Style is perhaps the most difficult of these classifications. Knowing more about the style of architecture can often be helpful in describing the building, understanding its context, and making sure things stay in keeping with what was intended. But instead, frequently it leads to confusion, misleads, and provides no greater understanding of the building. These may be avoided by recognizing the limitations of style. First, that 'style' has as much to do about art, culture, and creation as as it does with methodology. In this respect styles resist neat categorization. Second, that different people apply different meaning to the word 'style'. For some, it describes the whole approach to a design, while for others, only the superficial appearance.
This dichotomy is particularly troublesome for people trying to make
sense of older houses. Most architectural field guides concentrate
on appearance while most architectural historians concentrate on the fundamental
underlying design approach and its resultant characteristics. The following
provides a summary of the main architectural concepts used during the
periods of suburban development in West Philadelphia. It is not a
style guide per se, but some background to help make sense of both the style guides and the architectural histories.
Academic Architecture:
Often viewed as an antithesis to romanticism, this not entirely
so. Sometimes it is used more superficially to refer to classical
architecture. However, this can be confusing since as mentioned above, there was romantic use of classical elements. Like
romanticism, the term academic is best understood not as style, but as
a design methodology. Where romanticism emphasized imagination and observation, academic architecture
emphasizes reason and math as ideals for design.
Academic is also associated with formal training, and generally that training specifically taught by the Ecole' de Beaux Arts in France. As a result, academic is both a process of design and a set of ideals. Academic architecture emphasizes the use of abstract reasoning and rigorous methodology. In most cases, academic designs favor symmetry, harmonies, and classical orders. However this is only when the ideals were strongly married to the methodology. Academic ideals at the end of the 19th century resulted in a divergence of expressions besides classical.
Picturesque:
A term derived from mid-eighteenth century English landscapes that
had been created to provide views befitting a picture.
This became an ideal that swept into the neo-classical architecture
of the time, and reached America at the end of the 18th-century. Its implementation was another
matter, and at first was generally limited to the finest country houses.
It remained
an influential concept, particularly in American suburban architecture,
into the early twentieth century.
Revival:
"All revivals are romantic" says J. Mordant Cook. What
makes a "revival" style is that it is a self-conscious effort to recall,
reflect or associate with something that once was.
Vernacular:
Usually refers to buildings whose design more strongly reflects cultural
and local traditions than architectural ideals. Vernacular houses
can reflect and borrow from architectural styles and trends. This
can be frequently observed in 18th and early 19th century dwellings.
Sometimes the reverse is true. That is an architect draws on vernacular
examples for inspiration, design, or details.
Next:
West Phila. Architectural Chronology