Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada

also: Second Empire style · General Grant style

style c. 1865-1900 France United States

After the American Civil War, builders in the United States and Canada looked across the Atlantic to the rebuilt Paris of Napoleon III, and the Second Empire style crossed the ocean to become the face of a confident new official architecture. Popular between 1865 and 1900, it carried the mansard roof - steep, slate-clad, pierced with dormers - over federal buildings, city halls, custom houses, and grand houses from Washington to Quebec. The style drew on the French Renaissance as well as on contemporary Paris, and in the United States it is sometimes called General Grant style after the president under whom federal building boomed. Alfred Mullett's State, War, and Navy Building beside the White House, Philadelphia's enormous City Hall, and Quebec's Parliament Building show its range: heavy massing, elaborate ornament, and a full extra storey hidden in the roof.

The Old Executive Office Building in 1981, during the administration of Ronald Reagan
The Old Executive Office Building in 1981, during the administration of Ronald ReaganPublic domain (credit: White House photo office) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Mansard roofs with patterned slate and dormer windows, often with iron cresting
  • Heavy, symmetrical massing with prominent central pavilions
  • Round-arched windows, elaborate window hoods, and tall chimneys
  • High-contrast quoins, bracketed cornices, and carved ornament
  • Grand staircases and ceremonial interiors in public buildings

Key figures

  • Alfred B. Mullett (1834-1890) — Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury whose federal buildings defined the style in America
  • John McArthur Jr. (1823-1890) — Philadelphia architect who helped introduce and popularize the mansard roof in the United States
  • Eugène-Étienne Taché (1836-1912) — French-Canadian architect of Quebec's Parliament Building

Example works

Sources

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