Houses in 18thCentury North America

Seventeenth-centuryhouses in colonial North America were simplestructures that were primarily functional,carrying over traditional designsthat went back to the Middle

Ages.During thefirst half of the eighteenth century,however,houses began to show a newelegance.As wealth increased, more and more colonists built fine houses.

Since architecturewas not yet a specialized profession in the colonies,the design of buildingswas left either to amateur designers or to carpenters who undertook tointerpret

architecturalmanuals imported from England.Inventories of colonial libraries show an astonishingnumber of these handbooks for builders,and the houses erected during the

eighteenth centuryshow their influence.Nevertheless,most domestic architecture of the firstthree-quarters of the eighteenth century displays a wide divergence of tasteand

freedom ofapplication of the rules laid down in these books.

Increasing wealthand growing sophistication throughout the colonies resulted in houses ofimproved design,whether the material was wood,stone or brick.New Englandstill

favored wood, thoughbrick houses became common in Bostonand towns, where the danger of fire gave an impetus to the use of more durablematerial. A few houses in New

England were builtof store,but only in Pennsylvania and adjacent area was stone widely used indwellings.An increased use of brick in houses and outbuildings is noticeable

in Virginia andMaryland,but wood remained the most popular material even in houses built bywealthy landowners.In the Carolinas,even in closely packed

Charleston,wooden houses were much more common thanbrick.

Eighteenth-centuryhouses showed great interior improvement over their predecessors.Windows weremade larger and shutters removed.Large,clear panes replaced the small

leaded glass of theseventeenth century.Doorways were larger and more decorative.Fireplaces becamedecorative features of rooms.Walls were made of plaster or

wood,sometimeselaborately paneled.White paint began to take the place ofblues,yellows,greens,and lead colors,which had been popular for walls in theearlier years.After

about1730,advertisements for wallpaper styles in scenic patterns began to appear incolonial newspapers.What does theauthor imply about the use of wallpaper before 1730?

A.Wallpaper samplesappeared in the architectural manuals.

B.Wallpaper was thesame color as the paints used.

C.Patternedwallpaper was not widely used.

D.Wallpaper was notin stone houses.