View ChannelsFeatured: Finance
View ShowroomsFeatured: Radiantec - Radiant Solar Heating

BobVila.com

Home

Review of Colonial-Style Architecture and Exurban Living

Setting the stage for his 21st century Colonial project, Bob discusses the current trend toward exurban living and the renewed popularity of the Center Entry Colonial. The original Colonial-style homes where built by the colonists before the American Revolution. They regained favor in the 1870s at the time of the Centennial and again in the 1930s as people realized the importance of preserving the country's antique homes, and yet again during the Bicentennial. Salient characteristics include a pitched roof, central chimney, evenly placed windows right under the roofline, shutters, and, of course, a center entry.

Get Adobe Flash Player to see this content.

Chapters from this episode

Tour of Winslow Crocker House Now Playing

Tour of Winslow Crocker House

Reviewing the Plans for the Foundation Now Playing

Reviewing the Plans for the Foundation

Review of Colonial-Style Architecture and Exurban Living Now Playing

Review of Colonial-Style Architecture and Exurban Living

Framing Exterior Walls for the Center Hall Colonial Now Playing

Framing Exterior Walls for the Center Hall Colonial

Framing with Engineered Wood I-Joists Now Playing

Framing with Engineered Wood I-Joists

Clip Transcript For:

Review of Colonial-Style Architecture and Exurban Living

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" While suburban living in the twentieth century was what everyone aspired to in the 21 century many people are aspiring to an. Exurban location they're willing to commute an hour to get to work in town so that they can live in a bucolic setting like this more and more new small developments are cropping up where formerly we had beautiful pasture land small farms. In many of these exurban locations the most popular house style is the center entry colonial. Now colonials have been around ever since we were colonies I suppose. But in the nineteenth century when we celebrated our Centennial in the 1876. -- lots of people really were enamored of the concept of living in a colonial house. Even some people who lived in victorians painted them white and put on green shutters so they too could celebrate the Centennial same thing happened in 1976. Lots of people started building beautiful colonial reproductions and it's really become one of the favorite types of houses in America you'll find it almost anywhere in the country behind -- we're looking at a recently completed center entry colonial and all the elements are there. The pitched roof about a 9 pitch the central chimney. The evenly placed windows right under the roofline the shutters. And of course the center entry."

[-]

More Videos »Related Videos

Durable Front Entry Columns for Colonial Home

At the modern Colonial's front entry, Bob takes a look at the columns that support the overhang at the front entry. An alternative to wooden columns, these columns, supplied by Chadsworth's Columns, are made of a proprietary material called PolyStone, a mix of reinforced polyester resin, fiberglass and marble dust. Strong and long lasting, the columns are expected to perform well in the often-harsh New England climate.

Entryway and Dining Room Tour

Bob tours the front vestibule, highlighting the beautiful stencil work done by Kim Sweet. The stencil work replaced moldings in many homes of this nineteenth century era. The stencil work is not just on the wall but extends to the ceiling. This small vestibule will take the artist four days to complete using oil based paint. Greg Rochlin meets with Bob to discuss a few architectural pieces that borrow modern technology, combine stock pieces to antiques to create an authentic paneled wall and inlayed flooring. Bob meets with Susanne Csongor and Christine Lane of CLC Interiors to discuss some of the choices made in decorating the dining room and front hall. They used dense busy patterned wallpaper in the small dining room to give it an intimate feel. Combining it with red cotton chintz drapes with goblet pleats to accent the berries in the wallpaper. A Russian rug on the floor in the hallway was the color palette inspiration for this room as well as a blue Greek turnkey pattern for the runner up the stairs.

Tour of the Port Royal Parlor at Winterthur

Bob returns to Winterthur, industrialist Henry Francis du Pont's country estate, which is now a museum, in Delaware's Brandywine Valley. The museum's Port Royal Parlor display was originally part of a country home in Philadelphia slated for demolition in the 1920's. A collector of American antiques and architecture, du Pont bought the entire home and moved it to Winterthur. Pauline Eversmann, Winterthur's program director, joins Bob for a tour and recounts the parlor's history. The entryway opens onto the gardens, and in Colonial times, the doors would remain open to provide a view of the garden before guests proceeded to the parlor. As an area of the home intended for formal entertaining, du Pont wanted this room to be functional, so he expanded the parlor from its original size. Among the period antiques on display is an antique high chest that du Pont purchased for $44,000 in 1929, setting a long-standing price record for early American furniture.

Floorplans and Layout of the Container House

Back on site, Bob joins Ray Price for a look at the ISBU's on their foundations. The total footprint of the house is 58 feet from front to back, or 1,800 square feet in total, with 2 ISBU's on each side. Between them, 7 3/4 inch-wide steel floor joists will run 16 inches on center and be welded on each end to the ISBU's, creating a total steel structure that will then get a plywood subfloor. Price shows Bob the floorplans for this Highland model. It has a front entry that leads to a living room, dining room, and kitchen combination that functions like a great room and family space. A central hallway leads to the back of the house and passes between two bedrooms on the right with a bath between them and two bedrooms on the left, including a master bedroom with its own bath, walk-in closet, and utility room. The single-car garage is built of cement block. The exterior will be finished in stucco like a traditional Florida home, and will match its identical, but smaller, prototype down the block.