Editing Greek Revival Architecture (section)

== Domestic Architecture ==

Greek Revival adapted to residential architecture throughout Philadelphia, bringing classical elements to rowhouses and country estates. The Portico Row houses on Spruce Street (demolished) presented temple-front facades along an entire block, creating streetscape of unprecedented classical ambition. Individual houses incorporated Greek elements at various scales: full columned porticoes for the wealthy, simpler pilastered doorways for modest means. The style's flexibility allowed classical vocabulary to serve various budgets and conditions.<ref name="tatum"/>

Country houses around Philadelphia embraced Greek Revival with full temple fronts that transformed estates into suburban Parthenons. Andalusia, the estate of Nicholas Biddle (president of the Second Bank) in Bucks County, received a Greek Revival transformation that made it among the style's finest domestic examples. Biddle, who had visited Greece and championed Greek culture, created at Andalusia an American approximation of ancient sophistication. These country houses, set in landscaped grounds, demonstrated that Greek Revival could serve private aspiration as effectively as public monumentality.<ref name="hamlin"/>