There were two phases of the Romanesque Revival in America. The first occurred when American builders built buildings resembling the style of Gothic predecessors. An example of a Romanesque building that was built during this time is the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian, sometimes referred to as “The Castle” was built by James Renwick, Jr This building represents phase one of the revival, which did not gain much attention because the Italian and Gothic styles remained more popular at the time. The second phase occurred after Henry Richardson experimented with different forms of architecture, and soon developed his own. This phase gained much more attention from the American people. Richardson’s style required huge
