Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 12, 2012

HOUSE STYLE

HOUSE STYLE

http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/

1600s - 1950s: Cape Cod House Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Cape Cod

The Cape Cod style originated in colonial New England. Today, the term refers to Cape Cod-shaped houses popular during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
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The New England Colonial style was re-invented in the 20th century.
In colonial days, a Cape Cod house was a simple, one-story structure with a single chimney in the center.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation

Traditional, Colonial-era Cape Cod houses had many of these features:

  • Steep roof with side gables
  • Small roof overhang
  • 1 or 1½ stories
  • Made of wood and covered in wide clapboard or shingles
  • Large central chimney linked to fireplace in each room
  • Symmetrical appearance with door in center
  • Dormers for space, light, and ventilation
  • Multi-paned, double-hung windows
  • Shutters
  • Formal, center-hall floor plan
  • Hardwood floors
  • Little exterior ornamentation

History of the Cape Cod Style

The first Cape Cod style homes were built by English colonists who came to America in the late 17th century. They modeled their homes after the half-timbered houses of England, but adapted the style to the stormy New England weather. Over the course of a few generations, a modest, one- to one-and-a-half-story house with wooden shutters emerged. Reverend Timothy Dwight, a president of Yale University, is credited with recognizing these houses as a class and coining the term "Cape Cod."
Much later, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a renewed interest in America's past inspired a variety of Colonial Revival styles. Colonial Revival Cape Cod houses became especially popular during the 1930s. These small, economical houses were mass-produced in suburban developments across the United States.
Twentieth century Cape Cod houses often have dormers. The chimney is usually placed at one end instead of at the center. The shutters on modern Cape Cod houses are strictly decorative; they can't be closed during a storm.
See More Cape Cod House Pictures >>
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1690s - 1830: Georgian Colonial House Styles

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Georgian

Spacious and comfortable, Georgian Colonial architecture reflected the rising ambition of a new country. See below for more about the Georgian Colonial style.
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The refined Georgian Colonial style continues to shape our homes today.
The symmetrical, orderly Georgian style became prominant in Colonial America. Shown here, a Georgian Colonial home in Sandwich, New Hampshire.
Photo © 2005 Jackie Craven

Georgian Colonial homes usually have these features:

  • Square, symmetrical shape
  • Paneled front door at center
  • Decorative crown over front door
  • Flattened columns on each side of door
  • Five windows across front
  • Paired chimneys
  • Medium pitched roof
  • Minimal roof overhang

Many Georgian Colonial homes also have:

  • Nine or twelve small window panes in each window sash
  • Dentil molding (square, tooth-like cuts) along the eaves

About the Georgian Colonial Style

Georgian Colonial became the rave in New England and the Southern colonies during the 1700's. Stately and symmetrical, these homes imitated the larger, more elaborate Georgian homes which were being built in England. But the genesis of the style goes back much farther. During the reign of King George I in the early 1700's, and King George III later in the century, Britons drew inspiration from the Italian Renaissance and from ancient Greece and Rome.
Georgian ideals came to New England via pattern books, and Georgian styling became a favorite of well-to-do colonists. More humble dwellings also took on characteristics of the Georgian style. America's Georgian homes tend to be less ornate than those found in Britain.

Related Home Styles:

Further Reading:

1780 - 1840: Federal and Adam House Styles

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

Graceful details distinguish Federal homes from the pragmatic Georgian colonial style.
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Graceful details distinguish Federal style homes.
Woodlawn, near Mount Vernon, Virginia, is often called "Georgian Colonial." However, the fanlight and the elliptical window in the gable are characteristic of the Federal style. Designed by William Thornton, Woodlawn was completed in 1805.
Photo © 2000 ArtToday.com
American Federal houses have many of these features:
  • Low-pitched roof, or flat roof with a balustrade
  • Windows arranged symmetrically around a center doorway
  • Semicircular fanlight over the front door
  • Narrow side windows flanking the front door
  • Decorative crown or roof over front door
  • Tooth-like dentil moldings in the cornice
  • Palladian window
  • Circular or elliptical windows
  • Shutters
  • Decorative swags and garlands
  • Oval rooms and arches
These architects are known for their Federalist buildings:
  • Charles Bulfinch
  • Samuel McIntyre
  • Alexander Perris
  • William Thorton
About the Federal Style Like much of America's architecture, the Federal (or Federalist) style has its roots in the British Isles. Two Scottish brothers named Adam adapted the pragmatic Georgian style, adding swags, garlands, urns, and other delicate details. In the American colonies, homes and public buildings also took on graceful airs. Inspired by the work of the Adam brothers and also by the great temples of ancient Greece and Rome, Americans began to build homes with Palladian windows, circular or elliptical windows, recessed wall arches, and oval-shaped rooms. This new Federal style became associated with America's evolving national identity.
It's easy to confuse Federalist architecture with the earlier Georgian Colonial style. The difference is in the details: While Georgian homes are square and angular, a Federal style building is more likely to have curved lines and decorative flourishes. Federalist architecture was the favored style in the United States from about 1780 until the 1830s. However, Federalist details are often incorporated into modern American homes. Look past the vinyl siding, and you may see a fanlight or the elegant arch of a Palladian window.
Related Styles:

1800s: Tidewater Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

Built in coastal areas of the American South, these homes were designed for wet, hot climates.
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Built in coastal areas of the American South, Tidewater homes were designed for wet, hot climates.
This "Tidewater" home has an extensive porch sheltered by a broad hipped roof.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
Tidewater homes have extensive porches (or "galleries") sheltered by a broad hipped roof. The main roof extends over the porches without interruption.

1825 - 1860: Greek Revival

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

With details reminiscent of the Parthenon, stately, pillared Greek Revival homes reflect a passion for antiquity.
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Stately, pillared Greek Revival homes reflect a passion for antiquity.
Democratic ideals are reflected in the classical details of Greek Revival homes. This home is located in Saratoga, New York.
Photo © 2005 Jackie Craven
Greek Revival houses usually have these features: Many Greek Revival houses also have these features:
  • Entry porch with columns
  • Decorative pilasters
  • Narrow windows around front door
About the Greek Revival Style In the mid-19th century, many prosperous Americans believed that ancient Greece represented the spirit of democracy. Interest in British styles had waned during the bitter War of 1812. Also, many Americans sympathized with Greece's own struggles for independence in the 1820s.
Greek Revival architecture began with public buildings in Philadelphia. Many European-trained architects designed in the popular Grecian style, and the fashion spread via carpenter's guides and pattern books. Colonnaded Greek Revival mansions - sometimes called Southern Colonial houses - sprang up throughout the American south. With its classic clapboard exterior and bold, simple lines, Greek Revival architecture became the most predominant housing style in the United States.
During the second half of the 19th century, Gothic Revival and Italianate styles captured the American imagination. Grecian ideas faded from popularity. However, front-gable design - a trademark of the Greek Revival style - continued to influence the shape of American houses well into the 20th century. You will notice the classic front-gable design in simple "National Style" farm houses throughout the United States.
Examples of Greek Revival Homes:
Also see... Learn More About Greek Revival Architecture:
  • The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter:
    Being a Complete Development of the Grecian Orders of Architecture
    A reprint of the classic 1830 book that awakened America's interest in Greek architecture
    (compare prices)

1840-1880: Gothic Revival (Masonry)

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Gothic Revival

Medieval cathedrals inspired impressive homes made of stone. For features of the Gothic Revival style, read below. To learn more, see: Victorian Gothic Styles
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Medieval cathedrals inspired grand estates constructed from stone.
Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York
Photo Courtesy WalkingGeek/Flickr
Gothic Revival was a Victorian style that borrowed details from Gothic cathedrals and other medieval architecture. Gothic Revival homes in England were most frequently constructed of masonry. In the United States, some large, lavish estates were also made with stone or brick. These homes often resembled medieval churches or castles.

Masonry homes in the Gothic Revival style have many of these features:

The earliest and most famous example of masonry Gothic Revival architecture in the United States is Lyndhurst, an all-marble estate in Tarrytown, New York. The architect, Alexander Jackson Davis, published a book that inspired other Americans to build in the Gothic Revival style. In the 1870s, a related style, High Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic, grew out of the Gothic Revival movement.

Buildings in the High Victorian Gothic style had many of these features:

  • Strong vertical lines and a sense of great height
  • Heavy, bold details
  • Leaves, vines, gargoyles, and other stone carvings
  • Multi-colored masonry, often forming patterns or bands
  • Slightly pointed Romanesque arches
  • Faithful re-creation of medieval styles
Few people could afford to build a masonry home in the Gothic Revival or High Gothic revival style. In the United States, the masonry versions of Gothic Revival and High Gothic Revival architecture were used mainly for churches, public buildings, and grand estates. However, the ready availability of lumber lead to a distinctly American version of the Gothic Revival style, constructed with wood. To learn about wood-framed Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: (Wood) >>
For more photos of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: History and Pictures >>

1840-1880: Gothic Revival (Wood)

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Gothic Revival

Builders borrowed church-like details to construct affordable wooden versions of the Gothic Revival style. To learn about Gothic Revival houses, read below.
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Medieval cathedrals inspired these whimsical wood-framed houses.
Victorian Gothic Revival homes have pointed windows and other details borrowed from medieval Gothic cathedrals.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
The earliest Gothic Revival homes were constructed of stone and brick. The Gothic Revival style imitated the great cathedrals and castles of Europe. However, few people could afford to build grand masonry homes in the Gothic Revival style. In the United States, the ready availability of lumber and factory-made architectural trim lead to a distinctly American version of Gothic Revival. Wood-framed Gothic Revival homes became America's dominant style in the mid-1800s.

Wooden homes in the Gothic Revival style have many of these features:

  • Steeply pitched roof
  • Steep cross gables
  • Windows with pointed arches
  • Vertical board and batten siding
  • One-story porch
New machines invented during the Victorian era made it easy and affordable to add scrolled ornaments, lacy bargeboards, "gingerbread" trim, and other decorative details. Heavily decorated wood-frame cottages in the Gothic Revival style are often called Carpenter Gothic. To learn about Gothic Revival architecture constructed from stone, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: (Masonry) >>
For more photos of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: History and Pictures >>

1840 - 1885: Italianate

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

Italianate became the most popular housing style in Victorian America. Italianate is also known as the Tuscan, the Lombard, or simply, the bracketed style.
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Old World ideals were transplanted to the United States in the Italianate style.
Old World ideals are transplanted to the United States in this Italianate style home, located in Cape May, New Jersey.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
Italianate houses have many of these features:
  • Low-pitched or flat roof
  • Balanced, symmetrical rectangular shape
  • Tall appearance, with 2, 3, or 4 stories
  • Wide, overhanging eaves with brackets and cornices
  • Square cupola
  • Porch topped with balustraded balconies
  • Tall, narrow, double-paned windows with hood moldings
  • Side bay window
  • Heavily molded double doors
  • Roman or segmented arches above windows and doors
About the Italianate Style: The Italianate style began in England with the picturesque movement of the 1840s. For the previous 200 years, English homes tended to be formal and classical in style. With the picturesque, movement, however, builders began to design fanciful recreations of Italian Renaissance villas. When the Italianate style moved to the United States, it was reinterpreted again to create a uniquely American style.
By the late 1860s, Italianate was the most popular house style in the United States. Historians say that Italianate became the favored style for two reasons:
  • Italianate homes could be constructed with many different building materials, and the style could be adapted to modest budgets.
  • New technologies of the Victorian era made it possible to quickly and affordably produce cast-iron and press-metal decorations.
Italianate remained the most popular house style in the USA until the 1870s. Italianate was also a common style for barns, town halls, and libraries. You will find Italianate buildings in nearly every part of the United States except for the deep South. There are fewer Italianate buildings in the southern states because the style reached its peak during the Civil War, a time when the south was economically devastated. After the 1870s, architectural fashion turned toward late Victorian styles such as Queen Anne.
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1840 - 1915: Renaissance Revival Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

