The last phase of New England Georgian architecture was distinctly a period of Adam inspiration as it was in other parts of the country, with this difference, however. Elsewhere the third Georgian phase was forsaken all too soon for the newer glamour of the Classic Revival for which, in a manner, it prepared the way. In New England, under the influence of such men as Charles Bulfinch and Samuel McIntire, the delicate proportions and fascinatingly refined details brought into English architecture by the Brothers Adam remained in favour until well into the nineteenth century and exercised a beneficial effect that has not yet lost its force. With excellent taste both Bulfinch and McIntire employed the Adam heritage of urns, pendent husks, anthemia, ovals, spandril fans and all the rest of the Pompeian refinements, and McIntire unhesitatingly lengthened out the proportions of pillars and pilasters until he had removed all suggestion of grossness from his design and imparted a slender grace to all his work. Though he made various innovations, McIntire really prolonged the Adam period in New England and saved domestic architecture, wherever his influence was strong enough, from the deplorable banality into which the more unconsidered forms of the Classic Revival degenerated.
In the felicity of its local adaptations, in the dignity it imparted to the visible side of public life, in its virile development manifested in the churches and other public buildings, the Georgian architecture of New England has given us numerous patterns worthy of emulation _in toto_ or in part and has left an indelible and beneficial impress upon the nation’s artistic consciousness.
[Illustration: PARSON WILLIAMS HOUSE, DEERFIELD, MASS. 1707.]
[Illustration: VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE, VAN CORTLANDT PARK, N. Y.
Strange as it may seem, the territory comprised in the present state of New York is not nearly so rich in Georgian remains as are the other parts of our country contained within the boundaries of the original Colonies. At first it may astonish the student of architectural history to find one of the oldest, wealthiest and most important communities, rich not only in material resources but in history, so devoid of the Georgian landmarks that characterise the adjacent sections of the country. New England is filled with well preserved memorials of the eighteenth century. So likewise are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the South. How is it, then, that New York is, by comparison, so deficient in this respect?