The only two surviving homes are located just behind the Box Elder Tabernacle. In Brigham City, these were relatively large boxy two-story houses with ornamentation around the eaves and a low-pitched hip roof. Italianate, another important Picturesque style, introduced the broad flat roof with bracket eaves into American architecture. 1 Utah’s Historic Architecture, “Picturesque Building Styles, 1865-1885,”, Utah State History, 2012.Īlthough some Picturesque homes were erected locally, the ideas had their most direct impact as decorative elements applied to the exteriors of older classical and traditional forms, such as steeply pitched gables over doorways, gingerbread trim, and decorative heads over windows. Forward-projecting, in contrast to the horizontal side wing, it “is the minimal statement of the Picturesque quest for asymmetry.” This became the principal house type in Utah during the nineteenth century, incorporated into most other housing types. Most importantly, the Picturesque movement introduced and popularized the cross-wing design to Utah. The style most commonly associated with this period is the Gothic revival, vertically oriented architecture with pointed arches, steeply pitched roofs and elaborate ornamentation, such as curved shingles or carved designs, known as gingerbread. The first design shift took place in larger picturesque houses, introduced in Utah about 1865, appearing locally in the 1880s.

These can be seen scattered throughout Brigham City, some in almost original form, others serving as the core of a more modern home. In many cases, these homes were expanded through the years, adding wings as families grew. The styles also reflected a national trend toward Picturesque and Victorian homes.Įarlier homes were mostly of a symmetrical form with classical details, most commonly a modest two-room adobe house, or a hall-and-parlor house with one and one-half stories, gable-roofed with a chimney at each end. Although smaller homes were still being built, the prosperity of some leading residents brought a major shift in the style of architecture from the settlement period.

The period from 1880 to 1900 was a time of unprecedented home building in Brigham City.

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