"Neo-Renaissance" is an all encompassing style designation that covers many aspects of those 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian (see Greek Revival) nor Gothic (see Gothic Revival) but which instead drew for inspiration upon a wide range of classicizing Italian modes; under the broad designation "Renaissance architecture" nineteenth-century architects and critics included more than the style of buildings which began in Florence and central Italy in the early 15th century, as an expression of Humanism; they also included styles we would identify as Mannerist or Baroque. Self-applied style designations were rife in the mid- and later nineteenth century: "Neo-Renaissance" might be applied by contemporaries to some structures that others simply called "Italianate", or when many French Baroque features are present (Second Empire).

The varying forms in which architecture developed in different parts of Europe, particularly France and Italy, during the Renaissance period has added further to the difficulties in defining and recognising Neo-Renaissance architecture. When one compares the English Wollaton Hall, Italian Palazzo Pitti, the French Château de Chambord, and the Russian Palace of Facets — all deemed "Renaissance" — one can appreciate how divergent the same architectural designation can be.