Classical Renewal House Plan

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CLASSICAL RENEWAL HOUSE PLAN

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Introduction

America flexed its aesthetic muscles at the 1893 “World’s Columbian Exposition” and a new style of architecture was born: academically wise, aesthetically superior, remarkably beautiful, the Beaux Arts’ Neo-Classical.  We call the style a “revival”, a “neo” for “new” (new-classical), but in truth no particular style was revived, and little there was that was new, except for some few building technologies.  Instead, gifted, well-trained architects reimagined every architectural style, adapting each style to a particular use or context, classively.  The most elaborate of these styles was the florid French of failed empire, the “Beaux Arts” (Fr. lang. beaux-arts, trans. fine arts).  Others have been named “Classical Revival” (the Roman, Palladian, Georgian distilled through Thos. Jefferson); the “Neo-Classical” (solid temple-like, bold in restraint); the “Colonial Revival” (Dutch or Williamsburg); and other, exotic revivals classively measured, Egyptian, for instance.  Whichever the style, each shares the adaptation of monumental classical forms.  You will notice the light touch of this home, the easy mastery of forms that renew the classical, a “Classical Renewal style“, you might say.

Precedents

The classical houses of America are first, the primitive hut, the Scandinavian log cabin, and the Cape Cod; second, the Spanish, French, English colonial styles, those simple, few room habitations that remember each motherland and follow, as-much-as budget will allow, the royal fashion.  The Classical Revival American house is a third type, a house Enlightenment born (18^th Century—1700s), a house designed by reason after nature, conscious of tradition, eager to excel, suited to a child of God, fitted to humane life, polite, good, and neighborly.  The Classical Revival house is a family temple composed of rooms that pace a day, that serve revolving needs, that please the hopes of family.  There is little difference between Roman basilicas, Palladio’s villas, Georgian mansions, and Williamsburg townhouses, little difference between the Athena Parthenos (the Temple of the Maiden—the “Parthenon”), Smirk’s British Museum, and Robert Frost’s Ann Arbor House, little difference between the houses of Jefferson’s Lawn and the Classical Renewal house featured here.

Classical Renewal house plan, #15A, Color Elevation. M. Curtis, des.

Characteristics

Proportions
Monumental, formal, overwhelmingly bilaterally symmetrical.  Bold temple porches seem a stage for the theatrical.

Roof Features
Low pitched, occasionally mansard; balustrades are often employed to hide low roofs.  Chimneys tend to be thin, symmetrically balanced, tall, and flanking the house.

Fenestration
Windows are large, celebrated in a framing with classical detail, sometimes each window will boast its own entablature or arch.  Long, square, or narrow, the mullions are heavy, likely cruciform.

Structure and Materials
Stone and brick are most common, though modest examples might be of wood; high-style examples are of marble.  Think “riches and luxury, and taste”, sometimes refined, sometimes extreme.

Space and Floor Plan
Rational, rectangular masses subdivide themselves within a solid, central box.  A center hall bisects the house, dining and kitchen on one side, living and library on the other.

Entrance
A restrained celebration of entrance, ennobling and formal.  Columns, pilasters, pediment, even if lacking the typical two-story temple porch.

Ornamentation
Wreaths, swags, putti and other statuary, urns, and the occasional pineapple provide ornament in a comfortable, human-scale.

Color
White, or variations of yellow and beige.  Then, brickish, if of brick.

Surroundings
A grand sobriety in the garden, a formal ease in paths, a monumentality in shed, pool house, garage.

Variation
As mentioned (above), a great variety attends the Classical house.  The purest form might be the Roman as interpreted by the Beaux Arts architects of The City Beautiful, those architects who created, or who were influenced by The Worlds Columbia Exposition, 1893, many of whom are represented in examples above and below.

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#15A-D, Classical Renewal house plans with Greek Revival variation. M. Curtis, des.

Classical Renewal House Plan Features

This home was designed for the ease of family: Its open floorplan, its well-ordered rooms, its logic of placement and proportion encourage flexibility in use.  Then too, as in the most enduring classive styles, this Classical Renewal house ennobles family … you will notice how your spirit rises and is pleased by the elegance of its simple drawing.  This elevation of spirit is in part the architect’s art, in part the beauty of classical form, in part the nature of your human soul, a thing that delights in beauty, in logical order, in surprise and delight.  Then too, this house is scaled to human form, friendly to the wants of the body … it allows us to aim our eye toward our goal, and gives satisfaction when the goal is achieved, as in the simple walking from one place to the next, as in the eye’s delight in finding what it seeks.  And this house is bilaterally symmetrical, a satisfaction to a mind in search of the familiar … notice how the facade gives the assurance of a friendly face, this first time and in each time you visit this Classical Renewal house plan page.

Classical Renewal House Plan, #15D

Classical Renewal house plan, #15D, Plan & Elevation. M. Curtis, des.

Particulars

33’-0”                       Height
88’-0”                       Width
42’-6”                       Depth
4,250                        GSF
2,811                        First Floor GSF
1,439                        Second Floor GSF
136                           Pool House GSF
10’-0”                       First Floor Ceiling
2                                Levels
5                                Bedrooms
2 1/2                         Bathrooms
brick clad

Room Size
First Floor
Living Room               18’-0” x 27’-0”
Family Room              18’-0” x 15’-6”
Dining Room              18’-0” x 13’-6”
Kitchen                        18’-0” x 18’-3”
Study                           18’-0” x 9’-0”
Watercloset                6’-0” x 3’-6”
Master Bedroom       18’-0” x 20’-0”
Mater Bathroom        18’-0” x 12’-9”
Stair Hall                     12’-0” x 27’0”
Second Floor
Bedroom 2                  18’-0” x 11’-6”
Bedroom 3                  18’-0” x 11’-6”
Bedroom 4                  18’-0” x 11’-6”
Bedroom 5                  18’-0” x 11’-6”
Bathroom                    12’-0” x 6’-0”
Stair Hall                     12’-0” x 27’-0”
Exterior
Portico                         34’-0” x 10’6”
Porch 1                        18’9” x 6’-6”
Porch 2                        18’9” x 6’-6”
Veranda                       49’-0” x 14’-0”
Special Features
opportunity for aging in place
home office
kitchen island
walk-in closet
apartment/guest suite
passive cooling

Classical Renewal house plan, #15E, Economical House, Plan and Elevation. M. Curtis, des.

Classical Renewal house plan, #15F, Economical House, Color Elevation. M. Curtis, des.

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Featured image: Classical Renewal house plan, #15C, Color Elevation. M. Curtis, des.

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