Athens on the Frontier: Grecian-Style Architecture in the Splendid Valley of the West, 1820-1860

Benjamin Henry Latrobe's call for American builders to reject the corrupt Age of Dioclesian and emulate the ancient temples of Greece led to the Grecian style becoming popular in antebellum America. Antebellum cities and towns adopted the moniker of Athens, styling themselves as centers of culture, education, and sophistication. Patrick Lee Lucas' study of Grecian-style buildings in antebellum America helps recover nineteenth-century regional identities and question assumptions about divisions and cultural formation in antebellum society.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 250 pages
Publication date: 28 March 2023
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

Benjamin Henry Latrobe's call for American builders to reject the corrupt Age of Dioclesian and emulate the ancient temples of Greece sparked a resurgence of the Grecian style in the antebellum trans-Appalachian region. People embraced the clean lines, intricate details, and stately symmetry of the Grecian style, and references to classical Greek architecture became the preferred ornamentation on newly built public buildings, private homes, and religious structures. Several antebellum cities and towns adopted the moniker of Athens, styling themselves as centers of culture, education, and sophistication. As the trend grew, American citizens understood the name as a link between the Grecian style and the founding principles of democracy, signaling a change of taste in service to the larger American cultural ideal. Patrick Lee Lucas' book, Athens on the Frontier, examines the material culture of Grecian-style buildings in antebellum America to help recover nineteenth-century regional identities. Lucas's study invites readers to question many of the assumptions Americans have made about divisions and cultural formation in antebellum society.

Weight: 390g
Dimension: 151 x 229 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813197128