Huntington County

Historic Architecture Tour

Cities and towns throughout the country have main streets, side streets and downtowns filled with old buildings. These buildings comprise a collection of our community's history, a sum total of our past. Each of our old houses, stores and churches preserves a special piece of our local heritage, which it can share with us any time we choose to visit it or look at it.

To the casual observer, however, old buildings tend to blend one with the other and form a blur which becomes part of our daily environment that we take for granted. With a little effort, though, we can learn to see buildings individually.

Using a few simple clues, we can place structure in a time period and give it a name based on its style. In doing this we can enjoy the part of local history that the building has to share. The clues we follow to identify a building's style and its period of construction are basic and straightforward. They include a structure's form or shape and its roofline. Windows, doorways and porches also provide good clues. Building materials, as well as details of decoration, when considered with all other clues, will help us pinpoint a structure's place in history.

As we study architectural styles, we see a lot of variation, even within the same time period. The buildings constructed in Boston and New York around 1840 will look a lot different from those erected in Chicago and Huntington at the same time. That is why we have chosen to photograph select structures from Huntington County that best illustrate the changes in building styles and tastes as they occurred in our part of the world.

We hope you enjoy your tour.

Proceed to the Federal Style Exhibit.