“Georgian architecture” refers to the architectural style of the period between 1720 and 1830. It takes its name from the four British King Georges (I, II, III and IV) who ruled from 1714 to 1830. Georgian architecture departed from the English Baroque style of the early 18th century, which was characterized by bold and opulent curved shapes, strong lines, ornamental design and rich colors. The Georgian style in Britain and other English-speaking countries had a much more classical feel and was influenced by ancient Greek and Roman architecture. It was characterized by harmony, symmetry, clean lines and delicate furniture.
History at a Glance
What: Georgian architecture
When: 1720 to 1830
Characteristics: Understated elegance, simplicity and symmetry
Professional advice from:
Hugo Tugman, Architect Your Home - Interior Your Home
Michael Parinchy, Probuild360
Oliver Burns
Proportions. Georgian architecture is often described as being Palladian in style. This means it was influenced by Italian architect Andrea Palladio’s reinterpretation of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Palladio’s buildings were characterized by understated elegance, subtle decoration and strict use of classical proportions.
“In Georgian times, the classical lessons of proportioning were tremendously important. That’s why their buildings are so beautifully proportioned, with such lovely high ceilings,” says Hugo Tugman.
Everything from the height of the baseboard and its relation to the size of the cornice was carefully calculated. “The proportioning systems don’t tell you how to design, but rather give you the tools with which to design,” Tugman says.
Architecture for London
Georgian townhouses. The townhouse is the emblem of Georgian architecture in Britain and remains a prominent feature of many British towns today. Most Georgian townhouses are made from brick and have a sloping slate roof concealed by a parapet (a small wall at the top of the building), making them look rectangular.
In towns where stone was readily available, such as Bath, England, it often replaced brick as the main building material. Interestingly, often one property developer would build the facade of a street and people would build their homes behind it. “The houses can be very different inside,” Tugman says. “It’s often just the facade that’s uniform.”
Clair Strong Interior Design
Georgian terrace houses. There was much urban growth in the 18th century and, as many people flocked to the cities, houses needed to be built to accommodate them. In Britain rows of terraced townhouses sprang up. This gave architectural consistency to a street and allowed as many people to be housed as possible. Terrace houses were mostly in straight lines, but crescents were also common, as were squares around a central garden.
Zone Architects
Social status. Most townhouses were built for relatively wealthy people. Of course, there was housing for the working classes, but few of those buildings have survived. “What remains from the Georgian period is mostly the high-quality properties that were built for the rich,” Tugman says.
Most wealthy British families had a townhouse in the city as well as a country house. “The difference between them was simply space. A townhouse would be terraced, and the country house would be a detached dwelling. They may have had similar proportioning systems applied to them, but the design approach would have been different,” Tugman adds.
Nash Baker Architects
Social culture. In Georgian times wealthy families had servants, such as cooks and scullery maids. “Houses were designed with that in mind. There would have been rooms for the families and rooms for the service team,” Tugman says.
“The buildings were designed around the social culture of the time,” he adds. So kitchens were behind the scenes. “Kitchens were not the things they are today,” Tugman says. “An issue architects face when working with Georgian buildings is equalizing the spaces and putting kitchens into rooms where they previously wouldn’t have been.”
STEPHEN FLETCHER ARCHITECTS
High ceilings. Georgian homes are known for their high ceilings. “If you ever go into a house and are shocked by the height of the ceilings, it’s probably a Georgian home,” Parinchy says. In keeping with the upstairs-downstairs divide, often the rooms on the ground floor would had the highest ceilings. “All of the parties would have been on the ground floor, so it was a way of projecting wealth and status,” he says.
Nash Baker Architects
Roofs. A good way to identify a Georgian property is by its roof. “You can always tell Georgian architecture from the outside,” Parinchy says. “The buildings are often big and flat fronted, with a shallow, pitched roof. There were often two pitches surrounded by a parapet, so from the street it looked as though it didn’t have a roof,” he says. “It gave an imposing and powerful look to the building.”
In many terraced homes in Britain, French roofs, which had a steep pitch, were used. “That gave the opportunity for an extra floor and was one of the ways terraced houses were made more substantial,” Parinchy says.
Studiodare Architects Ltd
Sash windows. Sash windows are particularly characteristic of the Georgian period. The windows use a mechanism of weights and pulleys to slide up and down. Internal shutters were also common for privacy and to keep the heat from the fires from escaping. Windows are smaller on the top floors of British homes, as these were often the servants’ quarters, and smaller windows helped to reduce the window tax of the time.
Paul Dracott Garden Design
Symmetry. Georgian homes are generally between one and three stories high, often two rooms deep and symmetrical both inside and out. The classical orders — the proportions used in ancient architecture — were adhered to in the construction of both mansions and terraced homes, although with terraced and semidetached townhouses, allowances were made for having the front door off-center to allow a decent-size room to fit beside the hall. Windows are rectangular, and country homes have chimneys on both sides with a front door in the center. Georgian homes typically do not have porches.
User
Style. The defining characteristic of Georgian style is subtlety. Color schemes are pale and understated — soft grays, pea greens and whites. Wallpapers might feature simple patterns, often with Oriental designs, as the papers traditionally were imported from the Far East.
Moldings are intricate but not ostentatious, and furniture and fabrics traditionally were soft and elegant. “A lot of stucco would have been used, with moldings all around the edge of the ceilings in beautiful patterns,” Parinchy says. Winged chairs were common features, as were fireplaces.
Although decorative, the style is understated. “Georgian buildings tend to be much simpler and much less ornamented than other styles,” Tugman says. “For the most part they were very plain.”
Oliver Burns
Decline and revival. After the 1830s, Georgian style was slowly abandoned in Britain, but it did experience a revival in the early 20th century in neo-Georgian architecture.
Tell us: Do you live in a Georgian home? What are your favorite features? Please share your thoughts and photos in the Comments below.
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