The Italianate design exerted a strong influence on American vernacular architecture and was at its most popular during the period just before the Civil War. The exterior of the museum presents an Italianate appearance in accord with its 1859 construction date. These modifications make sense when the building's function, as a hotel catering to railroad passengers, is considered-as well as the need to shield the windows from the hot summer sun. Some alterations to the classic Georgian style are obvious in the porches and the basement tavern room. These windows have multiple panes and sliding sashes in contrast to the leaded casement windows of medieval type used in early vernacular houses." From the front, it exhibits strict bilaterality and balance: a central doorway flanked by paired evenly spaced windows and a central second-story window directly over the door. The classical Georgian house has a central hall that separates two sets of two rooms each. “Strictly formal in its adaptation of classical architectural detail, the Georgian was rigidly symmetrical and bilateral, both in facade and floor plan. James Deetz describes this architectural form in his book, “ In Small Things Forgotten-The Archaeology of Early American Life.” The lower floor, a traditional English basement, contained the hotel dining/tavern room. ![]() Two rooms open off each side of these halls. The Exchange Hotel Civil War Museum building is an example of at least two strong architectural influences from Europe.īehind those lovely, shady porches is a classic brick Georgian building with a central staircase with central halls on each of the two upper floors. An elegant stopping place in the 1860’s as waist-coated gentlemen and hoop-skirted ladies strolled about the spacious, high-ceilinged parlors and other public rooms, into the central hall made notable by a broad staircase with a handsome balustrade.
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