Italian country villas were the model for the Italianate style, used in Vermont from the mid to late 1800s. Prominent architectural writers recommended the style for American country villas. Designs were available in popular building publications. In Vermont the style was mainly used for houses, commercial blocks, and outbuildings. Wealthy businessmen in Vermont built handsome villas in some of the major towns. Later prosperous farmers and village professionals and merchants built large high style houses, while those of more modest means had homes with simpler Italianate style details.

Italianate houses are usually cube-shaped with shallow hip roofs that often appear flat. The characteristic feature of the style is the bracket--brackets ornament the cornice (the wooden trim under roofs and sometimes over doors and windows), bay windows, door hoods, and porches. Porch posts are usually chamfered (cut off at an angle). High style houses often have rooftop cupolas or belvederes.

Windows in houses usually have two panes in each sash and may have round or arched tops with heavy trim. Commercial blocks are noted for large plate glass storefront windows. Paint colors generally were natural tones to blend in with the landscape.

"The Italian style is, we think, decidedly the most beautiful mode for domestic purposes, that has been the direct offspring of Grecian art. . . Retaining more or less of the columns, arches, and other details of the Roman style, it has intrinsically a bold irregularity, and a strong contrast of light and shadow, which give it a peculiarly striking and painter-like effect."

Vermont Heritage Network
Historic Preservation Program
Wheeler House, University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
(802)656-3180
http://www.uvm.edu/~vhnet
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