Architecture of Oswego photographs of historic buildings by Nicholas Coughlin
Gothic Revival Style 1840–1880
The Gothic Revival Style is a style that is influenced by medieval Gothic architecture. It can be done in stone and brick, which portrays more of the castle/cathedral look that is common in medieval Gothic architecture, or wood can be used, which was less expensive and quicker to build with for Americans. The style is used mostly in rural settings. The Style can be identified by use of steeply pitched roofs with steep cross gables, carved barge boards along the eaves and gable edges, and a onestory porch supported by flattened Gothic style arches (either full-width or only at the entry). Other defining characteristics include horizontal cladding or board-and-batten siding painted in gray or earthy tones, tall diamond-paned windows with pointed arches usually on the gable side, arched or square drip-molding over windows, and balconies and verandas with Gothic style brackets and railings.
The Leverich-Kessler House 108 West 4th Street Built in 1849 Gothic Revival Style
Italianate Style 1840–1885
The Italianate style was the most popular design in the United States from 1860 and 1870. It was a style that could be built with many different types of materials, which made it affordable to a wide range of people. The Italianate Style has two variations, the Villa and the Palazzo styles, within it. The style can easily be identified by features such as the blocky and asymmetrical shape, a square tower or cupola above a low-pitched roof, and tall and narrow windows. Windows can be arched or curved on top with decorative crowns and hood moldings. Paired entry doors and paired and triple windows or a bay window are also a common attribute to the Italianate style. Houses in the style can be two to four stories tall and are usually painted with light warm colors.
The Richardson-Bates House 135 East 3rd Street Built in 1867 Italian Villa Style
The Sloan Hawley House 107 West Van Buren Street Built between 1866 and 1870 Italian Villa Style Other buildings in the style: Pardee House 8 Montcalm Street Built in 1848 Italianate Villa Style Higgins House 133 East 7th Street Built in 1858 Italianate Style
Stick Style 1858–1880’s
The Stick Style is characterized by many different features that all make use of “sticks, ” which are board banding and ornamentation in geometric patterns that decorate the clapboard wall siding. Buildings in the style are typically asymmetrical and have steeply pitched slate roofs with iron cresting. The style though called the Stick Style can be built with brick as well. The Sloan Carriage House is part of the Sloan Hawley Estate, located directly behind the Sloan Hawley House on the previous page. Carriage houses were buildings originally built to house horsedrawn carriages.
The Sloan Carriage House 107 West Van Buren Street Built in 1875 Stick Style
French Second Empire Style 1852–1870
Buildings in the French Second Empire Style have mansard roofs (four sided sloping roof) and dormer windows. Buildings have one or two story porches with balustrades and may have a tower or cupola. Other design elements include molded cornices at the top and bottom of the lower roof slope, decorative brackets below eaves, and iron cresting above cornices. The Oswego City Hall building was designed by the central NY architect Horatio N. White and built in Onondaga limestone. It has a central clock tower and the mansard roof is covered in multicolored slate shingles layed out in horizontal striped pattern.
Oswego City Hall 13 West Onieda Street Built in 1870 French Second Empire Style
The Walton-Kellogg House 80 West 5th Street Built in 1831 Modified Federal and French Empire
Federal Style 1790–1830
The Federal Style actually came from the Georgian Style. It was adapted into the Federal Style because of the designs of the Adams Brothers who were influenced by ancient Roman architecture, and as a result can also be called the Adam or Adamesque Style. The Federal Style was used for houses and public buildings. Buildings in the style were built at a time in America when the new government was being formed. Buildings in the Federal Style are two to three story and symmetrical and rectangular with the front door with a roof in the center facing the street and chimneys at both sides. Other style characteristics include semicircular or elliptical fanlight over doors, sash windows placed around a centered doorway, flat or keystone lintels above the windows, tooth like dentils on the cornice with egg-and-dart molding underneath. Also the building could have a small entry porch and the roofline could include a balustrade. The style is very similar to the Georgian Style except that the windows in the Federal Style larger and separated by narrow mullions.
The Stone Store-Cahill’s Fishery 1 W Seneca Street Built in 1828 Federal Style Front View
The Stone Store-Cahill’s Fishery 1 W Seneca Street Built in 1828 Federal Style Side View Other buildings in the style: Grant-Allen House 54-56 West 3rd Street Built in 1832 Federal Style Peck House 58 West 3rd Street Built in 1836 Federal Style Jenson Oliver House 51 West Seneca Street Built in 1832-33 Federal Style McWhorter House 69 East Mohawk Street Built in 1828 Federal Style
Romanesque-Norman Style 1840–1930s
The Neo-Romanesque or Romanesque Revival style was most commonly used to design castle like structures that create awe and portray power to the passerby, which made it a good fit to design churches in. The style includes attributes like round arches, belt courses, and semicircular arches on windows. The Oswego Library building has battlements, a tower, turrets and arcaded windows that reflect the romantic style of the Pre-Civil War era. It is the oldest library in New York State, which was built to be a library from the start.
