Second Empire

The Second Empire style house is an imposing two or three-story symmetrical square block with a projecting centeral pavilion often extending above the rest of the house. The distinguishing feature is the mansard roof covered with multi-colored slates or tinplates. Classical moldings and details such as quoins, cornices, and belt course have great depth and are dramatized by different textures and colored materials. Windows are arched and pedimented, sometimes in pairs with molded surrounds. Entrance doors often are arched double doors with glass upper panels. First floor windows are usually very tall. The French Second Empire style, made it initial appearance before 1860 but did not fourish until the 1870's.

Henry Colony House Public Library, Keene, NH; from a c. 1920 postcard. Circa 1869 The Second Empire mansion was built in 1869 for Henry Colony, a local textile entrepreneur, this Victorian brick and stone dwelling is Keene's most ornate surviving nineteenth-century residence. With a square side tower, a flat mansard roof with double window dormeres, tall bay windows, and broad piazzas, the Colony House is an outstanding example of the French Second Empire style, which gained popularity after the Civil War. It was presented to the city of Keene by Edward C. Thayer, and was dedicated as the Keene Public Library in 1899.