The Georgian Country House

The rule of proportion

Georgian builders worked from the proportions of classical architecture. A central pediment, evenly spaced sash windows and a balanced plan give these houses their sense of composure.

Rooms for entertaining

Inside, a sequence of formal rooms opens one into the next: a hall, a drawing room, a dining room and often a library, each with its own carved chimneypiece and plaster ceiling.

A style that travelled

The same ideas crossed the Atlantic and shaped the grand plantation and townhouse architecture of the American colonies, which is why Georgian design still feels familiar in the American South.