A fascination for the architecture of Renaissance Europe and the villas of Andrea Palladio inspired elegant Renaissance Revival homes.
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Gilded Age Luxury
Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, Breakers Mansion is a Renaissance Revival mansion in Newport, Rhode Island
Photo © Ben Newton

Renaissance Revival houses have many of these features:

  • Cube-shaped
  • Balanced, symmetrical façade
  • Smooth stone walls, made from finely-cut ashlar, or smooth stucco finish
  • Low-pitched hip or Mansard roof
  • Roof topped with balustrade
  • Wide eaves with large brackets
  • Horizontal stone banding between floors
  • Segmental pediments
  • Ornately-carved stone window trim varying in design at each story
  • Smaller square windows on top floor
  • Quoins (large stone blocks at the corners)

"Second" Renaissance Revival Houses are larger and usually have:

  • Arched, recessed openings
  • Full entablatures between floors
  • Columns
  • Ground floor made of rusticated stone with beveled edges and deeply-recessed joints

About the Renaissance Revival Style

Renaissance (French for "rebirth") refers to the artistic, architectural, and literary movement in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries. The Renaissance Revival style is based on the architecture of 16th-century Renaissance Italy and France, with additional elements borrowed from Ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Renaissance Revival is a general term which encompasses the various Italian Renaissance Revival and French Renaissance Revival styles, including Second Empire.
The Renaissance Revival style was popular during two separate phases. The first phase, or the First Renaissance Revival, was from about 1840 to 1885, and the Second Renaissance Revival, which was characterized by larger and more elaborately decorated buildings, was from 1890 to 1915. Due to the expensive materials required and the elaborate style, Renaissance Revival was best suited for public and commercial buildings, and very grand homes for the wealthy.

Video:

Related Styles:

Learn More About Beaux Arts:

Further Reading:

1855 - 1885: Second Empire (Mansard) Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Second Empire

With tall mansard roofs and wrought iron cresting, Second Empire homes create a sense of height.
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Tall mansard roofs and wrought iron cresting create a sense of height
With their high mansard roofs, Second Empire houses suggested European majesty.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation

Second Empire homes usually have these features:

  • Mansard roof
  • Dormer windows project like eyebrows from roof
  • Rounded cornices at top and base of roof
  • Brackets beneath the eaves, balconies, and bay windows

Many Second Empire homes also have these features:

  • Cupola
  • Patterned slate on roof
  • Wrought iron cresting above upper cornice
  • Classical pediments
  • Paired columns
  • Tall windows on first story
  • Small entry porch
Second Empire buildings with tall mansard roofs were modeled after the the opulent architecture of Paris during the reign of Napoleon III. French architects used the term horror vacui - the fear of unadorned surfaces - to describe the highly ornamented Second Empire style. Second Empire buildings were also practical: their height allowed for additional living space on narrow city lots.
In the United States, government buildings in the Second Empire style resemble the elaborate French designs. Private homes, however, often have an Italianate flavor. Both Italianate and Second Empire houses tend to be square in shape, and both can have U-shaped window crowns, decorative brackets, and single story porches. But, Italianate houses have much wider eaves... and they do not have the distinctive mansard roof characteristic of the Second Empire style.
Learn more:

1860 - 1890: Stick Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Stick Style

Stick Style Victorian houses have exposed trusses, "stickwork," and other details borrowed from medieval times.
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Brackets and stickwork suggest medieval building techniques.
The Physick House in Cape May, New Jersey is a hallmark example of the Stick Style. Frank Furness, architect.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
The house shown here is an especially fine example of Victorian Stick architecture. Designed by architect Frank Furness, the house has "stickwork," or decorative half-timbering, on the exterior walls. Other features include prominent brackets, rafters, and braces. These details are not necessary structurally. They are decorations that imitated architecture from the medieval past. On first glance, you might confuse Stick houses with the later Tudor Revival Style. However, most Tudor Revival houses are sided with stucco, stone, or brick. Stick Style houses are almost always made with wood and have large, prominent brackets and corbels.
Common Features Found on Victorian Stick Style Homes:
  • Rectangular shape
  • Wood siding
  • Steep, gabled roof
  • Overhanging eaves
  • Ornamental trusses (gable braces)
  • Decorative braces and brackets
  • Decorative half-timbering
  • Jerkinhead dormers
About the Stick Style: The most important features of Stick Style houses are on the exterior wall surfaces. Instead of three-dimensional ornamentation, the emphasis is on patterns and lines. Because the decorative details are flat, they are often lost when homeowners remodel. If the decorative stickwork is covered up with vinyl siding or painted a single solid color, a Stick Style Victorian may appear plain and rather ordinary.
The Palliser Company, which published many plan books during the Victorian era, called stick architecture plain yet neat, modern, and comfortable. However, Stick was a short-lived fashion. The angular and austere style couldn't compete with the fancy Queen Annes that took America by storm. Some Stick architecture did dress up in fancy Eastlake spindles and Queen Anne flourishes. But very few authentic Stick Style homes remain intact.
Learn More About Victorian Stick Architecture:
Related Styles:

1861 - 1930: Shotgun House

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Shotgun House

Long and narrow, shotgun houses are made to fit small city building lots.
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Brightly painted shotgun house in New Orleans, Louisiana
Brightly painted shotgun house in New Orleans, Louisiana
Photo (cc) Flickr Member Karen Apricot New Orleans
Shotgun houses have been built since the time of the Civil War. The economical style became popular in many southern towns, especially New Orleans. Shotgun houses have many of these features:
  • The entire house is no wider than 12 feet (3.5 meters)
  • Rooms are arranged in a single row, without hallways
  • The living room is at the front, with bedrooms and kitchen behind
  • The house has two doors, one at the front and one at the rear
  • A long pitched roof provides natural ventilation
  • The house may rest on stilts to prevent flood damage
Why Are These Houses Called Shotgun? A few theories:
  • If you fire a shotgun through the front door, the bullets will fly straight out through the back door.
  • Some shotgun houses were constructed from packing crates that once held shotgun shells.
  • The word shotgun might come from to-gun, which means place of assembly in an African dialect.

1870 - 1910: Folk Victorian

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Folk Victorian

Just plain folk could afford these simple North American homes, built between 1870 and 1910.
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Folk Victorian House in New Hampshire
Folk Victorian House in Sandwich, New Hampshire
Photo ©2005 Jackie Craven

Folk Victorian houses usually have these features:

  • Square, symmetrical shape
  • Brackets under the eaves
  • Porches with spindlework or flat, jigsaw cut trim

Some Folk Victorian homes have:

About the Folk Victorian House Style

Life was simple before the age of railroads. In the vast, remote stretches of North America, families built no-fuss, square or L-shaped houses in the National or Folk style. But the rise of industrialization made it easier and more affordable to add decorative details to otherwise simple homes. Decorative architectural trim could be mass produced. As the railroads expanded, factory-made building parts could be sent to far corners of the continent. Also, small towns could now obtain sophisticated woodworking machinery. A crate of scrolled brackets might find its way to Kansas or Wyoming, where carpenters could mix and match the pieces according to personal whim... Or, according to what happened to be in the latest shipment.
Many Folk Victorian houses were adorned with flat, jigsaw cut trim in a variety of patterns. Others had spindles, gingerbread and details borrowed from the Carpenter Gothic style. With their spindles and porches, some Folk Victorian homes may suggest Queen Anne architecture. But unlike Queen Annes, Folk Victorian houses are orderly and symmetrical houses. They do not have towers, bay windows, or elaborate moldings.

1880 - 1910: Queen Anne

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

America's fanciful Queen Anne architecture takes on many shapes. Read below for features of the style. For more pictures, visit our Queen Anne Photo Gallery.
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Victorian Queen Anne Homes often have towers, turrets, and wrap-around porches.
America's Victorian Queen Anne Homes often have towers, turrets, wrap-around porches, and other fanciful details. This Queen Anne house is in Saratoga, New York.
Photo © 2005 Jackie Craven

America's Queen Anne houses have many of these features:

  • Steep roof
  • Complicated, asymmetrical shape
  • Front-facing gable
  • One-story porch that extends across one or two sides of the house
  • Round or square towers
  • Wall surfaces textured with decorative shingles, patterned masonry, or half-timbering
  • Ornamental spindles and brackets
  • Bay windows

About the Queen Anne style:

The romantic style known as Queen Anne became an architectural fashion in the USA during the 1880s and 1890s, when the industrial revolution brought new technologies. Builders began to use mass-produced pre-cut architectural trim to create fanciful and sometimes flamboyant houses. Not all Queen Anne houses are lavishly decorated, however. Some builders showed restraint in their use of embellishments. Still, the flashy "painted ladies" of San Francisco and the refined brownstones of Brooklyn share many of the same features.

About the name "Queen Anne":

Queen Anne architecture in the USA is very different from the slightly earlier English versions of the style. Moreover, in both the USA and England, Victorian Queen Anne architecture has little do with the British queen who ruled during the 1700s. To learn how the Queen Anne style got its name, see Queen Anne: Reigning Style of the Industrial Age.

See photos of Queen Anne houses:

Watch a Video about Queen Anne houses:

1860 - 1880s: Eastlake Victorian

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Eastlake

These fanciful Victorian houses are lavished with Eastlake style spindlework.
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These fanciful Victorian houses are lavished with Eastlake style spindlework.
Fanciful Victorian home with Eastlake details
Photo © Clipart.com
This colorful Victorian home is a Queen Anne, but the lacy, ornamental details are called Eastlake. The ornamental style is named after the famous English designer, Charles Eastlake, who was famous for making furniture decorated with fancy spindles. Eastlake details can be found on a variety of Victorian house styles. Some of the more fanciful Stick Style Victorians have Eastlake buttons and knobs combined with the angular stickwork.
Related Styles:

1880 - 1900: Richardsonian Romanesque

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque, or Romanesque Revival, houses have broad Roman arches and massive stone walls.
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These grand stone houses have broad roman arches.
The Castle Marne Bed and Breakfast in Denver, Colorado is a classic example of Richardsonian Romanesque styling. Made of rough-faced stone, it has arches, parapets, and a tower.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation

Romanesque houses have many of these features:

  • Constructed of rough-faced, square stones
  • Round towers with cone-shaped roofs
  • Columns and pilasters with spirals and leaf designs
  • Low, broad "Roman" arches over arcades and doorways
  • Patterned masonry arches over windows

About the Romanesque style:

During the 1870s, Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson captured the American imagination with rugged, forceful buildings like Allegheny Courthouse in Pittsburgh and Trinity Church in Boston. These buildings were called "Romanesque" because they had wide, rounded arches like buildings in ancient Rome. Henry Hobson Richardson became so famous for his Romanesque designs that the style is often called Richardsonian Romanesque. The heavy Romanesque style was especially suited for grand public buildings. However, Romanesque buildings, with massive stone walls, were expensive to construct. Only the wealthy adopted the Richardsonian Romanesque style for private homes.
Learn more about the Romanesque Revival style:

1874 - 1910: Shingle Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Shingle Houses

Rustic Shingle Style houses shunned Victorian fussiness. Read below for features of the style. To learn more, also see: The Shingle Style >>
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Rustic Shingle Style houses shunned Victorian fussiness.
Home designers rejected fussy Queen Anne ornamentation in rustic, Shingle Style homes.
Photo © 2005 Jackie Craven

