Editing Italianate Architecture (section)

== Decline and Legacy ==

Italianate architecture yielded to newer styles by the 1880s, replaced by Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Romanesque Revival as taste shifted toward more complex and varied expression. The style's reliance on wooden elements—particularly the characteristic bracketed cornices—created maintenance challenges that led to widespread removal as buildings aged. Unsympathetic modernization campaigns stripped original detail from facades deemed old-fashioned. Yet Italianate buildings survive throughout Philadelphia, their remaining ornament documenting the style's contribution to neighborhood character.<ref name="moss"/>

Preservation and restoration efforts have recognized Italianate's importance to Philadelphia's architectural heritage. Historic districts protect surviving ensembles, while individual owners have restored original features or installed sympathetic replacements. The style's warm character, its emphasis on domestic scale despite ornamental richness, and its association with Philadelphia's mid-nineteenth-century prosperity have generated appreciation that values rather than removes its decorative vocabulary. Italianate buildings, once threatened, now contribute to neighborhood desirability and property values.<ref name="tatum"/>