Historic colors of america - by period

a guide to color, styles and architectural periods

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This guide provides general descriptions of architectural styles of houses and buildings found across America, with the eras and colors associated with those styles. Styles overlapped in time and many colors, used interchangeably both on interiors and exteriors, were popular in more than one era.

These descriptions and color lists serve as a springboard to possible color schemes for a building’s major exterior or interior features, as well as lesser architectural details, including accents, decorative stenciling and overlays.

Using this guide and the Historic Colors of America paint chart, homeowners and professionals can create the effect of a given historic period while applying variations to suit personal tastes.

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Colonial

MID 1600's -1780

Colonial architecture, from the period up to and including the American Revolution, is based on the traditions and precedents that European settlers knew from their ancestral cultures and the tastes and fashions transmitted to the colonies from their mother countries.

Appropriate paint or color treatments for these houses reflect the limited number of colors available at the time, most of which were simply derived from earth, stone, or other natural pigments. Typical 17th-century paint treatments detailed the framing or trim elements in colors that contrasted boldly with surrounding untreated or neutral wood or masonry exterior (or plaster interior) wall surfaces. Many more 18th -century houses survive than do houses of the 17th century. The classicism of Georgian England dominated the East coast, while colonial architecture in the Southwest shows the influence of the Spanish Baroque. Paint colors for these houses are frequently strong colors, with contrasting white trim. Colors that mimicked stone construction were popular for Georgian exteriors, while interior colors were frequently bolder and brighter than was once thought.

 

Colonial colors

Shaker Red	English Bartlett	Bold Bolection	Parsnip	Ginger Root	Rawhide
Cogswell Cedar	Tailor’s Buff	Newport Indigo	Langdon Dove	Portobello	Chocolate
Pumpkin	Blonde Lace	Wainscot Green	pettingill Sage	Tankard Gray	Quincy Granite
Knightley Straw	Meetinghouse  Blue	Blue Winged  Teal	Burnished Pewter	Otis Madeira	Vinal Haven
Asian Jute	Lexington Blue	Phillips Green	Milkweed	Liberty	Polished Pewter
Georgian Yellow	Standish Blue	Warren Tavern	Pitch Pine	Burnt Umber	Redrock Canyon
Farmhouse Ochre	Tory Blue	Sayward Pine	Nankeen	Wooden Nutmeg	Wooly Thyme
Grassy Meadow

 

Federal

1780 - 1830

By the end of the 18th century, popular taste had moved away from the bold massing and strong details of the Georgian style to a lighter, more delicate interpretation of classical motifs.  Named “Federal” in honor of the new federal republic of the United States, this style reflected the decorative quality to the buildings of English architect Robert Adam as well as popular interest in newly-excavated classical Greek and Roman antiquities.  A handful of American architects (such as Charles Bulfinch, Benjamin Latrobe, and Samuel McIntire) worked to design the new country’s important public buildings and grand private residences but most houses took their architectural form from the illustrations of a few widely-disseminated builders’ handbooks and guides, such as those of Asher Benjamin.

In keeping with the style’s lighter line and more delicate form, colors for Federal houses were also lighter, more pale and delicate, with whites and pale stony shades of gray, off-white, and ochre used on exteriors.  Newly-discovered ancient frescoes inspired the use of bright, clear tones in interiors, often in contrast with white or pale colored trim.

 

federal colors

Stagecoach	Barrett Quince	Lucinda	Bristol Green	Wild Oats	Pettingill Sage
India Trade	York Bisque	Bulfinch Blue	Longfellow	Parsnip	Burnt Umber
Pumpkin	Lyman Camellia	Citadel Blue	Viscaya	Langdon Dove	Wooden Nutmeg
Knightley Straw	Woodstock Rose	Meetinghouse Blue	Green Bonnet	Jackson Antique	Quincy Granite
Asian Jute	Mountain Laurel	Tory Blue	Wainscot Green	Phelps Putty	Vinal Haven
Georgian Yellow	Rundlet Peach	Amelia	Grasshopper	Bayberry Wax	Curry
Farmhouse Ochre	Tudor Ice	His. Morning Dew	Boardman	Sandy Bluff	Rain Barrel
English Bartlett	Appleton	Coral Springs	Jewett White	Flaxen Field

 

Greek Revival

1825 - 1855

The Greek Revival style is the first architecture that can be considered national in scope: huge increases in population and settlement and the birth of a national economy generated vast new construction, carrying the style well beyond the Eastern cities. In this time, the American architectural profession developed and the number of popular architectural builders’ guides expanded. Small mills produced lumber to construct thousands of houses from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and out from the ancient trade centers of the Southwest.

The Greek “temple” form, with its triangular pediment supported by columns, epitomizes the style but classical columns and pediments were reflected on the simplest of houses, in wide trim boards that flanked a door or circled an eave.  Typically, Greek Revival houses are painted white, but off-white, ochre, and gray are also suitable, provided the trim elements are contrasted in white. Natural earth and stone pigments remained the source of most exterior colors but interiors began to feature the richness and depth of color associated with the Victorian era. Shutters and window sashes on Greek Revival houses were invariably painted dark green or black. 