Shingle Style homes usually have these features:

  • Continuous wood shingles on siding and roof
  • Irregular roof line
  • Cross gables
  • Eaves on several levels
  • Porches
  • Asymmetrical floor plan

Some Shingle Style homes also have these features:

  • Wavy wall surface
  • Patterned shingles
  • Squat half-towers
  • Palladian windows
  • Rough hewn stone on lower stories
  • Stone arches over windows and porches

About the Shingle Style:

Shingle Style houses can take on many forms. Some have tall turrets, suggestive of Queen Anne architecture. Some have gambrel roofs, Palladian windows, and other Colonial Revival details. Some Shingle houses have features borrowed from Tudor, Gothic and Stick styles. But, unlike those styles, Shingle architecture is relaxed and informal. Shingle houses do not have the lavish decorations that were popular during the Victorian era. The architectural historian Vincent Scully coined the term "Shingle Style" because these homes are usually sided in rustic cedar shingles. However, not all Shingle Style houses are shingle-sided. You will recognize them by their complicated shapes and rambling, informal floor plans.
Learn more about Shingle Architecture:
Shingle Style Houses >>

1876 - 1955: Colonial Revival

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Colonial Revival

Expressing American patriotism and a return to classical architectural styles, Colonial Revival became a standard style in the 20th century.
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Colonial Revival houses romanticized North America's colonial past.
Builders in the late 1800s and early 1900s romanticized colonial architecture.
Photo © Jackie Craven

Colonial Revival houses have many of these features:

  • Symmetrical façade
  • Rectangular
  • 2 to 3 stories
  • Brick or wood siding
  • Simple, classical detailing
  • Gable roof
  • Pillars and columns
  • Multi-pane, double-hung windows with shutters
  • Dormers
  • Temple-like entrance: porticos topped by pediment
  • Paneled doors with sidelights and topped with rectangular transoms or fanlights
  • Center entry-hall floor plan
  • Living areas on the first floor and bedrooms on the upper floors
  • Fireplaces

About the Colonial Revival Style

Colonial Revival became a popular American house style after it appeared at the 1876 the US Centennial Exposition. Reflecting American patriotism and a desire for simplicity, the Colonial Revival house style remained popular until the mid-1950's. Between World War I and II, Colonial Revival was the most popular historic revival house style in the United States.
Some architectural historians say that Colonial Revival is a Victorian style; others believe that the Colonial Revival style marked the end of the Victorian period in architecture. The Colonial Revival style is based loosely on Federal and Georgian house styles, and a clear reaction against excessively elaborate Victorian Queen Anne architecture. Eventually, the simple, symmetrical Colonial Revival style became incorporated into the Foursquare and Bungalow house styles of the early 20th century.
Subtypes of the Colonial Revival House Style
  • Dutch Colonial
    Two-story house made of clapboard or shingles with a gambrel roof, flared eaves, and a side-entry floor plan.
  • Garrison Colonial
    The second story protrudes; the first story is slightly recessed.
  • Saltbox Colonial
    Like the original saltbox homes from colonial times, a Saltbox Style Colonial Revival has two stories at the front and one story at the rear. The gable roof covers both levels, sloping sharply down in the rear.
  • Spanish Colonial Revival
    Low-pitched ceramic tile roof, stucco walls, eaves with little or no overhang, wrought iron, and windows and doorways with round arches.

See Photos: Colonial Revival Houses >

Related House Styles:

1885 - 1925: Neoclassical

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Neoclassical

Neoclassical, or "new" classical, architecture describes buildings that are inspired by the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
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Neoclassical homes romanticize the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
Neoclassical homes romanticize the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
See more pictures of Neoclassical houses >> The word Neoclassical is often used to describe an architectural style, but Neoclassicism is not actually any one distinct style. Neoclassicism is a trend, or approach to design, that can describe several very different styles.

A Neoclassical house may resemble any of these historic styles:

Antebellum houses are often Neoclassical. Beaux Arts is also a Neoclassical style. Learn more about Neoclassical Architecture >>
See more pictures of Neoclassical houses >>

1885 - 1925: Beaux Arts

Picture Dictionary of House Styles: Beaux Arts

Combining classical Greek and Roman architecture with Renaissance ideas, Beaux Arts was a favored style for grand public buildings and opulent mansions.
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Beaux Arts Mansion
The Beaux Arts Vanderbilt Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island
Public Domain Image by Daderot, August 2005

Beaux Arts buildings have many of these features:

Some famous Beaux Arts buildings:

About the Beaux Arts Style

The Beaux Arts (French for "fine art") style originated in the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Many American architects studied at this legendary architectural school, where they learned about the aesthetic principles of classical design and brought them to the United States.
Also known as Beaux Arts Classicism, Academic Classicism, or Classical Revival, Beaux Arts is a late and eclectic form of Neoclassicism. It combines classical architecture from ancient Greece and Rome with Renaissance ideas. Beaux Arts is characterized by order, symmetry, formal design, grandiosity, and elaborate ornamentation. In the United States, the Beaux Arts style led to planned neighborhoods with large, showy houses, wide boulevards, and vast parks. Due to the size and grandiosity of the buildings, the Beaux Arts style is most commonly used for public buildings like museums, railway stations, libraries, banks, courthouses, and government buildings.
The popularity of the Beaux Arts style waned in the 1920's, and within 25 years the buildings were considered ostentatious. Later in the 20th century, postmodernists rediscovered an appreciation of the Beaux Arts ideals.

Learn More About Beaux Arts

1890 - Present: Tudor Revival

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Tudor Houses

Heavy chimneys and decorative half-timbering give Tudor style houses a Medieval flavor. The Tudor style is sometimes called Medieval Revival.
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Heavy chimneys and decorative half-timbering give Tudor style houses a Medieval flavor.
Decorative half-timbering give Tudor Revival houses the appearance of a medieval building.
Photo © 2005 Jackie Craven
Tudor style homes have many of these features: About the Tudor Style: The name Tudor suggests that these houses were built in the 1500s, during the Tudor Dynasty in England. But of course, Tudor houses in the United States are modern-day re-inventions and are more accurately called Tudor Revival or Medieval Revival. Some Tudor Revival houses mimic humble Medieval cottages - They may even include a false thatched roof. Other Tudor Revival homes suggest Medieval palaces. They may have overlapping gables, parapets, and beautifully patterned brick or stonework. These historic details combine with Victorian or Craftsman flourishes.
As in many Queen Anne and Stick style homes, Tudor style houses often feature striking decorative timbers. These timbers hint at - but do not reproduce - Medieval construction techniques. In Medieval houses, the timber framing was integral with the structure. Tudor Revival houses, however, merely suggest the structural framework with false half-timbering. This decorative woodwork comes in many different designs, with stucco or patterned brick between the timbers.
Handsome examples of Tudor Revival architecture may be found throughout Great Britain, northern Europe, and the United States. The main square in Chester, England is surrounded by lavish Victorian Tudors that stand unapologetically alongside authentic medieval buildings.
In the United States, Tudor styling takes on a variety of forms ranging from elaborate mansions to modest suburban homes with mock masonry veneers. The style became enormously popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and modified versions became fashionable in the 1970s and 1980s.
One popular housing type inspired by inspired by Tudor ideas is the Cotswold Cottage. These quaint homes have an imitation thatched roof, massive chimneys, an uneven sloping roof, small window panes, and low doors.
Learn More About Tudor Architecture:
Tudor Style
Lush color photographs illustrate Tudor style homes across the USA. This book is an especially good resource if you're seeking ideas for paint colors and interior decore. By Lee Goff, Author and Paul Rocheleau, Photographer. (compare prices)

1890-1940: Cotswold Cottage

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Cotswold Cottage

With roots in the pastoral Cotswold region of England, the picturesque Cotswold Cottage style may remind you of a cozy storybook house.
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Variation on the Tudor Revival style
Cotswold Cottage: This subtype of the Tudor Revival style may remind you of a picturesque storybook cottage.
Photo © Jackie Craven

Other names for the Cotswold Cottage style:

  • Storybook Style
  • Hansel and Gretel Cottage
  • Tudor Cottage
  • English Country Cottage
  • Ann Hathaway Cottage

Cotswold Cottage houses have many of these features:

  • Sloping, uneven roof, sometimes made of pseudo-thatch
  • Brick, stone, or stucco siding
  • Very steep cross gables
  • Prominent brick or stone chimney, often at the front near the door
  • Casement windows with small panes
  • Small dormer windows
  • Asymmetrical design
  • Low doors and arched doors
  • Small, irregularly-shaped rooms
  • Sloping walls in rooms on upper floor

About the Cotswold Cottage house style:

The small, fanciful Cotswold Cottage is a popular subtype of the Tudor Revival house style. This quaint English country style is based on the cottages built since medieval times in the Cotswold region of southwestern England. A fascination for medieval styles inspired American architects create modern versions of the rustic homes. The Cotswold Cottage style became especially popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. The picturesque Cotswold Cottage is usually asymmetrical with a steep, complex roof line. The floor plan tends to include small, irregularly-shaped rooms, and the upper rooms have sloping walls with dormers. The home may have a sloping slate or cedar roof that mimics the look of thatch. A massive chimney often dominates either the front or one side of the house.

Cotswold Cottage Building Plans:

Cotswold Cottage Photos:

These homes from our House Helpline series have features of the Cotswold Cottage style:

Read About Cotswold Cottages:

  • Buildings of the Cotswolds
    Author Denis Moriarty explores the Cotswold region of England and looks at the cottages, manor homes, and humble farm buildings that inspired America's Cotswold Cottage style. Color and black-and-white photos show architectural details. (compare prices)
  • Storybook Style: America's Whimsical Homes of the Twenties
    During the 1920s, architects with a flare for drama tried to capture the flavor of medieval England and Europe. Half timbered and turreted, pinnacled and portcullised, the homes they built combined features from many traditions, including the picturesque Cotswold style. (compare prices)

1890 - 1920: Mission Revival House Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Mission Revival

Historic mission churches built by Spanish colonists inspired the turn-of-the-century house style known as Mission, Spanish Mission, or California Mission.
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Spanish Colonial mission churches inspired the design of these stucco homes.
Owls Club Mansion is an especially elaborate example of Mission Revival architecture in Tucson, Arizona
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation

Spanish Mission style houses have many of these features:

About the Photo:

Shown here is the Owls Club Mansion, an especially elaborate example of Mission Revival architecture in Tucson, Arizona. Architect Henry Trost modeled the home after a design by Louis Sullivan. Completed in 1902, the house is decorated with geometric patterns, parapets with ornamental drainpipes, and other details inspired by historic Spanish mission churches.

About the Mission Revival Style:

Celebrating the architecture of Hispanic settlers, Mission Revival style houses usually have arched dormers and roof parapets. Some resemble old Spanish mission churches with bell towers and elaborate arches. The earliest Mission style homes were built in California, USA. The style spread eastward, but most Spanish Mission homes are located in the southwestern states. Deeply shaded porches and dark interiors make these homes particularly suited for warmer climates.
By the 1920s, architects were combining Mission styling with features from other movements. Mission houses often have details from these popular styles:
The term Mission style may also describe the Arts & Crafts furniture by Gustav Stickley.

