Editing Greek Revival Architecture (section)

== Girard College ==

Girard College, designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, represents Greek Revival at its most ambitious and expensive. Stephen Girard's bequest for the education of "poor white male orphans" included provisions for buildings of the finest materials and workmanship, and Walter's design delivered grandeur exceeding anything previously attempted in America. Founder's Hall, the main building, presents a Corinthian temple of monumental scale, its marble columns among the largest in the country. The building took nearly two decades to complete (1833-1847), its perfectionism establishing standards that influenced American architecture for generations.<ref name="tatum"/>

Walter's Girard College demonstrated that American architects could equal European sophistication while creating buildings of distinctly American purpose. The campus layout, with its axial organization and subsidiary buildings in matching Greek style, created an ensemble of classical order. Walter's success at Girard College led to his appointment as Architect of the U.S. Capitol, where he designed the dome that remains the building's defining feature. Girard College survives as an operating school, its Greek Revival campus open for tours that reveal the style's grandest Philadelphia expression.<ref name="hamlin"/>