A Guide to Color, Styles & Architectural Periods

This guide provides general descriptions of the architectural styles of homes and buildings found across America. There are overlapping brackets of time and many interior and exterior colors, used, interchangeably, were popular in more than one era.

These descriptions and color lists serve as a springboard to what is possible when painting a building’s exterior, trim, interior walls and floors as well as details like accents, decorative stenciling and overlays.

Using this guide and the Historic Colors of America, homeowners and professionals can create the effect of a given historic period while applying variations to suit personal tastes.

Colonial (Mid 1600’s - 1780)

The early colonists arriving in the New World from Europe brought with them the prevailing architectural styles and building practices of their native countries. Most colonial dwellings built during the 1600’s might be classified as folk houses if they did not so strongly reflect the distinctive traditions of their countries of origin. Old World practices persisted in Colonial empires well beyond the end of European rule.

Historic Interior Original Colonial styles were built primarily along the east coast, gulf coast and portions of the southwest. They were built before the era of industrialization, and unaltered examples have a characteristic ‘handmade’ quality in such details as doors, windows, brickwork or siding. The most characteristic Colonial house is usually a one or two-story box, two rooms deep with symmetrical windows. Many examples of Colonial houses survive today and are among the most popular styles of American building.

Colonial Colors

Shaker Red	English Bartlett	Bold Bolection	Parsnip	Ginger Root	Rawhide
Cogswell Cedar	Tailor’s Buff	Newport Indigo	Langdon Dove	Portobello	Chocolate
Pumpkin	Blonde Lace	Wainscot Green	Pettingill Sage	Tankard Gray	Quincy Granite
Knightley Straw	Meetinghouse Blue	Blue Winted Teal	Burnished Pewter	Otis Madeira	Vinal Haven
Asian Jute	Lexington Blue	Philips Green	Milkweed	Liberty	Polished Pewter
Georgian Yellow	Standish Blue	Warren Tavern	Pitch Pine	Burnt Umber	Redrock Canyon
Farmhouse Ochre	Tory Blue	Sayward Pine	Nankeen	Wooden Nutmeg	Wooly Thyme

Federal (Mid 1780 - 1830)

The federal style was the dominant style of the new Republic. During this period the population tripled in size and expanded to the west and south. The style was most concentrated in prosperous port cities of the eastern seaboard in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina and Georgia. Diversity of spatial planning found in interiors of the period reflected the style of Robert Adam, the gifted English architect who also popularized design elements such as swags, garlands and urns.

The Federal or Adam style is characterized by symmetry, lightness and delicacy. One of the earliest examples of this style was the ceiling in the Mount Vernon dining room, executed for George Washington in 1775. In general, Federal houses may be rectilinear and boxlike, with perhaps an elliptical fanlight over the front door and sidelights flanking the door. Door trim may include thin columns or pilasters and curved or octagonal projections may reveal the shape of interior rooms. Also characteristic are curving steps and windows recessed within arches. The roof is often concealed behind a balustrade.

Federal Colors

Stagecoach	Barrett Quince	Lucinda	Bristol Green	Wild Oats	Pettingill Sage
India Trade	York Bisque	Bulfinch Blue	Longfellow	Parsnip	Burnt Umber
Pumpkin	Lyman Camellia	Citadel Blue	Viscaya	Langdon Dove	Wooden Nutmeg
Knightley Straw	Woodstock Rose	Meetinghouse Blue	Green Bonnet	Jackson Antique	Quincy Granite
Asian Jute	Mountain Laurel	Tory Blue	Wainscot Green	Phelps Putty	Vinal Haven
Georgian Yellow	Rundlet Peach	Amelia	Grasshopper	Bayberry Wax	Curry
Farmhouse Ochre	Tudor Ice	Morning Dew	Boardman	Sandy Bluff	Rain Barrel
English Bartlett	Appleton	Coral Springs	Jewett White	Flaxen Field

Greek Revival (1825 - 1855)

The Greek Revival period began and ended in this country with public buildings built in Philadelphia. One of the most familiar icons of American architecture is the full-colonnaded Greek Revival mansion of the southern states with its large veranda or living porch. The front-gabled house was popularized in the early nineteenth century and became the predominant form of urban houses in the northeast and Midwest well into the twentieth century.

Greek Revival The classical temple form with a portico across the entire front and the roof ridge running from front to back, is employed for buildings of all kinds and size including cottages. Dormers are rare and roofs are generally gabled or of low pitch. The front door is typically surrounded by narrow sidelights with a row of transome lights above. The most common types of ornament are the anthemion and the Greek fret, wide pilasters and deep, heavy cornices. Wooden buildings were invariably painted white.

