American Renaissance

Local conditions and requirements of America, including the aforementioned nationalism, spurred this change of style, allowing it to slowly developed over time in various places around the United States.

[2] The era spans the period between the Centennial Exposition (celebrating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence) and the United States' entry into World War I.

It found its cultural outlets in Prairie School houses and in Beaux-Arts architecture and sculpture, in the "City Beautiful" movement, and in the creation of the American empire.

Through this goal, order, acculturation, and assimilation were meant to be brought to the American city, easing the transition for immigrants while also establishing a professional authority through architecture.

The classical architecture of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893 was a demonstration that impressed Henry Adams, who wrote that people "would some day talk about Hunt and Richardson, La Farge and Saint-Gaudens, Burnham and McKim and Stanford White, when their politicians and millionaires were quite forgotten.

"[9] Praise for this exhibition included the unity and consistency of the symmetrical structures, which inspired many of Charles McKim's campus projects, a mall, and other buildings in the city center of Washington D.C.