Q&A: What is the difference between European colonial architecture and Normal European styled buildings?

Question by Gus F: What is the difference between European colonial architecture and Normal European styled buildings?

What is the difference between European colonial architecture and "Normal" European styled buildings?I keep hearing these two terms as different things, but I have sometimes a hard time telling them apart.

Thank You.

Please only people who know.




Best answer:

Answer by bubba
Colonial architecture is often different from European architecture because of (1) local materials; and (2) local climate. The colonizers will try to keep their own style and aesthetic, but it will be affected by those two things.

For example, British colonial architecture in India will modify typical British styles like Georgian or Edwardian in order to accommodate the climate of India, with larger windows, thicker walls, etc.

Or if you take Spanish colonial architecture in the Southwest of the U.S., you get some elements of Spanish baroque style, but they will be made of wood and adobe instead of stone. And the overall look may reflect this (adobe will have softer edges than stone, like in the famous cathedral in Santa Fe, NM).

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