Editing Greek Revival architecture (section)

==North America==
===Canada===
In [[Canada]], [[Montreal]] architect [[John Ostell]] designed a number of prominent Greek Revival buildings, including the first building on the [[McGill University]] campus and Montreal's original Custom House, now part of the [[Pointe-à-Callière Museum]]. The [[Toronto Street Post Office]], completed in 1853, is another Canadian example.

===United States===
{{see also|Federal architecture}}{{see also|Greek Revival architecture in North America}}
[[File:2ndBankofUSSouthFacade.JPG|thumb|The [[Second Bank of the United States]] in [[Philadelphia]] (1824)]]
[[File:The Sparks-Anderson House.jpg|thumb|This 1852 [[Sparks-Anderson House|Michigan farmhouse]] shows the [[Upright and Wing]] floorplan used by many Greek Revival farmhouses of New England and the Midwest.]]
[[File:Philadelphia Museum of Art, main building.jpg|thumb|The [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]] (1928)]]
[[File:Sailors-snug-harbor.jpg|thumb|Temple Row at [[Sailors' Snug Harbor]] in [[New York City]] (1833)]]
[[File:Aerial_view_of_Lincoln_Memorial_-_east_side_EDIT.jpeg|thumb|The [[Lincoln Memorial]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] (completed 1922)]]
While some 18th-century Americans had feared Greek democracy, sometimes called [[mobocracy]], the appeal of ancient Greece rose in the 19th century along with the growing acceptance of democracy. This made Greek architecture suddenly more attractive in both the North and the South, for differing ideological purposes: for the North, Greek architecture symbolized the freedom of the Greeks; in the South it symbolized the cultural glories enabled by a slave society.<ref>Caroline Winterer, The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780–1920 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002, pp. 44–98.</ref> [[Thomas Jefferson]] owned a copy of the first volume of ''The Antiquities of Athens''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hamlin|1944|p=339}}</ref> He never practiced in the style, but he played an important role in introducing Greek Revival architecture to the United States.

In 1803, Jefferson appointed [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe]] as surveyor of public building, and Latrobe designed a number of important public buildings in [[Washington, D.C.]] and [[Philadelphia]], including work on the [[United States Capitol]] and the [[Bank of Pennsylvania]].<ref name="wpa-p126">{{citation |title=Washington, City and Capital: Federal Writers' Project |publisher=Works Progress Administration / United States [[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] |author=Federal Writers' Project |year=1937 |pages=126}}.</ref>

Latrobe's design for the U.S. Capitol was an imaginative interpretation of the classical orders not constrained by historical precedent, incorporating American motifs such as corncobs and tobacco leaves. This idiosyncratic approach became typical of the American attitude to Greek detailing. His overall plan for the Capitol did not survive, though many of his interiors did. He also did notable work on the Supreme Court chamber interior in the Capitol (1806–1807), and his masterpiece was the [[Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary|Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary]] in [[Baltimore]] (1805–1821).

Latrobe claimed, "I am a bigoted Greek in the condemnation of the Roman architecture", but he did not rigidly impose Greek forms. "Our religion," he said, "requires a church wholly different from the temple, our legislative assemblies and our courts of justice, buildings of entirely different principles from their basilicas; and our amusements could not possibly be performed in their theatres or amphitheatres."<ref>''The Journal of Latrobe'', quoted in Hamlin, ''Greek Revival'' d1944), p. 36 (Dover Edition).</ref> His circle of junior colleagues became an informal school of Greek revivalists, and his influence shaped the next generation of American architects.

Greek revival architecture in the United States also included attention to interior decoration. The role of American women was critical for introducing a wholistic style of Greek-inspired design to American interiors. Innovations such as the Greek-inspired "sofa" and the "[[klismos]] chair" allowed both American women and men to pose as Greeks in their homes, and also in the numerous portraits of the period that show them lounging in Greek-inspired furniture.<ref>Caroline Winterer, The Mirror of Antiquity: American Women and the Classical Tradition, 1780–1900 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007), pp. 102–41</ref>

The second phase in American Greek Revival saw the pupils of Latrobe create a monumental national style under the patronage of banker and [[Philhellenism|philhellene]] [[Nicholas Biddle (banker)|Nicholas Biddle]], including such works as the [[Second Bank of the United States]] by [[William Strickland (architect)|William Strickland]] (1824), Biddle's home "Andalusia" by [[Thomas U. Walter]] (1835–1836), and [[Girard College]], also by Walter (1833–1847). New York saw the construction (1833) of the row of Greek temples at [[Sailors' Snug Harbor]] on [[Staten Island]]. These had varied functions within a home for retired sailors.

From 1820 to 1850, the Greek Revival style dominated the United States, such as the [[Benjamin F. Clough House]] in [[Waltham, Massachusetts]]. It could also be found as far west as [[Old State Capitol State Historic Site|Springfield, Illinois]]. Examples of vernacular Greek Revival continued to be built even farther west, such as in [[Charles City, Iowa]].<ref>Gebhard & Mansheim, ''Buildings of Iowa'', Oxford University Press, New York, 1993 p. 362.</ref>

This style was very popular in the south of the US, where the [[Palladian]] [[colonnade]] was already popular in façades, and many mansions and houses were built for the merchants and rich plantation owners; [[Millford Plantation]] is regarded as one of the finest Greek Revival residential examples in the country.<ref>Jenrette, Richard Hampton (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=668GiB6giAwC&pg=PA179 ''Adventures with Old Houses''], p. 179. Wyrick & Company.</ref>

Other notable American architects to use Greek Revival designs included Latrobe's student [[Robert Mills (architect)|Robert Mills]], who designed the [[Monumental Church]] and the [[Washington Monument]], as well as [[George Hadfield (architect)|George Hadfield]] and [[Gabriel Manigault]].<ref name="wpa-p126"/>

At the same time, the popular appetite for the Greek was sustained by architectural pattern books, the most important of which was Asher Benjamin's ''The Practical House Carpenter'' (1830). This guide helped create the proliferation of Greek homes seen especially in northern New York State and in Connecticut's former Western Reserve in northeastern [[Ohio]].