Greek Revival

American  

noun

1. a style of architecture, furnishings, and decoration prevalent in the U.S. and in parts of Europe in the first half of the 19th century, characterized by a more or less close imitation of ancient Greek designs and ornamented motifs.

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Greek Revival British  

noun

1. (modifier) denoting, relating to, or having the style of architecture used in Western Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, based upon ancient Greek classical examples

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Greek Revivalism
  noun
• Greek Revivalist
  adjective
• Greek Revivalist
  noun

Example Sentences

Colleton’s 1820 Greek Revival courthouse is elegant like a wedding cake.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026

The earthquake also severely damaged the city’s old Greek Revival style courthouse, built in the late 1800s, breaking a column and collapsing part of the jail.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2025

Commissioned by Federal Hall, the 45-minute site-specific performance, offered free of charge in the hall’s grand Greek Revival rotunda, is both a pageant-style survey of significant events at the site and an informed critique.

From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2023

To avoid uniformity, the town is a deliberate mash-up of architectural styles, all looking to the past: Greek Revival forms, Roman arcades, Palladium ornamentation.

From Washington Post • May 2, 2023

In the first half of the nineteenth century, owners of whaling ships amassed fortunes from oil and built the still well-preserved Federalist and Greek Revival mansions on upper Main Street.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times