Territorial Style Window

Territorial Style Window
St. Francis Assisi Church
Taos, New Mexico

 
With the arrival of the railway in 1880, the material culture of Eastern North America was introduced to the Southwest in the form of a new set of architectural elements.  These elements came to be known as Territorial (classical revival) style. The regional and vernacular elements of Santa Fe style were embellished with classical revival architectural forms in millwork which was added to or incorporated in the design of community structures.  There was little cultural lag in adoption of the Greek Revival and Queen Anne architectural details: gable roofs (facilitated by the introduction of tin sheeting), dentated trim, white millwork, pedimented doors and windows, double-hung paned windows, Victorian gingerbread, pilasters, decorative brackets, and plate glass. This window, associated with English Georgian style (popular in Eastern North America until the middle of the nineteenth century), is derived from classical (Greek Revival) forms.  The semicircular headed window was inserted into the five and a half foot thick walls of the church as a decorative accent to the irregular walls, rounded buttresses, and vigas derived from the pueblos and Spanish missions.  This Territorial style window adds a playful sophistication to the already striking form of the church. It is suggested that the adaptability of the Territorial style reinforced the regional supremacy of Santa Fe style and contributed to its spread beyond the Upper Rio Grande region and into the non-Hispanic North American West.

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