Editing Greek Revival Architecture (section)

== Characteristics ==

Greek Revival architecture drew directly from ancient Greek temple forms, adapting their columns, entablatures, and pediments to nineteenth-century building types. Unlike earlier classical revivals that filtered Greek elements through Roman and Renaissance interpretations, Greek Revival architects studied original Greek buildings through measured drawings and archaeological publications. The result was architecture of unprecedented archaeological accuracy: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns following Greek rather than Roman proportions; entablatures with correct triglyphs and metopes; and temple fronts that created porticoes of imposing grandeur.<ref name="tatum">{{cite book |last=Tatum |first=George B. |title=Penn's Great Town: 250 Years of Philadelphia Architecture |year=1961 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

Philadelphia's Greek Revival buildings typically employed marble—the material of ancient Greek temples—quarried from nearby Montgomery and Chester Counties. White marble facades created dramatic contrasts with the city's prevailing red brick, announcing important buildings through material as well as form. Columns ranged from the severe Doric of the Second Bank to the more ornate Corinthian of later buildings. Temple-front compositions, with their dramatic porticoes, became the preferred solution for banks, churches, and civic buildings seeking to convey stability, permanence, and democratic virtue.<ref name="hamlin"/>