History
In 1960, Electra Havemeyer Webb's children erected the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building in honor of the Museum founder. Completed in 1967, the Memorial Building’s silhouette duplicates that of the 1843 Wilcox-Cutts House in Orwell, Vermont. The Memorial Building represents the architectural idiom known as Greek Revival. It was a style pervasive in the United States, gaining prominence in the second quarter of the 19th century and reaching its peak of popularity by 1850.
Drawing inspiration from Grecian temples, Greek Revival architects adopted the rectangular structure of colonial houses and reoriented it so that the triangular gables would run parallel, rather than perpendicular, to the road. Anchoring the pedimented facade with a heavily columned, often two-storied porch, and sometimes flanking the main gable with mirroring wings, such as in the Memorial Building, architects achieved the proportion and symmetry of the ancient structures that inspired them.
Read more about this topic: Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building
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