May 2010 » book review

Grecian Tradition

Greek Revival America
by Roger G. Kennedy
Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York, NY; 2010
456 pages; hardbound; approximately 190 color photographs; $75
ISBN 978-0-8478-3184-5

Reviewed by William Heyer

The American Greek Revival (1825-1855) has been proclaimed with little argument as America’s first truly national architecture. Roger Kennedy’s Greek Revival America, now republished by Rizzoli, is an impressive visual survey of this energetic and inventive movement. Since its original publication in 1989, Greek Revival America has been a primary visual resource for Grecian buildings throughout the United States. When the book went out of print, copies could hardly be found on the Internet, and when they did appear, the sellers demanded a small fortune. The author of the text, Roger G. Kennedy, proudly admits in the last chapter that “the real feast for readers of this work will not be the puzzles or the games historians play, but the buildings themselves, as they appear in photographs.” From New England to Natchez, from Ohio to Oregon, these photographs capture the Classical beauty and craftsmanship of the Grecian movement in America. Puzzles and games, however, are certainly what the author presents throughout the text.

From the introduction to the appendices, Kennedy is difficult to follow or rationalize even for a somewhat knowledgeable Classical architect. The book is divided into six parts with straightforward titles. The author, however, continuously lingers on familial and social connections of politicians, architects and patrons, leads a rambling, disjointed tour across regions, and often repeats himself such that the reader either numbly moves on or faints from exhaustion. To make reading more difficult, essays are packed with terms like “creole-Hellenism,” “Labtrobian,” a so-called “Masonic Baroque,” and the amazing word “Romanoid.” These are often made-up and otherwise far from the parlance of even the most versed Classicist.

The substance of the text is also highly controversial. For one, Kennedy presumes a non-negotiable relationship between architectural language and the political current; that architectural taste is always and directly the result of political proclivities. Hence he concludes that all Whigs were Grecian enthusiasts and all Jacksonians were Roman enthusiasts: “It was as if the Roman Empire reappeared in the South, and the Greece that was conquered by Rome dared to reassert itself in the North.” A salvific Grecian movement championed by the Whig Party would free the slaves, instill true morality, and pave the way for women’s rights in addition to reviving the architecture of true democracy. But these generalizations produce more confusion than anything. This is especially true when the author contradicts his argument later by saying that the Grecian movement “perpetuated the memory of a sinful system the fathers had established [slavery], which was especially noxious in the Grecian South, but which even the temples of the North seemed dedicated to maintain.” Kennedy attempts to distinguish Classical houses of the South from the Grecian movement in the North to rectify the problem, but then contradicts himself again in other places.

A notable example of these persistent contradictions occurs in part two of the book. Kennedy presents Milford Plantation (1841) and The Forest (1836) as two similar Grecian structures of the South possibly by the same architect(s) from the North. He describes the political and architectural leanings (“Hellenic Whiggery”) of the estate owners and veers to discuss their common interest in horse racing. Then he presents the backgrounds of architects Russell Warren and Charles Reichardt, veering to discuss a “Prussophilia” or “Teuto-Hellenic” influence on Reichardt. Photos and plans of the two buildings are present on nearby pages (adjacencies are sadly rare in this book) in which a problem is now apparent. For The Forest is not Grecian at all. The columned portico is Roman Ionic, not Greek Ionic, and the side extensions are Roman Ionic with a Roman Renaissance balustrade. The only Grecian elements visible are in the lintels above the windows. In addition, the plans have little similarity contra the author’s opinion. Milford is a plantation house modeled on the villas of Palladio by way of English usage (square temple with symmetrical hyphens connecting pavilions), and The Forest is a large T-shaped plan. Kennedy attempts to rectify the problem later by stating that all columnar architecture is actually part of a larger Greek Revival. Confused? His “Hellenic Whiggery” falls on its face at the Roman Forest and the Palladian Milford.

Other head-scratching presumptions litter the text. For instance, the author claims that the American founders in the 18th century simply “did not have the confidence” to establish a Greek Revival, that Grecian architecture was an architecture of the elite, that the Grecian language was for public buildings and the Roman primarily for private buildings, and on and on.

The appendices provide outrageous conclusions about the Grecian movement and Classical architecture in general. In Appendix B (“Some Questions About Columns”) Kennedy argues that all columnar architecture is essentially phallic and thus an expression of male dominance and power and that even the Greeks and Romans built columned buildings for love of their virility. It is not necessary to elaborate further.

Elsewhere, factual errors chip away at the integrity of the text. In Appendix C (“A Gazetteer of Important Greek Revival Buildings in the United States Today”) the author mistakenly locates several buildings in Columbus, OH, that in fact reside in the beautiful – but unmentioned – former state capital of Chillicothe. Astute readers from other states may find more mistakes.

For all the difficulties and controversies presented in the essays of Greek Revival America, there can be no question that this book is still a treasure of astounding photographs of Grecian buildings throughout the country. It is a wonderful visual resource for the architect or layperson interested in America’s beautiful Grecian contributions to the tradition.  

William Heyer is a Classical architect in Columbus, OH, vice president of the Ohio & Erie Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, and professor of Fine Arts at the Pontifical College Josephinum.

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