 

greek revival colors

Asian Jute	Jackson Antique	Phelps Putty	Wild Oats	Amish Green	Jewett White
Quincy Granite	Winter Meadow	Brattle Spruce	Langdon Dove	Rain Barrel	Yarmouth Oyster
Canyon Gold	Nankeen	Sandy Bluff	Danish Pine	Parsnip	Sayward Pine
Flaxen Field	Plymouth Beige	Vinal Haven

 

Victorian

1840 - 1900

The era called “Victorian” for the long reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria encompasses numerous distinct architectural styles including the “Romantic” Gothic, Italianate, and Egyptian Revivals (pre-1860), the Second Empire and Stick styles (1860-1880), the Queen Anne and  Shingle styles (1880s and  ‘90s), and the Colonial Revival style (1876-1900 and beyond). By 1900, thousands of trained architects practiced across the country. Millwork and trim was factory-produced.  Massive industrialization and immigration opened the whole country to development and new settlements, such as the middle class suburb, sprang up.

As architectural styles multiplied, color treatments of houses became more varied and complex.  Advances in paint technology brought ready-mixed paints in a broad range of colors. The three color paint scheme became the norm with one color on the siding, a second on the trim, and a third on the sashes, shutters, and doors. Multiple body colors might differentiate shingles from clapboards but elaborate color schemes using more than four (with perhaps a fifth to accent moldings) were not typical. For both interiors and exteriors, paint schemes were frequently richly-colored with deep, saturated color that used a complex mix of pigments.

 

victorian colors

Beetroot	Knightley Straw	Biloxi Blue	Newbury Moss	Winter Meadow	Bargeboard Brown
Madder	Asian Jute	Bowen Blue	Picholine	Coastal Sand	Fieldstone
Covered Bridge	Georgian Yellow	Muted Mulberry	Amish Green	Britches	Vermont Slate
Alden Till	Goldenrod	Concord Grape	Baize	Toffee	Curry
Flowering Chestnut	Farmhouse Ochre	Plum Island	Gedney Green	Ginger Root	Redrock Canyon
Roseland	English Bartlett	Cottage Green	Pointed Fir	Maple	Cummings Oak
Codman Claret	Gable Green	Marrett Apple	Brattle Spruce	Bean Pot	Wooly Thyme
Stagecoach	Tailor’s Buff	Whispering Willow	Winter Balsam	Palomino
Richardson Brick	Blonde Lace	Brookside	Moss Glen	Brownstone
Portsmouth Spice	Robin’s Egg	Veranda Blue	Sayward Pine	Burnt Umber
Clementine	Glacier Bay	Warren Tavern	Pettingill Sage	Hickory Nut
Pumpkin	China Aster	Hazelwood	Sturgis Gray	Wooden Nutmeg

 

20th Century Eclecticism

1900 - 1955

By the end of the 19th century, two major trends, one moving toward increasingly precise copies of historical architecture, and the other rejecting and moving away from traditional architectural forms, began to be evident in residential architecture.  These two main architectural “camps”, traditional vs. modern, still characterize much residential construction at the beginning of the 21st century with the traditional approach continuing to dominate the marketplace for new house construction.

Among the traditional architectural house styles of the early 20th century are “revivals” of the historic architectural styles of the past, the Georgian, Colonial, Spanish Colonial and Tudor Revivals. Contrasted with these forms are “modern” styles, such as the Craftsman, Four Square, or Ranch, that reflect new ways of planning and designing homes and use materials in new ways. In the 20th century, both traditional and modern houses used stuccos, brick and stone veneers, and concrete in addition to standard wood siding and trim. 

Paint colors varied according to style: generally, trim colors for the Tudor and Craftsman style houses were dark --browns, maroons, deep olives and greens. Georgian and Colonial revival houses were generally light: white, gray, gray-blue, gray-green, or yellow on the body, with white trim and window sashes and dark shutters and doors.  Modern houses tended to be painted in light neutrals with dark sashes and bold accents of bright, primary colors.

 

20th Century Eclecticism colors

Codman Claret	Lucinda	Seal Blue	Melville	Yarmouth Oyster	Vinal Haven
Andover Cream	Bulfinch Blue	Volute	Venetian Glass	Parsnip	Monument Gray
Pale Organza	Emily	Asher Benjamin	Newbury Moss	Langdon Dove	Fieldstone
Emma	Portsmouth Blue	Beauport Aubergine	Gedney Green	Portobello	Gropius Gray
Lady Banksia	Rocky Hill	Hawthorne	Pointed Fir	Hitching Post
Jonquil	Winter Harbor	Elise	Jewett White	Tyson Taupe
Appleton	Saxon Blue	Cottage Green	Plymouth Beige	Quincy Granite

 

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All photos courtesy of Historic New England.

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