The colonial housing style is so ubiquitous in the United States; it has a continuing influence on how we live in this country. My home — and perhaps yours, too — finds its roots there. Dating back to the 1600's and prevalent even today, the colonial style is synonymous with American style:
Colonial houses are, most simply, houses that were built during the colonial period of our country's history. Sub-types include the Dutch Colonial, French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, German Colonial, and New England Colonial housing types. The style's variety (coming from the colonies that first populated what would become America) clearly illustrates our country's melting pot beginnings.
Characteristics of Colonial Style Architecture:
Some traits of the colonial style house include a square floorplan, symmetry, a central stair and central entry door, rooms branching off of the central hall, and straight rows of windows on first and second floors. The colonial style permeates both urban and rural settings. Today, even, a loose interpretation of the colonial revival style makes up the majority of the nation's housing stock, echoing the original colonial style nearly 400 years after its beginnings. The simple floorplan of old colonial houses makes them perfect candidates for mixing with contemporary furnishings for a reinterpretation of the old.
Characteristics of Colonial Style Furnishings:
Colonial style furnishings at their earliest were simple and rustic, reflecting the lifestyle of Americans as they populated a new nation.
Today, so much of our built environment and furnishings are influenced by the Colonial Style that much goes unnoticed. But the style truly is the building block from which our nation's aesthetic sprung.
COLONIAL STYLE IN APARTMENT THERAPY HOUSE TOURS:
(Images: Flickr member Marcbela, licensed for use under Creative Commons, Old Houses, 3, 4: Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn/This Old House, Martha Stewart, Braitman Design Build, eHow, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart, House Beautiful, Antique Home Style, uwec.edu, About.com, Mauritius Museums, Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
8 Secret Spots to Hide Valuables at Home
The Live/Work Studio of Robert Siegel Handmade Ceramics
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Howard Butcher Bloc...
Why I Rent Apartments When I Travel
Recipe: Chopped Brown Rice Salad with Grapes and Pecans
I LOVE the spanish colonial!
I live in New England and am not a fan of Colonial style. Why have tiny windows, a big box, and no closet space when there are so many other more interesting architectural styles out there??
I think they are all very beautiful...
I'd love to live in any one of them...
It would have been nice to see a period Federal home house tour. Revival is lovely and all but nothing compares to the real deal.
cross ventilation in every room (all rooms have two walls with windows), a fireplace in every room (including the kitchen) and 16" plank flooring make me love my 1740 colonial. :) I would take my molding over closets any day.
seawhitney, your post made me laugh. My son wants to go to college in New England but HATES colonial architecture. Every time he gets a catalog with photos of a quaint campus full of red brick or clapboard-sided buildings he casts it aside. It's a problem.
I grew up in a center hall Federal farmhouse built in 1790. It was such a treat. Such a beautiful house. I love old houses but they are hell to maintain.
Sally305...What exactly did your son think he would find in New England? However, Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, has no colonial buildings. They are all really ugly 60's bunker style.
We built one. It has a simply carved staircase, thick moldings and pediments and operable wood shutters on a herringbone brick exterior.
We worked our butts off for it and what a treat it's been!
I still dream for a real one....
Hands down my favorite style.
I wish there were more to this post. I've always wondered if Paul Revere's house, especially the wooden beams and trims with plaster walls, was considered colonial or tudor or what?
was thinking, gosh that spanish colonial looks familiar! - then saw the pgh post gazette cred. i drive past it all the time, haha. :)
Pretty, but far too big for my household.
@Laura E, I was thinking the SAME thing about Hampshire. And half of UMass is bunker and half is colonial. Also, I am not sure a college's architecture is as important as faculty/teaching/research.
I grew up in a revival saltbox that my father built and at least 50% of my friends grew up in large Colonials as well. When I moved to central IL, I had to get used to smaller ranches. I like both.
Would have loved to see some colonial row home and city homes in this round up. Thinking places like elfreth's alley in philadelphia.
LaureE and K8WMA: guess what is the only New England college we have visited so far? :)
Strange that he would prefer brutalist over colonial, but after visiting Hampshire I can say the buildings are a lot nicer to look out of than to look at from outside. At least they have big windows to bring in the views, which cannot be said about many colonial buildings.
The feel of a campus is a consideration for a lot of kids. It's not the most important factor, but it is one--just like whether they think the guys/girls are attractive or the food is good in the cafeterias. They have a lot of choices and a lot of them don't really know what they want when they are only 16 or 17 years old--so they start narrowing down via some of the more superficial things. I don't think that's a problem (at least not yet).
Appropriately enough, there's something of the Puritan ethos in the colonial architecture - a simple, dare-I-say fundamentalist emphasis on structure that eschews frivolity and ornamentation for its own sake. It's disciplined and rigid, strong on principle rather than spontenaity.
Colonial houses were the "Minimalist/Modern" houses of their time - a simplification of earlier, and far more formal, Georgian architecture which was itself derived from Palladian architecture with an emphasis on symmetry and form.
Colonials were also an extremely practical and economical way to build, providing the maximum amount of internal space packed within the minimum exterior envelope.
That said - I don't get why a couple of pictures above have to do w/ this post: A Chinese Ming chair and some Ant chairs around an Eames table have exactly what do do w/ Colonial architecture?