20181010211141landscape_interp x
Like your first landscape interpretation assignment, here you are asked to recognize and date buildings by their architectural styles. In this case you are tasked with finding and identifying a structure built in the industrial era between 1860 and 1920. This will include
identifying the distinct housing styles that typified development prior to 1860-1920
dating (approximately) the year of construction of a building, based on architectural and geographic interpretation alone
using field observation and background research to put structures within social and environmental contexts
reflecting on how structures and landscapes have evolved since the time of construction.
Hi. Let me know if you are unable to get access the textbook. Attached is an older assignment you could use for an example. And pictures you should include in the essay. You can choose which ones to include from the pictrues.
Haoyu Tian
GEO 201 B
Professor David Prytherch
2018/09/18
Landscape Interpretation
At first glimpse, the whiteish house (Figure 1) with a dark-grey roof might not be the most stereo-typical Federal style building in Oxford, Ohio. But as one observes and analyses more carefully, it is a Federal house in its root.
Figure 1.
Located on 328 W High St, the building is at the corner of the intersection between W High St and Locust St. The building is constructed with a side-gabled roof and a rectangular body as its main structural shape which is a common feature of a Federal style building. The windows and cornice are like its kind, “…windows aligned horizontally and vertically in symmetrical rows, usually five-ranked on front facade…” (McAlester 217), and “shallow-molded, unadorned cornice” (McAlester 223). The front door painted in red has a rectangular fanlight with sidelights. The lights are framed with straight panels with simply transparent glass that have no decorative detail. On the outside of the building, it has a one-story high porch with supporting pillars extended a few meters outwards on one side. This is not a common feature found in Federal or its preceding Georgian but something one would categorize as Greek Revival, “…most have porches (either entry or full-width) supported by prominent square or rounded columns” (McAlester 247). This would be a modified feature that was built after the original construction.
Figure 2. The extended side has a horizontal wood strip texture.
As shown in Figure 2, the pillars on the extended side are half-embedded into the wall. We notice that the texture of that wall (horizontally placed wood strips) is inconsistent with the main part of the building. Texture like this can also be found in other parts of the house.
Figure 3. Similarly-textured roof side. Figure 4. Similarly-textured extension
This would indicate that the owner did modified the original construction and that the porch part is also an add-on structure because of the inconsistency with the style of the main part of the construction. Based on our obsevation above, we could make an asumption that this house was built at least when the Federal style was in fashion which accoring to McAlester, “Federal 1780-1820; locally to ca. 1840” (McAlester 218). We also could say that the house is built before the Greek Revival period (1825-1860), (McAlester 246), which establishes a period for which the house could be built during.
To test our assumption, we can find the official information of the house on the Butler County Auditor website which showed it was built in 1837 (Butler County Auditor). McAlester also suggests that Federal was the dominant style in the US from 1780 to 1820 mainly near the national capital on the eastern seaboard and in the 1820s, the Greek Revival was a preferred substitute of the Federal (McAlester 222). Considering the location of Oxford, we know that it is quite a remote location comparing to those near the national capital at the time, so that it is possible that Oxford had some time to catch up. Therefore, the former owner of this house incorporated different styles in the later modification.
When given a chance to explore a bit in the city of Oxford, we can find buildings, residential or commercial, not only have similar style to the house on W 328 High St, but also many newly developed houses consisting of many modern styles such as International (McAlester 617), which the building of Brick, a bar in uptown, has. According to the City of Oxford website, “In 1810, a year after Miami University was chartered, the Village of Oxford was laid out and the first lots were sold. In the following year the first school was built and by 1830, with a population of over 700, the Village of Oxford was incorporated” (City of Oxford website). It is not difficult to draw a conclusion that Miami University influenced Oxford in many aspects such as economically.
Bibliography
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Colonial Houses (1600-1820).” A Field Guide to American
Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 217.
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Colonial Houses (1600-1820).” A Field Guide to American
Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 223.
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Romantic Houses (1820-1880).” A Field Guide to American
Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 247.
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Colonial Houses (1600-1820).” A Field Guide to American
Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 218.
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Romantic Houses (1820-1880).” A Field Guide to American
Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 246.
RIEGLER JUDITH H TR. Butler County Auditor. “Property Records”,
http://propertysearch.butlercountyohio.org/PT/Datalets/Datalet.aspx?sIndex=0&idx=1. Accessed 18 Sept 2018.
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Colonial Houses (1600-1820).” A Field Guide to American
Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 222.
McAlester, Virginia Savage. “Bankers Modern.” A Field Guide to American Houses: the
Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia McAlester et al., Alfred A. Knopf, 2017, p. 617.
“Brief History of Oxford and Miami University.” City of Oxford,
http://www.cityofoxford.org/about-oxford. Accessed 18 Sept 2018.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
