Fenster writes:

I grew up in New England, where there are plenty of Greek Revivals.  Some are more elaborate and use columns rather than just pediments.  Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood of Boston, has some very nice examples.

As does Brookline Village

and the old Cambridgeport area near Central Square in Cambridge.

But outside the cities, in what were once the rural areas, the fancy columns were often dispensed with.  A Greek Revival often amounted to a dressed-up colonial in the Federal or Georgian style,

turned at a 90 degree angle, with additional classical elements.

These were the Greek Revivals I grew up with.  I myself grew up in a ranch,

but one that was thankfully not in a development but stuck incongruously into a diverse mix of colonials, farmhouses, Federals, Victorians and Greek Revivals.  These two nice examples were at the bottom of our street.

The simpler, farmhouse versions have an attractive modest quality to them.  Sometimes adding monumental columns to a small house can get a bit grandiose.

Upstate New York’s rural areas went for the grander approach in a big way but the effect can be charming nonetheless.  Of course, given the economic conditions upstate, it helps if you can look beyond the often ramshackle quality of upstate Greek Revivals or, better yet, consider their sometimes ruined state as part of their charm.

Here, for example is one of my favorites, an almost falling-apart house in the Erie Canal town of Lyons.

I included a picture of this place in a collage about Lyons two summers ago.  Alas, the house now sports a red off-limits sign.  Off the market but Zillow estimates its value at $63k.  Any offers?

Here are some other nearby properties.

This one, in Sodus Center, is for sale by owner for $88k.

In nearby South Sodus

and in nearby Cato and Meridian.

and also in the somewhat more idyllic lakeside village of Pultneyville.

Enough traveling.  Next up: ice cream!