Architecture timeline

This page provides a quick history of architecture in the Western world, from prehistoric megaliths to modernist skyscrapers. Follow the links to find articles and photos for each period and style. Please note that architecture is a fluid art. Architectural styles do not start and stop at precise times, and the dates listed here are approximate.

Architecture in Prehistoric Times¹
Before recorded history, humans constructed stone circles, megaliths, and other structures.

Ancient Architecture²
3000 BC to 337 BC In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, civilizations built enormous temples and shrines.

Early Christian and Medieval ³
373 to 500 AD. European architecture moved from the rectangular basilica forms to the classically inspired Byzantine style.

Romanesque⁴
500 to 1200 AD As Rome spread across Europe, heavier, stocky Romanesque architecture with rounded arches emerged.

Gothic Architecture⁵
1200 to 1400 AD Innovative builders created the great cathedrals of Europe.

Renaissance Architecture⁶
1400 to 1600 AD A return to classical ideas ushered an "age of "awakening" in Italy, France, and England.

Baroque Architecture⁷
1600 to 1700 AD In Italy, the Baroque style is reflected in opulent and dramatic churches with irregular shapes and extravagant ornamentation. In France, the highly ornamented Baroque style combines with Classical restraint. Russian aristorcrats were impressed by Versailles in France, and incorporated Baroque ideas in the building of St. Petersburg. Elements of the elaborate Baroque style are found throughout Europe.

Rococo Architecture8
1650 to 1790 AD During the last phase of the Baroque period, builders constructed elegant white buildings with sweeping curves.

American Colonial Architecture⁹
1600 to 1780 AD European settlers in the New World borrowed ideas from their homelands to create their own breed of architecture.

Georgian Architecture¹⁰
1720 to 1800 AD Georgian was a stately, symmetrical style that dominated in Great Britain and Ireland and influenced building styles in the American colonies.

Neoclassical / Federalist / Idealist¹¹
1750 to 1880 AD A renewed interest in ideas of Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio inspired a return of classical shapes in Europe, Great Britain and the United States.

Greek Revival Architecture¹²
1790 to 1850 AD These classical buildings and homes often feature columns, pediments and other details inspired by Greek forms. Antebellum homes in the American south were often built in the Greek Revival style.

Victorian Architecture¹³
1840 to 1900 AD Industrialization brought many innovations in architecture. Victorian styles include Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick, Eastlake, Queen Anne, Romanesque and Second Empire.

Arts and Crafts Movement in Architecture¹⁴
1860 to 1900 AD Arts and Crafts was a late 19th-century backlash against the forces of industrialization. The Arts and Crafts movement revived an interest in handicrafts and sought a spiritual connection with the surrounding environment, both natural and manmade. The Craftsman Bungalow evolved from the Arts and Crafts movement.

Art Nouveau Architecture¹⁵
1890 to 1914 AD Known as the New Style, Art Nouveau was first expressed in fabrics and graphic design. The style spread to architecture and furniture in the 1890s. Art Nouveau buildings often have asymmetrical shapes, arches and decorative surfaces with curved, plant-like designs.

Art Deco Architecture¹⁶
1925 to 1935 AD Zigzag patterns and vertical lines create dramatic effect on jazz-age, Art Deco buildings.

20th Century Trends in Architecture¹⁷
1900 to Present. The century has seen dramatic changes and astonishing diversity. Twentieth century trends include Art Moderne and the Bauhaus school coined by Walter Gropius, Deconstructivism, Formalism, Modernism, Structuralism, and Postmodernism.

(via About.com)