Georgian architecture

The style is named after the four kings George I to IV, who reign in unbroken succession from 1714 to 1830. Its roots are in antiquity as interpreted by the Renaissance and by Palladio – Palladianism dominates the English country house.

The Georgian house is simple outside but built on mathematics. Window heights and room shapes follow simple ratios, windows sit in a regular grid and ornament is sparse. Façades are brick or stone, often rendered. Where there is space, the houses form continuous terraces, squares and crescents.

Bath becomes the style's great stage. The Circus is completed in 1754, and between 1767 and 1774 John Wood the Younger builds the Royal Crescent – thirty houses in a single concave sweep. Edinburgh's New Town and Dublin's red-brick terraces are among the largest surviving Georgian districts. Towards the end of the period Robert Adam gives the style Neoclassical elegance, and John Nash carries it into the Regency.

The style travels to the North American colonies, where houses are often built in timber. After independence it becomes the Federal style – and in the 20th century it returns as Colonial Revival and Neo-Georgian.

Palladian. The Georgian style is built on Palladianism – but Palladianism is the style of country houses, Georgian also of towns. Victorian. Its successor is livelier, more colourful and full of borrowed styles.