Greek Revival Colors

Danish Pine

Canyon Gold

Amish Green

Jewett White

Victorian (1840 - 1900)

The styles that were popular during the long reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria are generally referred to as ‘Victorian’. Growth of railroads and industrialization led to changes in mass production and shipping of house components, while the development of mechanized saws and lathes let to a profusion of wooden ornament. The extravagant use of complex shapes and elaborate detailing are clearly reflected in these landmark houses.

Late Victorian styles of this period, also known as ‘Stick’ and ‘Queen Anne’, became intertwined and tend to overlap each other. Characteristics such as multicolored walls, asymmetrical facades, and steeply pitched roofs are common features. Dwellings were built with every conceivable type of trim including wooden lacework, patterned shingles, porches and towers with conical roofs. Roofs are often complex with cross gables, conical turrets, dormers and decorative brackets beneath eaves. Finials and crestings were frequently used to decorate the roof’s ridges.

Victorian Colors

Beetroot	Knightley Straw	Biloxi Blue	Newbury Moss	Winter Meadow	Bargeboard Brown
Madder	Asian Jute	Bowen Blue	Picholine	Coastal Sand	Fieldstone
Covered Bridge	Georgian Yellow	Muted Mulberry	Amish Green	Britches	Vermont Slate
Alden Till	Goldenrod	Concord Grape	Baize	Toffee	Curry
Flowering Chestnut	Farmhouse Ochre	Plum Island	Gedney Green	Giner Root	Redrock Canyon
Roseland	English Bartlett	Cottage Green	Pointed Fir	Maple	Cummings Oak
Codman Claret	Gable Green	Marrett Apple	Brattle Spruce	Bean Pot	Wooly Thyme
Stagecoach	Tailor’s Buff	Whispering Willow	Winter Balsam	Palomino	Sturgis Gray
Richardson Brick	Blonde Lace	Brookside	Moss Glen	Brownstone	Hazelwood
Portsmouth Spice	Robin’s Egg	Veranda Blue	Sayward Pine	Burnt Umber	China Aster
Clementine	Glacier Bay	Warren Tavern	Pettingill Sage	Hickory Nut	Pumpkin

Colonial Revival (1900 - 1940)

This was the dominant style for domestic building throughout the country during the first half of this century. Early examples of Colonial Revival buildings were rarely historically correct copies, but rather free interpretations inspired by colonial precendents. Pure copies of colonial houses are far less common than are eclectric mistures.

Features commonly identified with Colonial Revival houses include a balanced facade, front doorways with sidelights, fanlights, crown moldings and prediments. They are typically accentuated with pilasters, porticos or columns to emphasize the front entrance. Windows are normally symmetrically balanced with double hung sashes and multiple panes in one or both sashes. Roofs may be hipped, side-gabled, center-gabled or gambrel style.

Colonial Revival Colors:

Codman Claret	Lucinda	Seal Blue	Melville	Yarmouth Oyster	Vinal Haven
Andover Cream	Bulfinch Blue	Volute	Venetian Glass	Parsnip	Monument Gray
Pale Organza	Emily	Asher Benjamin	Newbury Moss	Langdon Dove	Fieldstone
Emma	Portsmouth Blue	Beauport Aubergine	Gedney Green	Portobello	Gropius Gray
Lady Banksia	Rocky Hill	Hawthorne	Pointed Fir	Hitching Post
Jonquil	Winter Harbor	Elise	Jewett White	Tyson Taupe
Appleton	Saxton Blue	Cottage Green	Plymouth Beige	Quincy Granite

For brochures, color cards and more information, please visit your nearest F&H store. Use our Store Finder, located at the top of this page, or contact us.

Sources

Whiffen, Marcus
American Architecture Since 1780, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The M.I.T. Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976

Foley, Mary Mix
The American House, New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1980

McAlester, Virginia and Lee
A Field Guide to American Homes, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984

Phillips, Steven J.
Old-House Dictionary, Lakewood, CO: American Source books, 1989

Old House Journal, A magazine containing articles on restoring and maintaining old houses; product Advertising. Two Main Street Gloucester, MA 01930. Subscriptions: (800) 234-3797, Back Issues: (508) 281-8803

Traditional Building Magazine, “The Professional’s Source for Historical Products” 69A Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217, Phone (718) 636-0788, online @ www.traditional-building.com