Built in the 1850s
Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan each held the office. The Compromise of 1850 carried a stricter Fugitive Slave Act, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 reopened the territorial fight and led to violence in Kansas. Railroad mileage roughly tripled over the decade.
1,231 places on the National Register have a construction year in the 1850s on record. They stand in 51 states and territories. Of those, 46 are National Historic Landmarks.
Construction years come from Wikidata, matched on National Register reference number. Only plain four-digit years are counted, so a place recorded as circa or as a range is left out. Data refreshed November 02, 2026.
By state
Longest-lived styles of the decade
| Style | In the 1850s | Dated examples, all decades | Years in use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greek Revival | 387 | 1334 | 1660 to 2010 |
| Georgian | 3 | 264 | 1645 to 1986 |
| Neoclassical | 32 | 1199 | 1680 to 2016 |
| Vernacular | 29 | 191 | 1662 to 1984 |
| Federal | 25 | 751 | 1674 to 1996 |
| Renaissance Revival | 40 | 558 | 1695 to 2015 |
| Gothic Revival | 90 | 807 | 1698 to 2017 |
| Colonial Revival | 15 | 911 | 1690 to 1998 |
Style labels come from Wikidata. A style is ranked by the span between the earliest and latest dated listing that carries it, across the whole register, and only styles with two or more listings in this decade are shown. Data refreshed November 02, 2026.
Places with full records
Show all 46 placesHide
The other 1,185 listings from this decade are on the state pages above and on their county pages.