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Neoclassical Architecture

State Capitol at Montpelier The State Capitol of Vermont at Montpelier was designed in the Federal style, the American version of neoclassical architecture. Constructed of local granite, the building’s facade features a series of Doric columns with a classical pediment above.Vermont Travel Division

In many countries of northern Europe the elegance and dignity attainable through adherence to classic rules of composition retained appeal, while in... central and southern Europe and Scandinavia, baroque and rococo ran their course. In England, the duke of Marlborough’s great Blenheim Palace, designed (1705) by Sir John Vanbrugh, emulated in rougher and reduced form the grandeur of Versailles.

A renewed interest in Palladio and his follower Inigo Jones emerged. Development of the resort city of Bath gave opportunities to John Wood and his son to apply Palladian classicism to the design of Queen’s Square (1728), the Circus (1754-1770), and finally the great Royal Crescent (1767-1775), in all of which the individual houses were made to conform to an encompassing classic order. Robert Adam popularized classicism, expressing it notably through delicate stucco ornamentation. Historical scholarship became more precise, and true Greek architecture—including such pure examples of Doric as the Parthenon—became known to architects through the 1762 publication by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett of Antiquities of Athens. These developments reinforced the grip of neoclassicism in England, and the resulting type of architecture became popularly known as the Georgian style.

Osterley Park House in Middlesex, England, was redesigned in the neoclassical style by Scottish-English architect Robert Adam. The style, known as Georgian, is characterized by symmetry and straight lines. It was influenced by the 16th-century Palladian architectural style and inspired by classical Greek and Roman ruins. Adam’s new designs for Osterley Park were executed between 1761 and 1780.


In what was to become the northeastern United States, Peter Harrison and Samuel McIntire took their cues from English architects in their own version of Georgian architecture, which was called Federal after the United States won independence. In the Southeast, with an aristocracy predominantly rural, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Latrobe, and others derived their building style more directly from Palladio. Jefferson, whose early virtuosity had been demonstrated in Monticello (1770-1784), was also moved by ancient Rome, and placed a version (1817-1826) of the Pantheon at the head of his magnificent Lawn at the University of Virginia. See Neoclassical Art and Architecture.

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