04/15/2025
I’ve been reminiscing lately to March of last year when I successfully defended my interior design masters thesis. I poured my heart and soul into my thesis, Reviving a Revival: Modernizing Colonial Revival Homes in Williamsburg, Virginia. What started as wondering how other neighbors remodeled their colonial revival houses turned into a masters degree and my final thesis research. In true Bryn fashion, I took what seemed like a simple research topic and ended up creating my own theoretical framework for how colonial revival houses are modernized.
Here’s the link if you’re interested in taking a look at my full final thesis-https://homeonthefarmstead.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Colonial-Revival-FINAL.pdf
The short version:
Colonial inspired architecture and design have become one of the most popular residential styles in American history. Historic styles are well documented and well researched, however, the modern Colonial Revival interpretations of the last 75 years are not discussed or researched. Gaps in the literature on studies of vernacular Colonial Revival houses, include both the lack of research on modern Colonial Revival houses and the fact that the Colonial Revival style is constantly evolving. This qualitative study aims to explore the lived experience of residents and the evolution of Colonial Revival architecture and design in the Kingspoint Neighborhood in Williamsburg, Virginia.
This qualitative study explores 17 Colonial Revival houses in the Kingspoint Neighborhood utilizing a synergistic combination of qualitative research methods. The findings reveal the lived experience of residents and their vernacular homes that is guided by questions of how and why residents design and renovate their homes. The Colonial Revival homes are a Colonial palimpsest, which is the layers of history and influences present in Colonial Revival homes. The Colonial Palimpsest is continually created through the layers of styles, architectural and design details, colors, and layout. These layers are being updated through a modern interpretation to fit the function of our modern lives of family, modern conveniences, lifestyle, and pets. The function changes over time as layout and room usages change to better fit the current season of life. Historical vertigo, the sensation of experiencing multiple historical influences simultaneously, is experienced when interacting with the Colonial Palimpsest. The historical vertigo is the experience of witnessing the influence of Colonial and Colonial Revival design, Colonial Williamsburg, the evolution of the neighborhood, and decolonizing Colonial architecture and design, which feeds the modern interpretation of Colonial design and creates a feedback loop of continuous iterations. This process is reviving the revival.
