If something is imitated it usually means that people like it. People in New England liked this church designed by the British architect James Gibbs. Its image came to America in the form of memories and ink prints. Consequently, pure copies were impossible to achieve, and nor was that anyone's intent. That it was copied imperfectly was a testament to the wide variety of skills and desires of the worshipful people of a rough, new land.
That Gibbs was imitating Greek temples, Roman palazzos, and medieval cathedrals is all part of the mix. Imitation and agglomeration are lifeblood of design. Until modernism, perhaps.
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