blocks and parks, and other important areas of London. His best-known works include Buckingham Palace, the Marble Arch, Royal Pavilion, and Brighton. In tandem with property developer James Burton and his son Decimus, Nash designed Regent Street, Regent’s Park and its terraces, and Carlton House Terrace.

Among Nash’s contemporaries was Sir John Sloane (1753-1837), who designed the Bank of England, Pitshanger Manor, and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Another notable English Neoclassical architect – Sir Robert Smirke (1780-1867) – designed the British Museum, the General Post Office, Covent Garden Theatre, and Eastnor Castle.

 

Neoclassicism in France

With a number of French architects trained at the French Academy in Rome, this style found a second home in France. Key elements of the style became part of the country’s architecture design during the time of Louis XVI and the Napoleonic Empire. Experimental architects used it in many civic buildings, and French aristocrats incorporated the styles features in their mansions – and added grottos, lush gardens, fountains, and landscaped courtyards.

Among the most renowned French architects of the period were Jacques Germain Soufflot (1713-1789) – responsible for the Parisian Pantheon, which started as the Church of Sainte-Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. Located in the historic Latin Quarter, the Church was renamed the Pantheon during the French Revolution and became a mausoleum for famous French figures like Voltaire, Rousseau, Marie Curie, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, and others. Some of its classical elements include a massive facade supported by tall Corinthian columns, a triangular pediment, and a high dome.

 

In addition to Soufflot,  France’s exponents of Neoclassical architecture were:

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736 –1806), who not only designed buildings but also was involved in town planning and whose works were funded by the French monarchy. Ledoux is best known for the Cathedral of Saint-Germaine, Theatre de Besancon, and the Chateau de Benouville. His most ambitious work was the uncompleted Tho, a large and grand vision for a new ideal city. Much of Ledoux’s work was destroyed in the nineteenth century. 

Jean Chalgrin (1739-1811), who is immortalized for his best known work – Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. Chalgrin also designed hotels, including the Hotel Saint-Florentin, which was renamed a number of times prior to its demolition in 1842. When it was called the Hotel de Langeac, it was a residence for Thomas Jefferson – from 1785 to 1789 when he was assigned as a Minister to France – as well as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.

 

United States

While Neoclassical architecture was popular throughout France, it actually flourished and took deeper roots in the young American republic, and played a major role in national history. Across the United States – and most commonly in the Northeast and the South – there are impressive examples of this type of architecture, ranging from civic buildings, courthouses, and churches to schools and mansions.

After the American War of Independence against Great Britain (1775-1783), civic and public buildings throughout the new country adopted the classical ideals of symmetry and order. Founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson, also an important architect, viewed Neoclassical style as a link between the new republic’s ideas of government and the ideals of democracy expressed by ancient Greece and Rome.

Jefferson, the third President of the U.S., wore many hats. He wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, served as a Minister to France, and was a respected architect. Monticello, his home in Charlottesville (Virginia), one of his first attempts at the Neoclassical style, has been described as an “essay in architecture.”  It took more than 40 years to complete this masterpiece.

In 1769, Jefferson started the construction of the first version of Monticello – an eight-room home he designed according to the principles of Andrea Palladio. With all the redesign and rebuilding over the years, Monticello expanded into a 21-room mansion with an elevated main floor centered on a pavilion with a colonnaded portico and a low dome.

 

In 1786, Jefferson conceived the design for one his most acclaimed structures – the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond. It was designed and modeled after the Maison Carree, a well-preserved Roman temple built in the 1^st century B.C.E. in Nimes, Southern France.

Not quite finished with his architectural accomplishments, Jefferson began the construction of Poplar Forest – his home away from Monticello in 1806. Poplar Forest was a 4,800-acre plantation acquired through his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton. The octagon-shaped house has been called the “purest of his Neoclassical architectural masterpieces.” The one-story home is set on a high basement and has most of the features of Jeffersonian architecture: symmetry, classic porticoes with pediments and white columns, red bricks, and polished floors.

Between 1814 and 1826, Jefferson designed and supervised the construction of the university of his dream – the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

Jefferson was certainly not the only post-American Revolution architect in the country to build memorable Neoclassical style structures. William Thornton (1759-1828), Benjamin Latrobe (1764-1820) and Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) designed the U.S. Capitol Building, which remains as one of the most recognizable and iconic examples of the style.

 

More on This Style & the American Presidents

As montioned above, perhaps one of the most significant proponents of Neoclassical architecture was Thomas Jefferson – not only in his belief in the ideals of justice and democracy that the style symbolized for the young American Republic, but also in his creative capacity as an architect. When he became the third President of the United States and moved to the White House, for example, he and Benjamin Latrobe added low colonnades on each wing that concealed the stables and storage spaces.

 

Jefferson was not the only President who was captivated by Neoclassical architecture. Another Founding Father and the fourth President – James Madison – lived in Montpelier, his ancestral Southern plantation home in Orange, Virginia. Montpelier, which sits on a 2,650-acre area on the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was originally designed by President Madison’s father in 1760 as a classic two-story brick Georgian house with the covered portico, simple symmetrical facade, and windows. But Madison made his own additions and renovations to Montpelier from 1797 through 1812 –  without changing the symmetry of the original design. Madison built a huge portico with four columns and a pediment that covered the two front doors of Montpelier. The white columned portico contrasted with the red brick facade and served as the stunning exterior focus of the home.

 

The fifth President – James Monroe – was a soldier in the Continental army during the American Revolution. In 1780, Monroe studied law under Jefferson, who was then the Governor of Virginia. Their friendship helped Monroe throughout his political career. In 1808, Monroe inherited Oak Hill, with its 4,400 acres in Aldie, Virginia, from his uncle. However, construction on the mansion did not start until 1820 because of financial problems. It is speculated that Madison involved both Jefferson and James Hoban (designer and builder of the White House) in Oak Hill’s design. Overlooking a garden on the property as it stands among tall trees, Oak Hill was completed in 1823 and features a huge portico with Doric columns. The house was originally a two-story brick structure with small one-story wings that flanked the main building. In the early 20th century, the wings were enlarged and raised to two stories, with small porticoes added to their end elevations.

 

The short list of early U.S. Presidents whose ancestral homes were designed and built in the Neoclassical style – or featured most the architecture’s elements – includes 

• Andrew Jackson (7th) – The Hermitage in Nashville, TN

• William Henry Harrison (9^th) – Grouseland in Vincennes, IN

• John Tyler (10^th ) – Sherwood Forest in Charles City County, VA

• John Polk (11^th) – Polk Place in Nashville, TN (demolished in 1901)

Throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries, Presidents of the country built many traditional homes that retained some principles of Neoclassical architecture. Among them were Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Neoclassical architecture is as relevant today as it was in the 18^th century. Just like the ancient Greek and Roman models, this style is timeless in its beauty and charm. If you’re in the market for a new home and looking for one with elements of this style, browse through our home plans and use the filters to narrow down to exactly what you like.

 

Footnote: The top left photo in the lead image of this article is a magnificent 2-story Historic-style home with Neoclassical characteristics. For more details on the 4-bedroom, 4-bath residence with all its spectacular amenities, go to: (Plan #106-1155)

 

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