Mission Style House Plans and Photos:

1893-1920: Prairie Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Prairie Houses

Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home when he began to design "Prairie" style houses with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces.
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The Frederic C. Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1909.
The Frederic C. Robie House in Chicago is widely considered Frank Lloyd Wright's finest example of the Prairie style. It was built in 1909.
Photo © Kenneth C. Zirkel / iStockphoto.com

Prairie style houses usually have these features:

  • Low-pitched roof
  • Overhanging eaves
  • Horizontal lines
  • Central chimney
  • Open floor plan
  • Clerestory windows

About the Prairie Style:

Frank Lloyd Wright believed that rooms in Victorian era homes were boxed-in and confining. He began to design houses with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces. Rooms were often divided by leaded glass panels. Furniture was either built-in or specially designed. These homes were called prairie style after Wright's 1901 Ladies Home Journal plan titled, "A Home in a Prairie Town." Prairie houses were designed to blend in with the flat, prairie landscape. The first Prairie houses were usually plaster with wood trim or sided with horizontal board and batten. Later Prairie homes used concrete block. Prairie homes can have many shapes: Square, L-shaped, T-shaped, Y-shaped, and even pinwheel-shaped.
Many other architects designed Prairie homes and the style was popularized by pattern books. The popular American Foursquare style, sometimes called the Prairie Box, shared many features with the Prairie style.
In 1936, during the USA depression, Frank Lloyd Wright developed a simplified version of Prairie architecture called Usonian. Wright believed these stripped-down houses represented the democratic ideals of the United States.

Famous Prairie Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright

  • 1893: William Winslow Residence
    River Forest, Illinois. Although this house uses ornamentation in the fashion of Louis Sullivan, it also shows elements of the new Prairie style. The house is a symmetrical rectangle.
  • 1901: Frank W. Thomas House
    Oak Park, Illinois. Widely considered Wright's first Prairie Style house in Oak Park, and one of his earliest uses of stucco.
  • 1902: Arthur Heurtley House
    Oak Park, Illinois. This low, compact house has variegated brickwork with vibrant color and rough texture.
  • 1909: Robie Residence (shown above)
    This Frank Lloyd house in Chicago is widely considered Wright's finest example of the Prairie style.

More About the Prairie Style

1895 - 1930: American Foursquare

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

The Foursquare style, sometimes called the Prairie Box, can be found in nearly every part of the United States.
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A practical style, sometimes called the
Simple Foursquare houses were built in brick, stone, stucco, concrete block, or wood.
Photo: ClipArt.com

American Foursquare houses usually have these features:

  • Simple box shape
  • Two-and-a-half stories high
  • Four-room floor plan
  • Low-hipped roof with deep overhang
  • Large central dormer
  • Full-width porch with wide stairs
  • Brick, stone, stucco, concrete block, or wood siding

About the Foursquare House Style:

The American Foursquare, or the Prairie Box, was a post-Victorian style that shared many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. The boxy foursquare shape provided roomy interiors for homes on small city lots. The simple, square shape also made the Foursquare style especially practical for mail order house kits from Sears and other catalog companies.
Creative builders often dressed up the basic foursquare form. Although foursquare houses are always the same square shape, they can have features borrowed from any of these styles:
  • Queen Anne - bay windows, small towers, or "gingerbread" trim
  • Mission - stucco siding and roof parapets
  • Colonial Revival - pediments or porticos
  • Craftsman - exposed roof rafters, beamed ceilings, built-in cabinetry, and carefully crafted woodwork

Learn More About the Foursquare House Style:

American Foursquare Floor Plans
From the pages of Sears and Aladdin mail order catalogs, illustrations, descriptions and floor plans for American Foursquare style homes.
Picking Colors for a Foursquare
A well-chosen selection of trim and accent colors can draw attention to architectural details and disguise design flaws. Here are some pointers for painting an American Foursquare.
Foursquare Photos
Our photo gallery of American Foursquare homes submitted by readers.
The Prairie Style
With its low, paramid shaped roof, the Foursquare form is a variation on the linear style pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Craftsman Style
Many Foursquare homes have "Craftsman" details.

1905-1930: Arts and Crafts (Craftsman)

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

From cozy bungalows to sprawling Prairie houses, many American homes were shaped by Craftsman ideas. Find facts below. Want more? See: Craftsman Photo Gallery.
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With low roofs and wide eaves, Craftsman houses seem to embrace the earth.
Some Craftsman houses have cobblestone foundations, porch posts, and chimneys.
Photo © Jackie Craven

Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, houses have many of these features:

  • Wood, stone, or stucco siding
  • Low-pitched roof
  • Wide eaves with triangular brackets
  • Exposed roof rafters
  • Porch with thick square or round columns
  • Stone porch supports
  • Exterior chimney made with stone
  • Open floor plans; few hallways
  • Numerous windows
  • Some windows with stained or leaded glass
  • Beamed ceilings
  • Dark wood wainscoting and moldings
  • Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seating

Arts and Crafts History:

During the 1880s, John Ruskin, William Morris, Philip Webb, and other English designers and thinkers launched the Arts and Crafts Movement, which celebrated handicrafts and encouraged the use of simple forms and natural materials. In the United States, two California brothers, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Green, began to design houses that combined Arts and Crafts ideas with a fascination for the simple wooden architecture of China and Japan. The name "Craftsman" comes from the title of a popular magazine published by the famous furniture designer, Gustav Stickley, between 1901 and 1916. A true Craftsman house is one that is built according to plans published in Stickley's magazine. But other magazines, pattern books, and mail order house catalogs began to publish plans for houses with Craftsman-like details. Soon the word "Craftsman" came to mean any house that expressed Arts and Crafts ideals, most especially the simple, economical, and extremely popular Bungalow.

Craftsman Styles

A Craftsman house is often a Bungalow, but many other styles can have Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, features.

See more photos of Craftsman houses >>

Learn More About Craftsman Houses:

  • The Gamble House
    Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Green built this sprawling Craftsman home in 1909. Located in Pasadena, California, the house has wide terraces, open sleeping porches, and custom-designed wooden cabinetry and furniture.
  • Craftsman Perspective
    Find detailed commentary on Arts and Crafts styling and photos of Craftsman house interiors.

1912 - Present: Pueblo Revival Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Pueblo & Adobe

Because they are built with adobe, Pueblo homes are sometimes called Adobes. Modern Pueblos are inspired by homes used by Native Americans since ancient times.
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Ancient Native American dwellings inspired our modern-day Pueblo homes.
Inspired by the simple adobe structures built by ancient tribes, comfortable, eco-friendly pueblo style homes are especially practical in dry climates.
Photo: 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
Pueblo Revival homes borrow ideas from the ancient earthen homes of Native Americans.

Pueblo homes have many of these features:

  • Massive, round-edged walls made with adobe
  • Flat roof with no overhang
  • Stepped levels
  • Rounded parapet
  • Spouts in the parapet to direct rainwater
  • Vigas (heavy timbers) extending through walls to support the roof
  • Latillas (poles) placed above vigas in angled pattern
  • Deep window and door openings
  • Simple windows
  • Beehive corner fireplace
  • Bancos (benches) that protrude from walls
  • Nichos (niches) carved out of wall for display of religious icons
  • Brick, wood, or flagstone floors

Due to Spanish influence, Pueblo Revival homes may also have these features:

  • Porches held up with zapatas (posts)
  • Enclosed patios
  • Heavy wooden doors
  • Elaborate corbels

Variations of the Pueblo Revival style:

  • Pueblo Deco. Combining Pueblo Revival with Art Deco architecture, these homes are decorated with geometric patterns and Native American designs.
  • Santa Fe Style. This type of Pueblo became the standard in New Mexico after it was defined by the Santa Fe Historic Zoning Ordinance of 1957.
  • Contemporary Pueblo. Stripped down, unornamented Pueblos without posts, beams, or vigas.
  • Territorial Pueblo. Corners are square instead of rounded. Windows are framed with straight wooden moldings.

These builders are known for their Pueblo Revival buildings:

  • John Gaw Meem
  • Mary Louise Colter
  • Glenn Curtiss

About Pueblo Houses:

Since ancient times, Pueblo Indians built large, multi-family houses, which the Spanish called pueblos (villages). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish made their own Pueblo homes, but they adapted the style. They formed the adobe into sun-dried building blocks. After stacking the blocks, the Spaniards covered them with protective layers of mud. Pueblo Revival houses became popular in the early 1900s, mainly in California and the southwestern United States. During the 1920s, aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner James Bright introduced their own version of Pueblo Revival architecture to Florida. In the region that is now Miami Springs, Curtiss and Bright built an entire development of thick-walled buildings made of wood frame or concrete block.
Modern day Pueblo homes are often made with concrete blocks or other materials covered with adobe, stucco, plaster, or mortar.

Prehistory - Present: Pueblo (Adobe) Styles
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Pueblo & Adobe
Because they are built with adobe, Pueblo homes are sometimes called adobes. Modern Pueblos are inspired by homes used by Native Americans since ancient times.
Gallery Index
Image 1 of 35

Ancient Native American dwellings inspired our modern-day Pueblo homes.
Photo: 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
View Full-Size
Inspired by the simple adobe structures built by ancient tribes, comfortable, eco-friendly pueblo style homes are especially practical in dry climates.
Traditional Pueblo houses have many of these features:
  • Massive, round-edged walls made with adobe
  • Flat roof with no overhang
  • Stepped levels
  • Rounded parapet
  • Spouts in the parapet to direct rainwater
  • Vigas (heavy timbers) extending through walls which serve as main roof support beams
  • Latillas (poles) placed above vigas in angled pattern
  • Deep window and door openings
  • Simple windows
  • Beehive corner fireplace
  • Bancos (benches) that protrude from walls
  • Nichos (niches) carved out of wall for display of religious icons
  • Brick, wood, or flagstone floors
Due to Spanish influence, Pueblo Revival houses often have:
  • Porches held up with zapatas (posts)
  • Enclosed patios
  • Heavy wooden doors
  • Elaborate corbels
These architects are known for their Pueblo Revival buildings:
  • John Gaw Meem (Pueblo Revival)
  • Mary Louise Colter (Pueblo Deco)
About the Pueblo Style
Since ancient times, Pueblo Indians built large, multi-family houses, which the Spanish called pueblos (villages). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish made their own Pueblo homes, but they adapted the style. They formed the adobe into sun-dried building blocks. After stacking the blocks, the Spaniards covered them with protective layers of mud.
Pueblo Revival houses became popular in the early 1900s and are still a popular style in the southwestern regions of the United States. These modern-day Pueblos might not be made of adobe. Instead, some contemporary adobe homes are made with concrete blocks or other materials covered with adobe, stucco, plaster, or mortar.
There are several variations on traditional Pueblo architecture:
  • Pueblo Deco. Combining Pueblo Revival with Art Deco architecture, these homes are decorated with geometric patterns and Native American designs.
  • Santa Fe Style. This type of Pueblo became the standard in New Mexico after it was defined by the Santa Fe Historic Zoning Ordinance of 1957.
  • Contemporary Pueblo. These are stripped down, unornamented Pueblos without posts, beams, or vigas.
  • Territorial Pueblo. Corners are square instead of rounded. Windows are framed with straight wooden moldings.

