Many of these old houses of colonial times are still standing.Most of them，of course，are in the Eastern States，which were settled first.Some are famous for other reasons than architecture—Mount Vernon，for instance，because it was the home of George Washington.Mount Vernon on the Potomac is visited every year by thousands of people who come to see where the Father of his Country lived.
Independence Hall in Philadelphia is famous as the building where the American Declaration of Independence was signed.That is how it got its name.It was designed by a lawyer.It is a fine example of Georgian Colonial architecture in brick.The tower reminds us of one of Sir Christopher Wren’s steeples in London.In Independence Hall is the famous Liberty Bell which rang so hard that it cracked.
The man who wrote the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Jefferson，later President of the United States.You may be surprised to learn that Thomas Jefferson was one of the best architects of his time.Architecture was not his business but his hobby.He was a great believer in old Roman architecture and he designed many buildings that were Roman in style.One of these is Monticello，Jefferson’s own home.He also made the design for the University of Virginia，with the buildings arranged around the sides of a big square lawn or campus.The white columns against the dark red brick of the buildings are very attractive.
Jefferson’s work in architecture was mostly done after the Revolution.We can hardly call it Colonial，because the country was no longer part of Great Britain’s colonies.A better name would be Early Republican.
Then came a time when almost all buildings were made with Greek details—Greek columns，Greek shapes.An architect named Robert Mills made a Greek facade of columns for the Treasury Building at Washington.Mills also made the first monument to George Washington—a huge Doric column with Washington’s statue on top which stands in Baltimore.It was the same Robert Mills who designed the tallest building in the world at that time，the Washington Monument in Washington.The Washington Monument is a huge obelisk （do you remember the Egyptian obelisks like Cleopatra’s Needle？），which was not finished for many years after it was begun.
No.84-1INDEPENDENCE HALL，PHILADELPHIA（费城的独立大厅）But while the United States was being born in the East，what about the western side of America？
Well，in the Southwest and far West most buildings were Spanish.Mexico had been settled by people from Spain.The Jesuit priests built churches in Mexico，Texas，and New Mexico in the Baroque style.These buildings are called Spanish Colonial because they were built in Spanish colonies.
Now，about the time of the American Revolution some Spanish monks calledFranciscans pushed into California from Mexico.In California the Franciscans built churches and other buildings.Their settlements were called missions.They were built along the coast，a day’s journey apart，on a road called the King’s Highway.A mission was very much like a monastery of the Middle Ages.But as the Franciscans had no one to help them but Indians，they built the missions very plainly and solidly.
Each mission had a church connected by cloisters with other buildings around a courtyard.The buildings were made usually of sundried brick or adobe.
This Mission style has been used by present-day architects too，just as the Georgian and Dutch Colonial styles have been used.The Spanish Colonial seems suited to the warm climate of California and the Southwest better than any other kind of architecture.In California many of the old missions may still be seen，some in ruins，some carefully preserved.
No.84-2MISSION，SANTA BARBARA，CALIFORNIA（加利福尼亚圣巴巴拉教区）Another kind of Spanish Colonial architecture grew out of the architecture of the Indians.Many boys and girls think of the Indians as having only wigwams of bark or skins.But the Indians of the Southwest—of Arizona and New Mexico—had houses built of adobe.They were really apartment houses，because they had rooms for many families.They were called pueblos.Pueblos had flat roofs because there was so little rain.They were often several stories high and had ladders outside，instead of stairs inside，to get from one story to another.
The Spanish colonists who settled in New Mexico copied this pueblo style from the Indians.You can always tell houses in pueblo style because the flat roofs are on logs whose ends stick out from the top of the walls.The very old Governor’s Palace in Santa Fe is built in this pueblo style，although it is only one story high.
New Orleans，settled by the French，introduced from France an architecture with long French windows and iron balconies.
So you see that America in its early days used many different kinds of architecture.I’ll make a list of them for you so you can remember them better.If you want to test yourself see if you can name one fact about each kind.Here is the list：
Log cabins Gothic Colonial Georgian ColonialDutch Colonial Early Republican
Spanish Mission Spanish Indian （pueblo）French Colonial【中文阅读】
假设你要到一个荒草丛生，人迹罕至的地方度过你的余生。你要建什么样的房子呢？如果有斧子或足够的树木，你也许会建一个小茅屋。但如果你从未听说过小木屋的话，你也许就会按听说过的房型来建造——也许是岩洞。
来到美洲的英国殖民者从未见过小木屋。他们首先想到的小茅屋是英国木炭翁建的房子。这些房子是由树枝和小树杈交叉织在一起搭建的，宛如编织起来的柳条凳。早期的殖民者将他们的避身处建成木炭小屋，并且在上面加上尖尖的茅草屋顶。这些小茅屋建好后，看起来就像是印第安人的棚屋了。
但小木屋又是怎么回事呢？你确信早期的殖民者也使用这些木屋吗？是的，瑞典人占据特拉华州后就开始建造小木屋。瑞典人在瑞典一直居住小木屋，直到他们来到美洲，那儿的圆木俯拾即是，他们也在那儿建了木屋。然后小木屋这种建筑方式就广泛传开了。小木屋被拓荒者和殖民者向西部和东部海岸进发时广泛使用，因为那儿有足够的权木。
至少，有一间小木屋后来非常有名。亚伯拉罕·林肯就出生在这间小木屋里。如今，这间小木屋保存在肯塔基州豪德根威的一座大理石大楼内，那是专门为保护它而建造的。
英格兰早期殖民者所建的房子部分是哥特式风格。殖民者在弗吉尼亚的詹姆斯镇建造了一个简单的砖砌哥特式教堂，现已化为尘土。但还有一座叫做圣卢克的小教堂，留存至今。圣卢克教堂有带尖顶的窗子，以及哥特式的陡峭屋顶，这看起来很奇怪，因为文艺复兴运动在英国殖民者到达美洲之前就已传至美洲，而哥特式风格这时已经在欧洲消失了。