The Oswego Armory 265 West 1st Street Built in 1906 Neo-Romanesque-Norman Style Side View
The Oswego City Library 120 East 2nd Street Built in 1857 Romanesque-Norman Style
Victorian Eclectic Style 1870–1900
The Victorian Eclectic Style is a decorative combination of different Victorian styles, the Queen Anne style, the Gothic Revival Style, and Italianate Styles. As a result buildings in the style are taller, wider, and more complicated. Buildings in the Victorian Eclectic Style are symmetrical and square or rectangular. Common features of the style include brackets under the eaves, pediments, gothic pointed arches, crested roofs, semi-circular arched, dormer and oriel windows, porches with spindle-work or flat, jigsaw cut trim, carpenter gothic and sunburst detailing, and a low-pitched and pyramid shaped roof.
The Buckhout-Jones Building 7 West Bridge Street Built in 1852/1857 Victorian Eclectic Style
Queen Anne Style 1860–1890’s
The Queen Anne Style is a Victorian style of architecture. Some of the largest homes built during this time period were built in the Queen Anne Style. The style includes a wide range of shapes and ornaments due to how the Industrial Revolution changed the way houses were constructed. The Revolution brought about balloon framing and mass production of house components like doors, windows, roofing, and decorative details. Buildings in the Queen Anne Style are highly ornamented, asymmetrical with steeply pitched roofs and are commonly one-story tall. Long and narrow double-hung windows and ornate stained glass windows are common in the style. Towers and turrets located at the side of the buildings are commonly topped with roofs that could be shaped like a cone, octagon, or other shapes. Fish scale shingle siding can be used in a range of patterns and cuts to cover the house. Wrap around porches are a common feature of the Queen Anne Style as well. The Queen Anne Style has four types: the Spindled (with wooden gingerbread ornamentation), Free Classic (with columns), HalfTimbered (with half-timbering on upper story walls and gables), and Patterned Masonry types (with patterns made of brick).
The John Mott House 37 West Sixth Street Built in 1876 Queen Anne Style Other buildings in the style: Van Buren House 120 East 3rd Street Built in 1890 Queen Anne Style Irwin House 77 East Utica Street Built in 1886 Queen Anne Style Hunt-Nesbitt House 119 West 4th Street Built in 1881 Queen Anne Style
Dutch Colonial Revival Style 1890–1930
The Dutch Colonial Revival Style is part of the Colonial Revival Style. The name comes from the Dutch Colonists who settled in the lower New York and New Jersey. The defining characteristic of Dutch Colonial Revival Style architecture is the gambrel roof, which has a shallow sloped roof above a steep sloped roof. Shed, hipped, or gable dormer windows project from the sloping roof. These characteristics could have been used by the Dutch Colonists to avoid being taxed on a two-story home. In the late 1700s, buildings in the style were taxed as one-story houses and were cheaper to build than two-stories. Other design elements of the Dutch Colonial Revival style are flared eaves, clapboard or shingle siding, round windows in the gable end, and columns for the porches and entry.
The Mott House 59 West 5th Street Built in 1901 Colonial Revival
Greek Revival Style 1825–1860
The Greek Revival Style is known as the National Style, because it was first used for public buildings in the U.S. The style exemplifies the Greek democratic ideas that America was founded upon. The style began in the United States with public buildings built in Philadelphia and it evolved and spread to throughout the country. Greek Revival style houses were built in all settled areas by 1860. Buildings in the Greek Revival Style are generally rectangular or square with the gable side (which has a pediment) facing the street and have features such as a low-pitched gable or hipped roof and full-height entry porches supported by columns or pilasters in the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian order. Usually the Style includes a recessed front door with sidelights and transom lights above the door as well as wide-banded trim at cornice line of the roof. Windows on these structures are symmetrically arranged and frieze windows along the edge of the roof. The Oswego Courthouse Building was built before the Civil War during prosperous times in Oswego. It is a combination of the Greek Revival, Italianate, and Roman Styles and it has columns, rounded windows, and domes.
The First Presbyterian Church Building 69 West Bridge Street Built in 1843 Greek Revival Style
The Penfield House 124 West 5th Street Built in 1849 Greek Revival Style
Oswego County Courthouse 25 East Oneida Street Built in 1859 Greek Revival Style Other buildings in the style: Bronson-Poucher-Culkin House 60 West Cayuga Street Built in 1836 Greek Revival Style Bonesteel-Mott House 64 West 5th Street Built around 1835 Greek Revival Style Hall-Davis House 68 East Mohawk Street Built in 1849-50 Greek Revival Style Harmon House 84 East Mohawk Street Built around 1835 Greek Revival Style