Page 53 - Waxahachie, TX Residential Design Guidelines

Pl annin g a Preservation Project

i t a l i a n a t e ( 184 0 – 18 8 5 )

The Italianate style began in England as part of the Picturesque
movement, a reaction to the formal classical ideas in art and
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architecture that had been fashionable for about two hundred
years. The movement emphasized rambling, informal Italian
farmhouses, with their characteristic square towers, as models
for Italian-style villa architecture. Italianate homes built in the
United States generally followed this model but were modified,
embellished and adapted. 200 Oldham Avenue, a contributing
historic structure to the Oldham
The first Italianate houses in the United States were built in the Avenue Historic District and
late 1830s. Andrew Jackson Downing’s pattern books, published
in the 1840s and ‘50s, helped popularize this style. By the 1860s
the style had completely overshadowed its earlier companion,
the Gothic Revival. Most surviving examples date from the period
1855-80. Earlier examples are rare. A decline in its popularity 1
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followed the financial panic of 1873 and ensuing depression.

Identifying features of the Italianate style include:
1. Two or three stories (rarely one story)
2. Low-pitched roof with widely overhanging eaves having
decorative brackets beneath
3. Tall, narrow windows, commonly arched or curved above
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4. Windows frequently with elaborated crowns, usually of
inverted U shape
5. Many examples with square cupola or tower
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855 Cantrell St, an example of an
Italianate structure.

Waxahac hie Residential design guidelines 45