Italian Renaissance Revival
An architectural style emulating the Renaissance palazzi of Northern Italy; most popular from 1800s to about 1930. Buildings in this style are usually characterized by façades that are commonly symmetrical and essentially flat; rectangular or square in plan; usually two or three stories high; masonry or stucco walls; a different architectural treatment on different stories; an elaborate
belt course between stories; a massive cornice that rests directly on the architrave (the frieze being omitted); pilasters, rusticated quoins, dentils, and decorative detailing; a recessed entry porch flanked with classical columns or pilasters; prominent arcading on the ground floor of public buildings and a recessed arcaded gallery on the floors above; commonly, a low- to moderate-pitched, ceramic-tiled hipped roof; widely overhanging eaves with decorative brackets below; occasionally, a flat roof with a balustrade or roofline parapet above an elaborate cornice; commonly, a different type of window on each story; on the ground floor, elaborate, tall, narrow windows placed in a regular pattern, set symmetrically on both sides of the main entrance; the second-story window heads often pedimented and supported by
ancons in elaborate buildings; windows on the uppermost story are usually the smallest and simplest, being square in shape; arches frequently above exterior doors; a hooded entryway; an entablature, supported by pilasters, over the entrance. Sometimes called Italian Renaissance style or Second Renaissance Revival, this style is occasionally subdivided into the
North Italian or
Venetian mode and the
Romano-Tuscan or
Florentine mode.
