Page 118 - State College, PA Design Guidelines

06.28.2018 •

DUTCH COLONIAL

(1625 – ca. 1840)

Dutch Colonial houses of the urban type are similar to their Old World
counterparts built in the prosperous mercantile cities of 17 -century
th
Holland. The roof forms of Dutch Colonial houses often include the unusual
gambrel and flared eaves. Dutch Colonial houses often show a linear
sequence of two or three units built at different times, due to the difficulty of
adding onto the original structure because of the use of stone.

Identifying features:
• One story with side-gabled or side-gambreled roof having little
or no side overhang
• Most originally with entrance doors divided into separately
opening upper and lower halves

Three distinctive subtypes can be distinguished:
• Urban tradition: Among the earliest were brick urban houses of
Medieval inspiration having steeply pitched and parapeted gable
roofs and paired end chimneys. This type dominated the 17 -
th
century Dutch trading settlements that grew at each end of the
region’s principal navigation route, the Hudson River.

• Rural tradition, unflared eaves: Dutch building traditions
persisted far longer in rural areas. Brick, the preferred Dutch
building material, was replaced by coursed stone in most
rural houses. The shaping and finish of the stonework became
increasingly refined as colonial inhabitants grew more affluent
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during the 18 century. Early rural examples had side-gabled
roofs and little or no eave overhang. Gambrel roofs became
common in this type after 1750.

• Rural tradition, flared eaves: This tradition is similar to the rural
subtype described above, but has flared, overhanging eaves, which
became common on both gable- and gambrel-roofed examples
after about 1750.

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