1915 - 1945: French Eclectic

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: French Eclectic

French Eclectic homes combine a variety of influences from the architecture of France.
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Flared roofs and other French details give French eclectic homes a European flavor.
Flared roofs and other French details give French eclectic homes a European flavor.
Photo © Cynthia Nellis, Guide to Fashion
The cottage pictured above is a charming example of a home inspired by the symmetrical Provincial style. It was built in 1938 and is sided in Austin Stone. Learn more about French house styles:

French Inspired House Styles

French Eclectic Mansion
This grand stone mansion combines a variety of French styles
Photo from Clipart.com
Does your home speak français? After World War I, soldiers returning to the United States and Canada brought a keen interest in French housing styles. Building plan books and home magazines began to feature modest homes inspired by French building traditions. Grand homes like the one shown here were constructed with a fanciful mix of French details. Details vary, but French-inspired homes are distinguished by their distinctive hipped roofs and flared eaves. To decide whether your home has French accents, look for these features:
Some French style homes also have:

1905-1930: Arts and Crafts (Craftsman)

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

From cozy bungalows to sprawling Prairie houses, many American homes were shaped by Craftsman ideas. Find facts below. Want more? See: Craftsman Photo Gallery.
26 of 47
With low roofs and wide eaves, Craftsman houses seem to embrace the earth.
Some Craftsman houses have cobblestone foundations, porch posts, and chimneys.
Photo © Jackie Craven

Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, houses have many of these features:

  • Wood, stone, or stucco siding
  • Low-pitched roof
  • Wide eaves with triangular brackets
  • Exposed roof rafters
  • Porch with thick square or round columns
  • Stone porch supports
  • Exterior chimney made with stone
  • Open floor plans; few hallways
  • Numerous windows
  • Some windows with stained or leaded glass
  • Beamed ceilings
  • Dark wood wainscoting and moldings
  • Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seating

Arts and Crafts History:

During the 1880s, John Ruskin, William Morris, Philip Webb, and other English designers and thinkers launched the Arts and Crafts Movement, which celebrated handicrafts and encouraged the use of simple forms and natural materials. In the United States, two California brothers, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Green, began to design houses that combined Arts and Crafts ideas with a fascination for the simple wooden architecture of China and Japan. The name "Craftsman" comes from the title of a popular magazine published by the famous furniture designer, Gustav Stickley, between 1901 and 1916. A true Craftsman house is one that is built according to plans published in Stickley's magazine. But other magazines, pattern books, and mail order house catalogs began to publish plans for houses with Craftsman-like details. Soon the word "Craftsman" came to mean any house that expressed Arts and Crafts ideals, most especially the simple, economical, and extremely popular Bungalow.

Craftsman Styles

A Craftsman house is often a Bungalow, but many other styles can have Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, features.

See more photos of Craftsman houses >>

Learn More About Craftsman Houses:

  • The Gamble House
    Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Green built this sprawling Craftsman home in 1909. Located in Pasadena, California, the house has wide terraces, open sleeping porches, and custom-designed wooden cabinetry and furniture.
  • Craftsman Perspective
    Find detailed commentary on Arts and Crafts styling and photos of Craftsman house interiors.

1930 - 1950: Art Moderne

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Art Moderne

With the sleek appearance of a modern machine, Art Moderne - or, Streamline Moderne - houses expressed the spirit of a technological age.
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Spirit of a new, technological age
Art Moderne Home, from "House Helpline" #1142
Photo © the homeowner

The style we know as Art Moderne may also go by these names:

  • Streamline Moderne
  • Machine Age
  • Nautical Moderne

Art Moderne houses have many of these features:

  • Asymmetrical
  • Low, horizontal shape
  • Flat roof
  • No cornices or eaves
  • Smooth, white walls
  • Streamlined appearance
  • Rounded corners
  • Glass block windows and wraparound windows
  • Windows in horizontal rows
  • Porthole windows and other nautical details
  • Aluminum and steel window and door trim
  • Mirrored panels
  • Steel balustrades
  • Open floor plans

About the Art Moderne Style

The terms Art Moderne or Streamline Moderne are often used to describe a variation on Art Deco architecture. As in Art Deco, Art Moderne buildings emphasize simple geometric forms. There are, however, important differences:
  • Shape: An Art Moderne building usually has a low, horizontal shape. Art Deco buildings tend to be tall and vertical.
  • Ornaments: Art Moderne buildings are stripped of decorative details. An Art Deco house may have zigzags, chevrons, sun rays, stylized foliage, and other ornaments.
  • Color: Art Moderne buildings are usually white. An Art Deco house may be white or brightly colored.

Origins of Art Moderne

The sleek Art Moderne style originated in the Bauhaus movement, which began in Germany. Bauhaus architects wanted to use the principles of classical architecture in their purest form, designing simple, useful structures without ornamentation or excess. Building shapes were based on curves, triangles, and cones. Bauhaus ideas spread worldwide and led to the International Style in the United States. Art Moderne art, architecture, and fashion became popular just as the more highly decorative Art Deco style was falling out of favor. Many products produced during the 1930s, from architecture to jewelry to kitchen appliances, expressed the new Art Moderne ideals.
Art Moderne truly reflected the spirit of the early and mid-twentieth century. Expressing excitement over technological advancements, high speed transportation, and innovative new construction techniques, Art Modern design was highlighted at the 1933 World Fair Chicago. For homeowners, Art Moderne were also practical because these simple dwellings were so easy and economical to build. However, the Art Moderne or Streamline Moderne style was also favored for chic homes of the very wealthy.
See a more elaborate example of the Streamline Moderne style: Ship of the Desert, Palm Springs, California.
References:
1600s - 1950s: Cape Cod House Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Cape Cod
The Cape Cod house style originated in colonial New England. Today, the term refers to Cape Cod-shaped houses popular during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

In colonial days, a Cape Cod house was a simple, one-story structure with a single chimney in the center.
See More Cape Cod Houses >>
Traditional, Colonial-era Cape Cod houses had many of these features:
  • Steep roof with side gables
  • Small roof overhang
  • 1 or 1½ stories
  • Made of wood and covered in wide clapboard or shingles
  • Large central chimney linked to fireplace in each room
  • Symmetrical appearance with door in center
  • Dormers for space, light, and ventilation
  • Multi-paned, double-hung windows
  • Shutters
  • Formal, center-hall floor plan
  • Hardwood floors
  • Little exterior ornamentation
History of the Cape Cod Style
The first Cape Cod style homes were built by English colonists who came to America in the late 17th century. They modeled their homes after the half-timbered houses of England, but adapted the style to the stormy New England weather. Over the course of a few generations, a modest, one- to one-and-a-half-story house with wooden shutters emerged. Reverend Timothy Dwight, a president of Yale University, is credited with recognizing these houses as a class and coining the term "Cape Cod."
Much later, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a renewed interest in America's past inspired a variety of Colonial Revival styles. Colonial Revival Cape Cod houses became especially popular during the 1930s. These small, economical houses were mass-produced in suburban developments across the United States.
Twentieth century Cape Cod houses often have dormers. The chimney is usually placed at one end instead of at the center. The shutters on modern Cape Cod houses are strictly decorative; they can't be closed during a storm.
1690s - 1830: Georgian Colonial House Styles
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Spacious and comfortable, Georgian Colonial architecture reflected the rising ambition of a young country.
View Full-Size
The symmetrical, orderly Georgian style became prominant in Colonial America. Shown here, a Georgian Colonial home in Sandwich, New Hampshire.
Georgian Colonial homes usually have these features:
  • Square, symmetrical shape
  • Paneled front door at center
  • Decorative crown over front door
  • Flattened columns on each side of door
  • Five windows across front
  • Paired chimneys
  • Medium pitched roof
  • Minimal roof overhang
Many Georgian Colonial homes also have:
  • Nine or twelve small window panes in each window sash
  • Dental molding (square, tooth-like cuts) along the eaves
About the Georgian Colonial Style
Georgian Colonial became the rave in New England and the Southern colonies during the 1700's. Stately and symmetrical, these homes imitated the larger, more elaborate Georgian homes which were being built in England. But the genesis of the style goes back much farther. During the reign of King George I in the early 1700's, and King George III later in the century, Britons drew inspiration from the Italian Renaissance and from ancient Greece and Rome.
Georgian ideals came to New England via pattern books, and Georgian styling became a favorite of well-to-do colonists. More humble dwellings also took on characteristics of the Georgian style. America's Georgian homes tend to be less ornate than those found in Britain.
Related Styles:
Further Reading:
1780 - 1840: Federal and Adam House Styles
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Graceful details distinguish Federal homes from the pragmatic Georgian colonial style.
Woodlawn, near Mount Vernon, Virginia, is often called "Georgian Colonial." However, the fanlight and the elliptical window in the gable are characteristic of the Federal style. Designed by William Thornton, Woodlawn was completed in 1805.
American Federal houses have many of these features:
  • Low-pitched roof, or flat roof with a balustrade
  • Windows arranged symmetrically around a center doorway
  • Semicircular fanlight over the front door
  • Narrow side windows flanking the front door
  • Decorative crown or roof over front door
  • Tooth-like dentil moldings in the cornice
  • Palladian window
  • Circular or elliptical windows
  • Shutters
  • Decorative swags and garlands
  • Oval rooms and arches
These architects are known for their Federalist buildings:
  • Charles Bulfinch
  • Samuel McIntyre
  • Alexander Perris
  • William Thorton
About the Federal Style
Like much of America's architecture, the Federal (or Federalist) style has its roots in England. Two British brothers named Adam adapted the pragmatic Georgian style, adding swags, garlands, urns, and other delicate details. In the American colonies, homes and public buildings also took on graceful airs. Inspired by the work of the Adam brothers and also by the great temples of ancient Greece and Rome, Americans began to build homes with Palladian windows, circular or elliptical windows, recessed wall arches, and oval-shaped rooms. This new Federal style became associated with America's evolving national identity.
It's easy to confuse Federalist architecture with the earlier Georgian Colonial style. The difference is in the details: While Georgian homes are square and angular, a Federal style building is more likely to have curved lines and decorative flourishes. Federalist architecture was the favored style in the United States from about 1780 until the 1830s. However, Federalist details are often incorporated into modern American homes. Look past the vinyl siding, and you may see a fanlight or the elegant arch of a Palladian window.
Related Styles:
1800s: Tidewater Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Built in coastal areas of the American South, these homes were designed for wet, hot climates.
This "Tidewater" home has an extensive porch sheltered by a broad hipped roof.
Tidewater homes have extensive porches (or "galleries") sheltered by a broad hipped roof. The main roof extends over the porches without interruption.

