Architecture of Oswego

Architecture of Oswegophotographs of historic buildings

by Nicholas Coughlin

Got

hic

Rev

iva

l St

yle

1840

–188

0

The Gothic Revival Style is a style that is influenced by medieval Gothic architecture.It can be done in stone and brick, which portrays more of the castle/cathedral look that is common in medieval Gothic architecture, or wood can be used, which was less expensive and quicker to build with for Americans. The style is used mostly in rural settings.

The Style can be identified by use of steeply pitched roofs with steep cross gables, carved barge boards along the eaves and gable edges, and a one-story porch supported by flattened Gothic style arches (either full-width or only at the entry). Other defining characteristics include horizontal cladding or board-and-batten siding painted in gray or earthy tones, tall diamond-paned windows with pointed arches usually on the gable side, arched or square drip-molding over windows, and balconies and verandas with Gothic style brackets and railings.

The Leverich-Kessler House 108 West 4th Street

Built in 1849Gothic Revival Style

Ita

lian

ate

Styl

e 18

40–1

885

The Italianate style was the most popular design in the United States from 1860 and 1870. It was a style that could be built with many different types of materials, which made it affordable to a wide range of people.

The Italianate Style has two variations, the Villa and the Palazzo styles, within it.

The style can easily be identified by features such as the blocky and asymmetrical shape, a square tower or cupola above a low-pitched roof, and tall and narrow windows. Windows can be arched or curved on top with decorative crowns and hood moldings. Paired entry doors and paired and triple windows or a bay window are also a common attribute to the Italianate style. Houses in the style can be two to four stories tall and are usually painted with light warm colors.

The Richardson-Bates House135 East 3rd Street

Built in 1867Italian Villa Style

The Sloan Hawley House107 West Van Buren Street

Built between 1866 and 1870Italian Villa Style

Other buildings in the style:

Pardee House 8 Montcalm Street

Built in 1848 Italianate Villa Style

Higgins House133 East 7th Street

Built in 1858 Italianate Style

Stic

k S

tyle

185

8–18

80’s

The Stick Style is characterized by many different features that all make use of “sticks, ” which are board banding and ornamentation in geometric patterns that decorate the clapboard wall siding.

Buildings in the style are typically asymmetrical and have steeply pitched slate roofs with iron cresting. The style though called the Stick Style can be built with brick as well.

The Sloan Carriage House is part of the Sloan Hawley Estate, located directly behind the Sloan Hawley House on the previous page. Carriage houses were buildings originally built to house horse-drawn carriages.

The Sloan Carriage House107 West Van Buren Street

Built in 1875Stick Style

Fren

ch S

econ

d E

mp

ire

Styl

e 18

52–1

870

Buildings in the French Second Empire Style have mansard roofs (four sided sloping roof) and dormer windows. Buildings have one or two story porches with balustrades and may have a tower or cupola.

Other design elements include molded cornices at the top and bottom of the lower roof slope, decorative brackets below eaves, and iron cresting above cornices.

The Oswego City Hall building was designed by the central NY architect Horatio N. White and built in Onondaga limestone. It has a central clock tower and the mansard roof is covered in multicolored slate shingles layed out in horizontal striped pattern.

Oswego City Hall13 West Onieda Street

Built in 1870French Second Empire Style

The Walton-Kellogg House80 West 5th Street

Built in 1831Modified Federal and French Empire

Fed

era

l Sty

le 1

790–

1830

The Federal Style actually came from the Georgian Style. It was adapted into the Federal Style because of the designs of the Adams Brothers who were influenced by ancient Roman architecture, and as a result can also be called the Adam or Adamesque Style.

The Federal Style was used for houses and public buildings. Buildings in the style were built at a time in America when the new government was being formed.

Buildings in the Federal Style are two to three story and symmetrical and rectangular with the front door with a roof in the center facing the street and chimneys at both sides.

Other style characteristics include semicircular or elliptical fanlight over doors, sash windows placed around a centered doorway, flat or keystone lintels above the windows, tooth like dentils on the cornice with egg-and-dart molding underneath. Also the building could have a small entry porch and the roofline could include a balustrade. The style is very similar to the Georgian Style except that the windows in the Federal Style larger and separated by narrow mullions.

The Stone Store-Cahill’s Fishery1 W Seneca Street

Built in 1828Federal Style

Front View

The Stone Store-Cahill’s Fishery1 W Seneca Street

Built in 1828Federal Style

Side View


Grant-Allen House 54-56 West 3rd Street

Built in 1832 Federal Style

Peck House 58 West 3rd Street


Jenson Oliver House 51 West Seneca Street

Built in 1832-33 Federal Style

McWhorter House 69 East Mohawk Street


Rom

anes

qu

e-N

orm

an S

tyle

18

40–1

930s

The Neo-Romanesque or Romanesque Revival style was most commonly used to design castle like structures that create awe and portray power to the passerby, which made it a good fit to design churches in.

