First Period

Fairbanks House, built from 1637 to 1641, is the oldest surviving timber frame house in America

Gedney and Cox Houses circa 1665 and located at 21 High Street, near the intersection of Summer Street in the Chestnut Street District in Salem, Massachusetts.

In American colonial architecture and design, the First Period was the time period of approximately 1626 through 1725. There are more houses constructed by America's earliest settlers in Essex County, Massachusetts than anywhere else in the country. First Period's successor is the Colonial Georgian Period.

Characteristics[edit]

Among other characteristics, First Period houses have a steeply pitched roof, a slightly asymmetrical plan, and a central chimney. The First Period house is distinguished from later houses by its exposed (often decorated or chamfered) frame in the interior. Some early windows in modest houses may have had no glazing, but the standard First Period window, until at least 1700, was the diamond-paned casement. No example of this type of window survives in situ; all current examples date to (at the very earliest) the late 19th century. Multiple-light, sliding sash windows started to appear around 1700, and by about 1750 had supplanted the earlier type.

External links[edit]

Salem Massachusetts First Period – gives a description of this period as well as others
Essex National Heritage Area list of first period houses

v t e Architecture of the United States
Colonial	American colonial architecture Colonial Georgian Dutch Colonial French Colonial German Colonial Spanish Colonial
Early Republic	Adam Federal Jeffersonian
Mid-19th century	Greek Revival Italianate Gothic Revival
Victorian	Richardsonian Romanesque Second Empire American Renaissance Folk Stick style Queen Anne Shingle Territorial
Late-19th to mid-20th century	Art Deco (Streamline Moderne) American Craftsman American Foursquare Beaux-Arts California bungalow Chicago School Colonial Revival Dutch Colonial Revival Googie International style Mayan Revival Mediterranean Revival Mission Revival Pueblo Revival Prairie School PWA Moderne Rustic Spanish Colonial Revival Territorial Revival Tudor Revival
Post-World War II	Blobitecture Deconstructivism High-tech Mid-century modern Modern Neo-eclectic Neo-futurism Neomodern New Classical architecture Postmodern Ranch Shed style Usonian
Vernacular	Critical regionalism Hall and parlor house Central-passage house Log cabin Cape Cod Saltbox Creole cottage Dogtrot house I-house Shotgun house Sod house Carpenter Gothic First Period
Cities	Atlanta Boston Buffalo Chicago Detroit Houston Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami New Orleans New York City Omaha Philadelphia Portland San Antonio San Francisco Seattle St. Louis

First Period

Characteristics[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Navigation menu

Search