1825 - 1860: Greek Revival
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
With details reminiscent of the Parthenon, stately, pillared Greek Revival homes reflect a passion for antiquity.
Democratic ideals are reflected in the classical details of Greek Revival homes. This home is located in Saratoga, New York.
Greek Revival houses usually have these features:
Many Greek Revival houses also have these features:
  • Entry porch with columns
  • Decorative pilasters
  • Narrow windows around front door
About the Greek Revival Style
In the mid-19th century, many prosperous Americans believed that ancient Greece represented the spirit of democracy. Interest in British styles had waned during the bitter War of 1812. Also, many Americans sympathized with Greece's own struggles for independence in the 1820s.
Greek Revival architecture began with public buildings in Philadelphia. Many European-trained architects designed in the popular Grecian style, and the fashion spread via carpenter's guides and pattern books. Colonnaded Greek Revival mansions - sometimes called Southern Colonial houses - sprang up throughout the American south. With its classic clapboard exterior and bold, simple lines, Greek Revival architecture became the most predominant housing style in the United States.
During the second half of the 19th century, Gothic Revival and Italianate styles captured the American imagination. Grecian ideas faded from popularity. However, front-gable design - a trademark of the Greek Revival style - continued to influence the shape of American houses well into the 20th century. You will notice the classic front-gable design in simple "National Style" farm houses throughout the United States.
Examples of Greek Revival Homes:
1840-1880: Gothic Revival (Masonry)
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Gothic Revival
Medieval cathedrals inspired impressive homes made of stone. For features of the Gothic Revival style, read below. To learn more, see: Victorian Gothic Styles
Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York
Gothic Revival was a Victorian style that borrowed details from Gothic cathedrals and other medieval architecture. Gothic Revival homes in England were most frequently constructed of masonry. In the United States, some large, lavish estates were also made with stone or brick. These homes often resembled medieval churches or castles.
Masonry homes in the Gothic Revival style have many of these features:
The earliest and most famous example of masonry Gothic Revival architecture in the United States is Lyndhurst, an all-marble estate in Tarrytown, New York. The architect, Alexander Jackson Davis, published a book that inspired other Americans to build in the Gothic Revival style.
In the 1870s, a related style, High Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic, grew out of the Gothic Revival movement.
Buildings in the High Victorian Gothic style had many of these features:
  • Strong vertical lines and a sense of great height
  • Heavy, bold details
  • Leaves, vines, gargoyles, and other stone carvings
  • Multi-colored masonry, often forming patterns or bands
  • Slightly pointed Romanesque arches
  • Faithful re-creation of medieval styles
Few people could afford to build a masonry home in the Gothic Revival or High Gothic revival style. In the United States, the masonry versions of Gothic Revival and High Gothic Revival architecture were used mainly for churches, public buildings, and grand estates. However, the ready availability of lumber lead to a distinctly American version of the Gothic Revival style, constructed with wood.
To learn about wood-framed Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: (Wood) >>
For more photos of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: History and Pictures >>
1840-1880: Gothic Revival (Wood)
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Gothic Revival
Builders borrowed church-like details to construct affordable wooden versions of the Gothic Revival style. To learn about Gothic Revival houses, read below.
Victorian Gothic Revival homes have pointed windows and other details borrowed from medieval Gothic cathedrals.
The earliest Gothic Revival homes were constructed of stone and brick. The Gothic Revival style imitated the great cathedrals and castles of Europe. However, few people could afford to build grand masonry homes in the Gothic Revival style. In the United States, the ready availability of lumber and factory-made architectural trim lead to a distinctly American version of Gothic Revival. Wood-framed Gothic Revival homes became America's dominant style in the mid-1800s.
Wooden homes in the Gothic Revival style have many of these features:
  • Steeply pitched roof
  • Steep cross gables
  • Windows with pointed arches
  • Vertical board and batten siding
  • One-story porch
New machines invented during the Victorian era made it easy and affordable to add scrolled ornaments, lacy bargeboards, "gingerbread" trim, and other decorative details. Heavily decorated wood-frame cottages in the Gothic Revival style are often called Carpenter Gothic.
To learn about Gothic Revival architecture constructed from stone, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: (Masonry) >>
For more photos of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, see
Victorian Gothic House Styles: History and Pictures >>
1840 - 1885: Italianate
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Italiante became the most popular housing style in Victorian America. Italianate is also known as the Tuscan, the Lombard, or simply, the bracketed style.
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Old World ideals are transplated to the United States in this Italianate style home, located in Cape May, New Jersey.
Italianate houses have many of these features:
  • Low-pitched or flat roof
  • Balanced, symmetrical rectangular shape
  • Tall appearance, with 2, 3, or 4 stories
  • Wide, overhanging eaves with brackets and cornices
  • Square cupola
  • Porch topped with balustraded balconies
  • Tall, narrow, double-paned windows with hood moldings
  • Side bay window
  • Heavily molded double doors
  • Roman or segmented arches above windows and doors
About the Italianate Style
The Italianate style began in England with the picturesque movement of the 1840s. For the previous 200 years, English homes tended to be formal and classical in style. With the picturesque, movement, however, builders began to design fanciful recreations of Italian Renaissance villas. When the Italianate style moved to the United States, it was reinterpreted again to create a uniquely American style.
By the late 1860s, Italianate was the most popular house style in the United States. Historians say that Italianate became the favored style for two reasons:
  • Italianate homes could be constructed with many different building materials, and the style could be adapted to modest budgets.
  • New technologies of the Victorian era made it possible to quickly and affordably produce cast-iron and press-metal decorations.
Italianate remained the most popular house style in the USA until the 1870s. Italianate was also a common style for barns, town halls, and libraries. You will find Italianate buildings in nearly every part of the United States except for the deep South. There are fewer Italianate buildings in the southern states because the style reached its peak during the Civil War, a time when the south was economically devastated.
After the 1870s, architectural fashion turned toward late Victorian styles such as Queen Anne.
Learn More
1840 - 1915: Renaissance Revival Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
A fascination for the architecture of Renaissance Europe and the villas of Andrea Palladio inspired elegant Renaissance Revival homes.

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Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, Breakers Mansion is a Renaissance Revival mansion in Newport, Rhode Island
Renaissance Revival houses have many of these features:
  • Cube-shaped
  • Balanced, symmetrical façade
  • Smooth stone walls, made from finely-cut ashlar
  • Low-pitched hip or Mansard roof
  • Roof topped with balustrade
  • Horizontal stone banding between floors
  • Segmental pediments
  • Ornately-carved stone window trim varying in design at each story
  • Smaller square windows on top floor
  • Quoins (large stone blocks at the corners)
"Second" Renaissance Revival Houses are larger and usually have:
  • Arched, recessed openings
  • Full entablatures between floors
  • Columns
  • Ground floor made of rusticated stone with beveled edges and deeply-recessed joints
About the Renaissance Revival Style
Renaissance (French for "rebirth") refers to the artistic, architectural, and literary movement in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries. The Renaissance Revival style is based on the architecture of 16th-century Renaissance Italy and France, with additional elements borrowed from Ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Renaissance Revival is a general term which encompasses the various Italian Renaissance Revival and French Renaissance Revival styles, including Second Empire.
The Renaissance Revival style was popular during two separate phases. The first phase, or the First Renaissance Revival, was from about 1840 to 1885, and the Second Renaissance Revival, which was characterized by larger and more elaborately decorated buildings, was from 1890 to 1915. Due to the expensive materials required and the elaborate style, Renaissance Revival was best suited for public and commercial buildings, and very grand homes for the wealthy.
1855 - 1885: Second Empire (Mansard) Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
With tall mansard roofs and wrought iron cresting, Second Empire homes create a sense of height.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
With their high mansard roofs, Second Empire houses suggested European majesty.
Second Empire homes usually have these features:
  • Mansard roof
  • Dormer windows project like eyebrows from roof
  • Rounded cornices at top and base of roof
  • Brackets beneath the eaves, balconies, and bay windows
Many Second Empire homes also have these features:
  • Cupola
  • Patterned slate on roof
  • Wrought iron cresting above upper cornice
  • Classical pediments
  • Paired columns
  • Tall windows on first story
  • Small entry porch
Second Empire buildings with tall mansard roofs were modeled after the the opulent architecture of Paris during the reign of Napoleon III. French architects used the term horror vacui - the fear of unadorned surfaces - to describe the highly ornamented Second Empire style. Second Empire buildings were also practical: their height allowed for additional living space on narrow city lots.
In the United States, government buildings in the Second Empire style resemble the elaborate French designs. Private homes, however, often have an Italianate flavor. Both Italianate and Second Empire houses tend to be square in shape, and both can have U-shaped window crowns, decorative brackets, and single story porches. But, Italianate houses have much wider eaves... and they do not have the distinctive mansard roof characteristic of the Second Empire style.
1860 - 1890: Stick Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Stick Style
Stick Style Victorian houses have exposed trusses, "stickwork," and other details borrowed from medieval times.
The Physick House in Cape May, New Jersey is a hallmark example of the Stick Style. Brackets and stickwork suggest medieval building techniques.
The house shown above is an early and especially fine example of Victorian Stick architecture. The exterior walls are ornamented with "stickwork," or decorative half-timbering. The house also has brackets, rafters, and braces. These details are not necessary structurally. They are decorations that imitated architecture from the medieval past.
On first glance, you might confuse Stick houses with the later Tudor Revival Style. However, most Tudor Revival houses are sided with stucco, stone, or brick. Stick Style houses are almost always made with wood.
Victorian Stick Style homes have these features:
  • Rectangular shape
  • Wood siding
  • Steep, gabled roof
  • Overhanging eaves
  • Ornamental trusses (gable braces)
  • Decorative braces and brackets
  • Decorative half-timbering
About the Stick Style:
The most important features of Stick Style houses are on the exterior wall surfaces. Instead of three-dimensional ornamentation, the emphasis is on patterns and lines. Because the decorative details are flat, they are often lost when homeowners remodel. If the decorative stickwork is covered up with vinyl siding or painted a single solid color, a Stick Style Victorian may appear plain and rather ordinary.
The Palliser Company, which published many plan books during the Victorian era, called stick architecture plain yet neat, modern, and comfortable. However, Stick was a short-lived fashion. The angular and austere style couldn't compete with the fancy Queen Annes that took America by storm. Some Stick architecture did dress up in fancy Eastlake spindles and Queen Anne flourishes. But very few authentic Stick Style homes remain intact.
1880 - 1910: Queen Anne
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Fanciful Queen Anne architecture takes on many shapes. Read below for features of the style. To see more pictures, visit our Queen Anne Photo Gallery.

Victorian Queen Anne Homes often have towers, turrets, wrap-around porches, and other fanciful details. This Queen Anne house is in Saratoga, New York.
Queen Anne houses have many of these features:
  • Steep roof
  • Complicated, asymmetrical shape
  • Front-facing gable
  • One-story porch that extends across one or two sides of the house
  • Round or square towers
  • Wall surfaces textured with decorative shingles, patterned masonry, or half-timbering
  • Ornamental spindles and brackets
  • Bay windows
About the Queen Anne style
Queen Anne became an architectural fashion in the 1880s and 1890s, when the industrial revolution brought new technologies. Builders began to use mass-produced pre-cut architectural trim to create fanciful and sometimes flamboyant houses.
Not all Queen Anne houses are lavishly decorated, however. Some builders showed restraint in their use of embellishments. Still, the flashy "painted ladies" of San Francisco and the refined brownstones of Brooklyn share many of the same features.
1860 - 1880s: Eastlake Victorian
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
These fanciful Victorian houses are lavished with Eastlake style spindlework.
Fanciful Victorian home with Eastlake details
This colorful Victorian home is a Queen Anne, but the lacy, ornamental details are called Eastlake. The ornamental style is named after the famous English designer, Charles Eastlake, who was famous for making furniture decorated with fancy spindles.
Eastlake details can be found on a variety of Victorian house styles. Some of the more fanciful Stick Style Victorians have Eastlake buttons and knobs combined with the angular stickwork.
1880 - 1900: Richardsonian Romanesque
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Richardsonian Romanesque, or Romanesque Revival, houses have broad Roman arches and massive stone walls.
The Castle Marne Bed and Breakfast in Denver, Colorado is a classic example of Richardsonian Romanesque styling. Made of rough-faced stone, it has arches, parapets, and a tower.
Romanesque houses have many of these features:
  • Constructed of rough-faced, square stones
  • Round towers with cone-shaped roofs
  • Columns and pilasters with spirals and leaf designs
  • Low, broad "Roman" arches over arcades and doorways
  • Patterned masonry arches over windows
About the Romanesque style:
During the 1870s, Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson captured the American imagination with rugged, forceful buildings like Allegheny Courthouse in Pittsburgh and Trinity Church in Boston. These buildings were called "Romanesque" because they had wide, rounded arches like buildings in ancient Rome. Henry Hobson Richardson became so famous for his Romanesque designs that the style is often called Richardsonian Romanesque.
The heavy Romanesque style was especially suited for grand public buildings. However, Romanesque buildings, with massive stone walls, were expensive to construct. Only the wealthy adopted the Richardsonian Romanesque style for private homes.
Learn more about the Romanesque Revival style:
1874 - 1910: Shingle Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Rustic Shingle Style houses shunned Victorian fussiness. Read below for features of the style. To learn more, also see: The Shingle Style >>

Home designers rejected fussy Queen Anne ornamentation in rustic, Shingle Style homes.
Shingle Style homes usually have these features:
  • Continuous wood shingles on siding and roof
  • Irregular roof line
  • Cross gables
  • Eaves on several levels
  • Porches
  • Asymmetrical floor plan
Some Shingle Style homes also have these features:
  • Wavy wall surface
  • Patterned shingles
  • Squat half-towers
  • Palladian windows
  • Rough hewn stone on lower stories
  • Stone arches over windows and porches
About the Shingle Style:
Shingle Style houses can take on many forms. Some have tall turrets, suggestive of Queen Anne architecture. Some have gambrel roofs, Palladian windows, and other Colonial Revival details. Some Shingle houses have features borrowed from Tudor, Gothic and Stick styles. But, unlike those styles, Shingle architecture is relaxed and informal. Shingle houses do not have the lavish decorations that were popular during the Victorian era.
The architectural historian Vincent Scully coined the term "Shingle Style" because these homes are usually sided in rustic cedar shingles. However, not all Shingle Style houses are shingle-sided. You will recognize them by their complicated shapes and rambling, informal floor plans.
1876 - 1955: Colonial Revival
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Expressing American patriotism and a return to classical architectural styles, Colonial Revival became a standard style in the 20th century.

