Romanesque houses have many of these features:
- Constructed of rough-faced, square stones
- Round towers with cone-shaped roofs
- Columns and pilasters with spirals and leaf designs
- Low, broad "Roman" arches over arcades and doorways
- Patterned masonry arches over windows
About the Romanesque style:
During the 1870s, Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson captured the American imagination with rugged, forceful buildings like Allegheny Courthouse in Pittsburgh and Trinity Church in Boston. These buildings were called "Romanesque" because they had wide, rounded arches like buildings in ancient Rome. Henry Hobson Richardson became so famous for his Romanesque designs that the style is often called Richardsonian Romanesque.The heavy Romanesque style was especially suited for grand public buildings. However, Romanesque buildings, with massive stone walls, were expensive to construct. Only the wealthy adopted the Richardsonian Romanesque style for private homes.
Learn more about the Romanesque Revival style:
- Urban castles for gilded-age barons, from Old-House Journal
- Henry Hobson Richardson