The style includes attributes like round arches, belt courses, and semi-circular arches on windows.

The Oswego Library building has battlements, a tower, turrets and arcaded windows that reflect the romantic style of the Pre-Civil War era. It is the oldest library in New York State, which was built to be a library from the start.

The Oswego Armory265 West 1st Street

Built in 1906Neo-Romanesque-Norman Style

Side View

The Oswego City Library120 East 2nd Street

Built in 1857Romanesque-Norman Style

Vic

tori

an E

clec

tic

Styl

e 18

70–1

900

The Victorian Eclectic Style is a decorative combination of different Victorian styles, the Queen Anne style, the Gothic Revival Style, and Italianate Styles. As a result buildings in the style are taller, wider, and more complicated.

Buildings in the Victorian Eclectic Style are symmetrical and square or rectangular. Common features of the style include brackets under the eaves, pediments, gothic pointed arches, crested roofs, semi-circular arched, dormer and oriel windows, porches with spindle-work or flat, jigsaw cut trim, carpenter gothic and sunburst detailing, and a low-pitched and pyramid shaped roof.

The Buckhout-Jones Building7 West Bridge Street

Built in 1852/1857Victorian Eclectic Style

Qu

een

An

ne

Styl

e 18

60–1

890’

s The Queen Anne Style is a Victorian style of architecture. Some of the largest homes built during this time period were built in the Queen Anne Style. The style includes a wide range of shapes and ornaments due to how the Industrial Revolution changed the way houses were constructed. The Revolution brought about balloon framing and mass production of house components like doors, windows, roofing, and decorative details.

Buildings in the Queen Anne Style are highly ornamented, asymmetrical with steeply pitched roofs and are commonly one-story tall. Long and narrow double-hung windows and ornate stained glass windows are common in the style. Towers and turrets located at the side of the buildings are commonly topped with roofs that could be shaped like a cone, octagon, or other shapes. Fish scale shingle siding can be used in a range of patterns and cuts to cover the house. Wrap around porches are a common feature of the Queen Anne Style as well.

The Queen Anne Style has four types: the Spindled (with wooden gingerbread ornamentation), Free Classic (with columns), Half-Timbered (with half-timbering on upper story walls and gables), and Patterned Masonry types (with patterns made of brick).

The John Mott House 37 West Sixth Street

Built in 1876Queen Anne Style


Van Buren House 120 East 3rd Street

Built in 1890 Queen Anne Style

Irwin House 77 East Utica Street


Hunt-Nesbitt House 119 West 4th Street


Du

tch

Col

onia

l Rev

iva

l Sty

le

1890

–193

0

The Dutch Colonial Revival Style is part of the Colonial Revival Style. The name comes from the Dutch Colonists who settled in the lower New York and New Jersey.

The defining characteristic of Dutch Colonial Revival Style architecture is the gambrel roof, which has a shallow sloped roof above a steep sloped roof. Shed, hipped, or gable dormer windows project from the sloping roof. These characteristics could have been used by the Dutch Colonists to avoid being taxed on a two-story home. In the late 1700s, buildings in the style were taxed as one-story houses and were cheaper to build than two-stories.

Other design elements of the Dutch Colonial Revival style are flared eaves, clapboard or shingle siding, round windows in the gable end, and columns for the porches and entry.

The Mott House 59 West 5th Street

Built in 1901 Colonial Revival

Gre

ek R

eviv

al S

tyle

18

25–1

860

The Greek Revival Style is known as the National Style, because it was first used for public buildings in the U.S. The style exemplifies the Greek democratic ideas that America was founded upon. The style began in the United States with public buildings built in Philadelphia and it evolved and spread to throughout the country. Greek Revival style houses were built in all settled areas by 1860.

Buildings in the Greek Revival Style are generally rectangular or square with the gable side (which has a pediment) facing the street and have features such as a low-pitched gable or hipped roof and full-height entry porches supported by columns or pilasters in the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian order. Usually the Style includes a recessed front door with sidelights and transom lights above the door as well as wide-banded trim at cornice line of the roof. Windows on these structures are symmetrically arranged and frieze windows along the edge of the roof.

The Oswego Courthouse Building was built before the Civil War during prosperous times in Oswego. It is a combination of the Greek Revival, Italianate, and Roman Styles and it has columns, rounded windows, and domes.

The First Presbyterian Church Building69 West Bridge Street

Built in 1843Greek Revival Style

The Penfield House124 West 5th Street


Oswego County Courthouse25 East Oneida Street



Bronson-Poucher-Culkin House 60 West Cayuga Street

Built in 1836 Greek Revival Style

Bonesteel-Mott House 64 West 5th StreetBuilt around 1835

Greek Revival Style

Hall-Davis House 68 East Mohawk Street

Built in 1849-50 Greek Revival Style

Harmon House 84 East Mohawk Street

Built around 1835 Greek Revival Style

Architecture of Oswego

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