colonial architecture
1
4.2
- noun
- /kəˈloʊniəl ˌɑrkɪˈtɛkʧər/
- Specialized
:
arquitectura colonial
- It is one of the finest and oldest examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in North America.
Examples
-
It was a beautiful hotel, expensive and what you'd call classic colonial architecture, I guess, wedding-cake white with red tile roofs.
Fiction book (2002) -
The residents of Queretaro also pride themselves on a rich quality of life afforded to them by museums, parks, and Spanish colonial architecture.
Blog text (2) -
For instance, the reproduction of colonial architecture in lanterns is the material focus of the Fanal.
Academic text (2009) -
I adore the colonial architecture in cities like Antigua, Leon, and Granada.
Blog text (17) -
Colonial architecture in itself is not a constituent element of the festival, but its appropriation in the shape of lanterns is.
Academic text (2009) -
While the heritage of colonial architecture is neglected in the day-to-day administration of the city, in the context of the festival, this architecture is celebrated as an expression of locality.
Academic text (2009) -
Within the same block, one can contemplate the renovated splendor of Havana's magnificent colonial architecture, as well as crumbling buildings.
Academic text (2006) -
Pass through security on a street off manic, angry Tahrir Square, and the hubbub dies away, replaced by an ocean of green, flowers, and tranquil colonial architecture: the grounds of the American University in Cairo.
Blog text (22) -
San Xavier del Bac has been described as "the most sophisticated example of Spanish colonial architecture in the United States." See Michael Schelling Durham, The Desert States: The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America (New York, 1989), 163.
Academic text (2013) -
The village church overlooks a cobblestone square surrounded by classic colonial architecture.
How Colonial
- Specialized
1
4.2
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'colonial' (relating to a colony or colonizing power) qualifies 'architecture' (building style), so the phrase simply denotes architecture from a colonial period or style. This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Colonial architecture comes from buildings made when one country ruled another place; colonial means from that ruling time and architecture means the way buildings are made. These buildings often used the home country's designs in a new land, so the term now means 'a style of building from that colonial time'.