What Are America’s Most Iconic Homes?
According to the National Building Museum, these houses, more than most, have impacted the way we live
- By Megan Gambino
- Smithsonian.com, April 27, 2012
(Model by Studios Eichbaum + Arnold, 2008. Photo by Museum staff.)
Thomas Jefferson designed Monticello, his home outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, to incorporate classical architectural features, such as columns and a dome. “He was using the forms of classical Greek and Rome to make a very strong statement about America—that we were going to inherit the democratic traditions of Greece and the republican traditions of Rome, and that this was going to be the classical world born anew on this continent,” says Mellins.
But Americans were not as enamored with the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio as Jefferson was, and they did not clamor to build villas in Monticello’s likeness. “It was a highly idiosyncratic house,” says Mellins. Jefferson used its rotunda as a kind of museum of the New World, displaying artifacts Lewis and Clark collected on their expedition. “It so powerfully expresses his ideas that I am not sure it was something that people could so easily accommodate to express their own personalities,” adds Mellins.
Nevertheless, certain elements of the historic home have become widely used. The exhibition’s curators cite the Amos Patterson House, a home in Union, New York, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as an example. Built in 1800, the home has a temple-fronted portico and Palladian windows reminiscent of Monticello.
Comments (4)
Ah, the East coast bias. California's Sea Ranch influenced nothing. The Greene and Greene houses set the standard for the style that would be come a "California Craftsman" home. Individual G&G homes may be hard to put on the list, but they are neither less deserving nor less iconic than those on the list. Look only to the Robert R. Blacker house ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_R._Blacker_House ) or the Gamble house ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_House_(Pasadena,_California) ) for examples. Indeed, the Gamble house is a public museum, and one of the best examples of the style, form, methods, and techniques that would come to define West coast style for the next century beyond its construction. How many houses on this list can say the same? --Thom
Posted by Thomas on May 15,2012 | 01:18 AM
Agree with most on the list but Richard Morris Hunt's contributions with the Vanderbilt's "Biltmore" in Ashville, N.C. or "The Breakers" in Newport, R.I. can hardly be ignored. Probably America's first most influential but if not tragically passed-over architects Benjamin Latrobe's "Decatur House" in Washington, D.C. was home to many powerful early American lawmakers. Julia Morgan's "San Simeon" also known as Hearst Castle could also stand shoulder to shoulder with Vizcaya!
Posted by Marc Legris on May 10,2012 | 07:56 PM
Um, I think you missed Falling Water in the list, Arline.
Posted by PTBoat on May 7,2012 | 10:09 AM
I don't disagree that these homes are quite iconic and impressive, but I cannot fathom a list of iconic homes not including one of the Frank Lloyd Wright homes. Maybe not as old or as big, but certainly one of the, if not The most iconic of homes.
Posted by Arline Esposito on May 3,2012 | 06:12 PM