Greek Revival Architecture in North America

American Greek Revival architecture drew its inspiration from the design principles of classical Greece and was applied across ecclesiastical, institutional and residential buildings throughout the United States and Canada. Historians place the style's main period of popularity from about 1800 to 1860, with some narrowing the core years to roughly 1820 through 1860, and the Bank of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, completed in 1798, is recognized as the first American building to use Greek architectural orders. Buildings in the style are marked by extensive use of columns or pilasters drawn from the Greek orders, bilateral symmetry, block or temple-like massing, and low-pitched or flat roofs, and generally avoid arches, since the arch had no place in Greek temple architecture; many rural examples instead used asymmetrical upright-and-wing floor plans with their own regional variations. Two historical events helped drive the style's popularity in North America: the War of 1812, which pushed Americans to reject British design traditions such as the Adam style, and the Greek War of Independence beginning in 1821, which made Greek aesthetics culturally admired and widely adopted.