Builders in the late 1800s and early 1900s romanticized colonial architecture.
Colonial Revival houses have many of these features:
  • Symmetrical façade
  • Rectangular
  • 2 to 3 stories
  • Brick or wood siding
  • Simple, classical detailing
  • Gable roof
  • Pillars and columns
  • Multi-pane, double-hung windows with shutters
  • Dormers
  • Temple-like entrance: porticos topped by pediment
  • Paneled doors with sidelights and topped with rectangular transoms or fanlights
  • Center entry-hall floor plan
  • Living areas on the first floor and bedrooms on the upper floors
  • Fireplaces
About the Colonial Revival Style
Colonial Revival became a popular American house style after it appeared at the 1876 the US Centennial Exposition. Reflecting American patriotism and a desire for simplicity, the Colonial Revival house style remained popular until the mid-1950's. Between World War I and II, Colonial Revival was the most popular historic revival house style in the United States.
Some architectural historians say that Colonial Revival is a Victorian style; others believe that the Colonial Revival style marked the end of the Victorian period in architecture. The Colonial Revival style is based loosely on Federal and Georgian house styles, and a clear reaction against excessively elaborate Victorian Queen Anne architecture. Eventually, the simple, symmetrical Colonial Revival style became incorporated into the Foursquare and Bungalow house styles of the early 20th century.
Subtypes of the Colonial Revival House Style
  • Dutch Colonial
    Two-story house made of clapboard or shingles with a gambrel roof, flared eaves, and a side-entry floor plan.
  • Garrison Colonial
    The second story protrudes; the first story is slightly recessed.
  • Saltbox Colonial
    Like the original saltbox homes from colonial times, a Saltbox Style Colonial Revival has two stories at the front and one story at the rear. The gable roof covers both levels, sloping sharply down in the rear.
  • Spanish Colonial Revival
    Low-pitched ceramic tile roof, stucco walls, eaves with little or no overhang, wrought iron, and windows and doorways with round arches.
1885 - 1925: Neoclassical
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Neoclassical
Neoclassical, or "new" classical, architecture describes buildings that are inspired by the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
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Neoclassical homes romanticize the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
See more pictures of Neoclassical houses >>
The word Neoclassical is often used to describe an architectural style, but Neoclassicism is not actually any one distinct style. Neoclassicism is a trend, or approach to design, that can describe several very different styles.
A Neoclassical house may resemble any of these historic styles:
Antebellum houses are often Neoclassical. Beaux Arts is also a Neoclassical style.
1885 - 1925: Beaux Arts
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Combining classical Greek and Roman architecture with Renaissance ideas, Beaux Arts was a favored style for grand public buildings and opulent mansions.
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The Beaux Arts Vanderbilt Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island
Beaux Arts buildings have many of these features:
  • Massive and grandiose
  • Constructed with stone
  • Balustrades
  • Balconies
  • Columns
  • Cornices
  • Pilasters
  • Triangular pediments
  • Lavish decorations: swags, medallions, flowers, and shields
  • Grand stairway
  • Large arches
  • Symmetrical façade
Some famous Beaux Arts buildings:
About the Beaux Arts Style
The Beaux Arts (French for "fine art") style originated in the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Many American architects studied at this legendary architectural school, where they learned about the aesthetic principles of classical design and brought them to the United States.
Also known as Beaux Arts Classicism, Academic Classicism, or Classical Revival, Beaux Arts is a late and eclectic form of Neoclassicism. It combines classical architecture from ancient Greece and Rome with Renaissance ideas. Beaux Arts is characterized by order, symmetry, formal design, grandiosity, and elaborate ornamentation. In the United States, the Beaux Arts style led to planned neighborhoods with large, showy houses, wide boulevards, and vast parks. Due to the size and grandiosity of the buildings, the Beaux Arts style is most commonly used for public buildings like museums, railway stations, libraries, banks, courthouses, and government buildings.
The popularity of the Beaux Arts style waned in the 1920's, and within 25 years the buildings were considered ostentatious. Later in the 20th century, postmodernists rediscovered an appreciation of the Beaux Arts ideals.
1890 - Present: Tudor Revival
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Heavy chimneys and decorative half-timbering give Tudor style houses a Medieval flavor. The Tudor style is sometimes called Medieval Revival.
Decorative half-timbering give Tudor Revival houses the appearance of a medieval building.
Tudor style homes have many of these features:
About the Tudor Style
The name Tudor suggests that these houses imitate English architecture from the early 16th century. However, most Tudor style homes were inspired by building techniques from an earlier time. Some Tudor houses mimic humble Medieval cottages - They may even include a false thatched roof. Other Tudor homes borrow ideas from late Medieval palaces. They may have overlapping gables, parapets, and beautifully patterned brick or stonework. These historic details combine with Victorian or Craftsman flourishes.
As in many Queen Anne and Stick style homes, Tudor style houses often feature striking decorative timbers. These timbers hint at - but do not duplicate - Medieval building techniques. In Medieval houses, the timber framing was integral with the structure. Modern Tudor houses, however, merely suggest the structural framework with false half-timbering. This decorative woodwork comes in many different designs, with stucco or patterned brick between the timbers.
Handsome examples of Tudor style architecture may be found throughout Great Britain, northern Europe and the United States. The main square in Chester, England is surrounded by lavish Victorian Tudors that stand unapologetically alongside authentic medieval buildings.
In the United States, Tudor styling takes on a variety of forms ranging from elaborate mansions to modest suburban homes with mock masonry veneers. The style became enormously popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and modified versions became fashionable in the 1970s and 1980s.
One popular housing type inspired by inspired by Tudor ideas is the Cotswold Cottage. These quaint homes have an imitation thatched roof, massive chimneys, an uneven sloping roof, small window panes, and low doors.
1890-1940: Cotswold Cottage
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
With roots in the pastoral Cotswold region of England, the picturesque Cotswold Cottage style may remind you of a cozy storybook house.

Cotswold Cottage: This subtype of the Tudor Revival style may remind you of a picturesque storybook cottage.
Other names for the Cotswold Cottage style
  • Storybook Style
  • Hansel and Gretel Cottage
  • Tudor Cottage
  • English Country Cottage
  • Ann Hathaway Cottage
Cotswold Cottage houses have many of these features:
  • Sloping, uneven roof, sometimes made of pseudo-thatch
  • Brick, stone, or stucco siding
  • Very steep cross gables
  • Prominent brick or stone chimney, often at the front near the door
  • Casement windows with small panes
  • Small dormer windows
  • Asymmetrical design
  • Low doors and arched doors
  • Small, irregularly-shaped rooms
  • Sloping walls in rooms on upper floor
About the Cotswold Cottage house style
The small, fanciful Cotswold Cottage is a popular subtype of the Tudor Revival house style. This quaint English country style is based on the cottages built since medieval times in the Cotswold region of southwestern England. A fascination for medieval styles inspired American architects create modern versions of the rustic homes. The Cotswold Cottage style became especially popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s.
The picturesque Cotswold Cottage is usually asymmetrical with a steep, complex roof line. The floor plan tends to include small, irregularly-shaped rooms, and the upper rooms have sloping walls with dormers. The home may have a sloping slate or cedar roof that mimics the look of thatch. A massive chimney often dominates either the front or one side of the house.
Cotswold Cottage Building Plans
Cotswold Cottage Photos
These homes from our House Helpline series have features of the Cotswold Cottage style:
Read About Cotswold Cottages
  • Buildings of the Cotswolds
    Author Denis Moriarty explores the Cotswold region of England and looks at the cottages, manor homes, and humble farm buildings that inspired America's Cotswold Cottage style. Color and black-and-white photos show architectural details. (compare prices)
  • Storybook Style: America's Whimsical Homes of the Twenties
    During the 1920s, architects with a flare for drama tried to capture the flavor of medieval England and Europe. Half timbered and turreted, pinnacled and portcullised, the homes they built combined features from many traditions, including the picturesque Cotswold style. (compare prices)
1890 - 1920: Spanish Mission House Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Historic mission churches built by Spanish colonists inspired the turn-of-the-century house style known as Mission, Spanish Mission, or California Mission.

Spanish Mission style houses have stucco walls, arches, and other details inspired by the Spanish mission churches of colonial America.
Spanish Mission style houses have many of these features:
About the Spanish Mission Style:
Celebrating the architecture of Hispanic settlers, Spanish Mission (or, California Mission) style houses usually have arched dormers and roof parapets. Some resemble old Spanish mission churches with bell towers and elaborate arches.
The earliest Mission style homes were built in California, USA. The style spread eastward, but most Spanish Mission homes are located in the southwestern states. Deeply shaded porches and dark interiors make these homes particularly suited for warmer climates.
By the 1920s, architects were combining Mission styling with features from other movements. Mission houses often have details from these popular styles:
When describing furniture, the terms Mission and Craftsman are used interchangeably.
1893-1920: Prairie Style
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home when he began to design "Prairie" style houses with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces.

