THE GREEK SURVIVAL

These vernacular examples of 19th-century Greek Revival houses are in a town on the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border. None is a textbook example of New World classicism—but each was a bold statement. Note the variation in columns: double-height on the most intact example, with shorter columns in the top level; stacked single-height columns on blue house; two-storey square pillars on the sad one. Uncharacteristically, all three have regular windows or doors in the overscaled “pediment,” the front-facing gable.

The remuddled house may be beyond the point of no return. The dormer with a near-flat roof is the least of it. It’s likely that this house was built with a center entry, and putting in two doors (asymmetrically) may have started the cascade of ruinous changes. All the windows have been changed, most egregiously on the lower floors. The siding is a coverup with a wider exposure than that of the original clapboards. There’s no pretense at a porch anymore, an attitude echoed in the careless placement of cable, vent, and satellite dishes.

Decisions? It’s all Greek to me. —Darryl Durgan

MIDDLE This poor old house has had so many features changed, it has lost all its dignity.FAR LEFT A hedge to the encroaching street notwithstanding, this temple-form house retains details including pretty cornice brackets and exaggerated columns.BELOW Benign neglect has not ruined this folk-style Greek Revival house nearby.