ARCHITECTURAL STYLES IN JAMESTOWN 1700-1950 by James C. Buttrick Jamestown Historical Society Museum 92 Narragansett Avenue Summer Exhibit 2013 Jamestown Historical Society Occasional Paper #7 ⓒCopyright by Jamestown Historical Society, 2013 Published by Jamestown Historical Society Post Office Box 156 Jamestown, RI 02835 401-423-0784
[email protected] www.jamestownhistoricalsociety.org Cover picture: The porches of Onarock. Photograph by James C. Buttrick The exhibit and brochure were partially funded by a legislative grant sponsored by Deb Ruggiero. Thank you. Thank you also to James Buttrick, who curated the exhibit; the Jamestown Historical Society Collections Committee, which provided much of the material on display; and the following Jamestowners who provided artifacts from their personal collections or facilitated collection of specific artifacts: Howard Balloch, Bill Burgin, Abby Campbell-King, the Daggett family, Sue Maden, and Walter and Deborah Wadsworth. Architectural Styles in Jamestown 1700-1950 by James C. Buttrick Introduction Usually we consider architectural style as part of the description of a building. That description, however, does not tell us much about how the building fits into the history of a place. In this exhibit we start with the styles and consider their progression over time and some of the factors that influenced their development. For most of its history Jamestown was a rural, farming community, and practicality trumped style as a priority. It wasn’t until Jamestown’s resort era began in the 1870s that architectural styles, such as Gothic Revival and Shingle Style, were valued. As decades passed, the adaptable Colonial Revival and Bungalow Styles enjoyed great popularity.