The Frederic C. Robie House in Chicago is widely considered Frank Lloyd Wright's finest example of the Prairie style. It was built in 1909.
Prairie style houses usually have these features:
  • Low-pitched roof
  • Overhanging eaves
  • Horizontal lines
  • Central chimney
  • Open floor plan
  • Clerestory windows
About the Prairie Style:
Frank Lloyd Wright believed that rooms in Victorian era homes were boxed-in and confining. He began to design houses with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces. Rooms were often divided by leaded glass panels. Furniture was either built-in or specially designed. These homes were called prairie style after Wright's 1901 Ladies Home Journal plan titled, "A Home in a Prairie Town." Prairie houses were designed to blend in with the flat, prairie landscape.
The first Prairie houses were usually plaster with wood trim or sided with horizontal board and batten. Later Prairie homes used concrete block. Prairie homes can have many shapes: Square, L-shaped, T-shaped, Y-shaped, and even pinwheel-shaped.
Many other architects designed Prairie homes and the style was popularized by pattern books. The popular American Foursquare style, sometimes called the Prairie Box, shared many features with the Prairie style.
In 1936, during the USA depression, Frank Lloyd Wright developed a simplified version of Prairie architecture called Usonian. Wright believed these stripped-down houses represented the democratic ideals of the United States.
Famous Prairie Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright
  • 1893: William Winslow Residence
    River Forest, Illinois. Although this house uses ornamentation in the fashion of Louis Sullivan, it also shows elements of the new Prairie style. The house is a symmetrical rectangle.
  • 1901: Frank W. Thomas House
    Oak Park, Illinois. Widely considered Wright's first Prairie Style house in Oak Park, and one of his earliest uses of stucco.
  • 1902: Arthur Heurtley House
    Oak Park, Illinois. This low, compact house has variegated brickwork with vibrant color and rough texture.
  • 1909: Robie Residence (shown above)
    This Frank Lloyd house in Chicago is widely considered Wright's finest example of the Prairie style.
1895 - 1930: American Foursquare
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
The Foursquare style, sometimes called the Prairie Box, can be found in nearly every part of the United States.
Simple Foursquare houses were built in brick, stone, stucco, concrete block, or wood. American Foursquare houses usually have these features:
  • Simple box shape
  • Two-and-a-half stories high
  • Four-room floor plan
  • Low-hipped roof with deep overhang
  • Large central dormer
  • Full-width porch with wide stairs
  • Brick, stone, stucco, concrete block, or wood siding
About the Foursquare House Style:
The American Foursquare, or the Prairie Box, was a post-Victorian style that shared many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. The boxy foursquare shape provided roomy interiors for homes on small city lots. The simple, square shape also made the Foursquare style especially practical for mail order house kits from Sears and other catalog companies.
Creative builders often dressed up the basic foursquare form. Although foursquare houses are always the same square shape, they can have features borrowed from any of these styles:
  • Queen Anne - bay windows, small towers, or "gingerbread" trim
  • Mission - stucco siding and roof parapets
  • Colonial Revival - pediments or porticos
  • Craftsman - exposed roof rafters, beamed ceilings, built-in cabinetry, and carefully crafted woodwork
Learn More About the Foursquare House Style:
American Foursquare Floor Plans
From the pages of Sears and Aladdin mail order catalogs, illustrations, descriptions and floor plans for American Foursquare style homes.
Picking Colors for a Foursquare
A well-chosen selection of trim and accent colors can draw attention to architectural details and disguise design flaws. Here are some pointers for painting an American Foursquare.
Foursquare Photos
Our photo gallery of American Foursquare homes submitted by readers.
The Prairie Style
With its low, paramid shaped roof, the Foursquare form is a variation on the linear style pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Craftsman Style
Many Foursquare homes have "Craftsman" details.
1905-1930: Arts and Crafts (Craftsman)
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
From cozy bungalows to sprawling Prairie houses, many American homes were shaped by Craftsman ideas. Find facts below. Want more? See: Craftsman Photo Gallery.
Some Craftsman houses have cobblestone foundations, porch posts, and chimneys.
Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, houses have many of these features:
  • Wood, stone, or stucco siding
  • Low-pitched roof
  • Wide eaves with triangular brackets
  • Exposed roof rafters
  • Porch with thick square or round columns
  • Stone porch supports
  • Exterior chimney made with stone
  • Open floor plans; few hallways
  • Numerous windows
  • Some windows with stained or leaded glass
  • Beamed ceilings
  • Dark wood wainscoting and moldings
  • Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seating
Arts and Crafts History:
During the 1880s, John Ruskin, William Morris, and other English designers and thinkers launched the Arts and Crafts Movement, which celebrated handicrafts and encouraged the use of simple forms and natural materials. In the United States, two California brothers, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Green, began to design houses that combined Arts and Crafts ideas with a fascination for the simple wooden architecture of China and Japan.
The name "Craftsman" comes from the title of a popular magazine published by the famous furniture designer, Gustav Stickley, between 1901 and 1916. A true Craftsman house is one that is built according to plans published in Stickley's magazine. But other magazines, pattern books, and mail order house catalogs began to publish plans for houses with Craftsman-like details. Soon the word "Craftsman" came to mean any house that expressed Arts and Crafts ideals, most especially the simple, economical, and extremely popular Bungalow.
Craftsman Styles
A Craftsman house is often a Bungalow, but many other styles can have Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, features.
See more photos of Craftsman houses >>

1905-1930: Bungalow Styles

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Bungalow Styles

California Bungalows, Craftsman Bungalows, and Chicago Bugalows were variations of an affordable housing type that swept across America. Find facts below.
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Bungalow houses come in many styles.
Bungalow houses come in many styles. The California Bungalow shown here has heavy square columns and a simple concrete foundation.
Photo © iStockPhoto.com/Diana Lundin

See more photos of Bungalow houses >>


A Bungalow is an early 20th century home with these features:

  • One and a half stories
  • Most of the living spaces on the ground floor
  • Low-pitched roof and horizontal shape
  • Living room at the center
  • Connecting rooms without hallways
  • Efficient floor plan
  • Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seats
Bungalow houses may relect many different architectural styles, and the word Bungalow is often used for any small 20th century home that uses space efficiently. In their book American Bungalow Style, authors Robert Winter and Alexander Vertikoff identify dozens of variations on the Bungalow form:

About Bungalow Houses:

The Bungalow is an all American housing type, but it has its roots in India. In the province of Bengal, single-family homes were called bangla or bangala. British colonists adapted these one-story thatch-roofed huts to use as summer homes. The space-efficient floor plan of bungalow houses may have also been inspired by army tents and rural English cottages. The idea was to cluster the kitchen, dining area, bedrooms, and bathroom around a central living area. The first American house to be called a bungalow was designed in 1879 by William Gibbons Preston. Built at Monument Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the two-story house had the informal air of resort architecture. However, this house was much larger and more elaborate than the homes we think of when we use the term Bungalow.
Two California architects, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, are often credited with inspiring America to build Bungalows. Their most famous project was the huge Craftsman style Gamble house (1909) in Pasadena, California. However, the Green brothers also published more modest Bungalow plans in many magazines and pattern books.

Find Bungalow Floor Plans:

See more photos of Bungalow houses >>

References:
Curtis Park Bungalow
Curtis Park Bungalow
Craftsman Bungalow house in Sacramento, California
Classic Bungalow in Sacramento
Craftsman houses often have window boxes supported by wooden brackets.
Craftsman Cottage
Craftsman Bungalow house in Sacramento, California
Sacramento Bungalow
Brightly painted Bungalow in south Texas, built in 1910
Colorful Texas Bungalow
California Bungalow
California Bungalow
Craftsman Bungalow house in Sacramento, California
Sacramento Bungalow
Craftsman houses usually have triangular braces in the eaves.
Stucco-sided Bungalow

Craftsman Bungalow house in Sacramento, California

Sacramento Bungalow
Spanish Revival Bungalow near Los Angeles

Spanish Revival Bungalow
Craftsman Bungalow in Twin Falls, ID


Craftsman Bungalow in Idaho
Craftsman Bungalow house in Sacarmento, California

Sacramento Bungalow
Mediterranean Style Bungalow
Mediterranean Style Bungalow
Craftsman Bungalow in Sacramento, California
Sacramento Bungalow
Craftsman houses often have thick, tapered porch posts.

Craftsman Details
1925 Chicago Bungalow
Chicago Bungalow
Remodeled home in Redondo Beach, California
Queen Anne Bungalow?
Thick round pillars support the low sloping roof of this Craftsman Bungalow.

Craftsman Bungalow
Craftsman Bungalows were not originally painted bright colors like this one.

Painted Craftsman Bungalow
Craftsman Bungalow house in Sacramento, California

Sacramento Bungalow
1905-1930: Bungalow Styles
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
California Bungalows, Craftsman Bungalows, and Chicago Bugalows were variations of an affordable housing type that swept across America. Find facts below.
View Full-Size
Bungalow houses come in many styles. The California Bungalow shown here has heavy square columns and a simple concrete foundation.
See more photos of Bungalow houses >>
A Bungalow is an early 20th century home with these features:
  • One and a half stories
  • Most of the living spaces on the ground floor
  • Low-pitched roof and horizontal shape
  • Living room at the center
  • Connecting rooms without hallways
  • Efficient floor plan
  • Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seats
Bungalow houses may relect many different architectural styles. In their book American Bungalow Style, authors Robert Winter and Alexander Vertikoff identify dozens of variations on the Bungalow form:
About Bungalow Houses
The Bungalow is an all American housing type, but it has its roots in India. In the province of Bengal, single-family homes were called bangla or bangala. British colonists adapted these one-story thatch-roofed huts to use as summer homes. The space-efficient floor plan of bungalow houses may have also been inspired by army tents and rural English cottages. The idea was to cluster the kitchen, dining area, bedrooms, and bathroom around a central living area.
The first American house to be called a bungalow was designed in 1879 by William Gibbons Preston. Built at Monument Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the two-story house had the informal air of resort architecture. However, this house was much larger and more elaborate than the homes we think of when we use the term Bungalow.
Two California architects, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, are often credited with inspiring America to build Bungalows. Their most famous project was the huge Craftsman style Gamble house (1909) in Pasadena, California. However, the Green brothers also published more modest Bungalow plans in many magazines and pattern books.
Learn more about Bungalows:
Find Bungalow Floor Plans
·  Sears & Aladdin Mail Order Floor Plans
·  Historic Bungalow Plans
·  One-Story House Plans
·  The Bungalow Company
·  Ashmore/Kessenich Design
See more photos of Bungalow houses >>

1915 - 1945: French Eclectic

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: French Eclectic

French Eclectic homes combine a variety of influences from the architecture of France.
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Flared roofs and other French details give French eclectic homes a European flavor.
Flared roofs and other French details give French eclectic homes a European flavor.
Photo © Cynthia Nellis, Guide to Fashion
The cottage pictured above is a charming example of a home inspired by the symmetrical Provincial style. It was built in 1938 and is sided in Austin Stone. Learn more about French house styles:
1915 - 1945: French Eclectic
Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
Photo © Cynthia Nellis, Guide to Fashion
Flared roofs and other French details give French eclectic homes a European flavor.
French Eclectic homes combine a variety of French influences. The cottage pictured above is a charming example of a home inspired by the symmetrical Provincial style. It was built in 1938 and is sided in Austin Stone.

1930 - 1950: Art Moderne

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Art Moderne

With the sleek appearance of a modern machine, Art Moderne - or, Streamline Moderne - houses expressed the spirit of a technological age.
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Spirit of a new, technological age
Art Moderne Home, from "House Helpline" #1142
Photo © the homeowner

The style we know as Art Moderne may also go by these names:

  • Streamline Moderne
  • Machine Age
  • Nautical Moderne
Art Moderne houses have many of these features:
  • Asymmetrical
  • Horizontal orientation
  • Flat roof
  • No cornices or eaves
  • Cube-like shape
  • Smooth, white walls
  • Sleek, streamlined appearance
  • Rounded corners highlighted by wraparound windows
  • Glass block windows
  • Aluminum and stainless steel window and door trim
  • Mirrored panels
  • Steel balustrades
  • Suggestion of speed and movement: Horizontal rows of windows or stripes
  • Little or no ornamentation
  • Open floor plans
About the Art Moderne Style
It's easy to confuse Art Moderne with Art Deco, but they are two distinctly different styles. While both have stripped-down forms and geometric designs, the Art Moderne style will appear sleek and plain, while the slightly earlier Art Deco style can be quite showy. Art Moderne buildings are usually white, while Art Deco buildings may be brightly colored. The Art Deco style is most often used for public buildings like theaters, while the Art Moderne style is most often found in private homes.
Origins of Art Moderne
The sleek, rounded Art Moderne style originated in the Bauhaus movement, which began in Germany. Bauhaus architects wanted to use the principles of classical architecture in their purest form, designing simple, useful structures without ornamentation or excess. Building shapes were based on curves, triangles, and cones. Bauhaus ideas spread worldwide and led to the Moderne or International Style in the United States. Art Moderne art, architecture, and fashion became popular just as Art Deco was losing appeal. Many products produced during the 1930s, from architecture to jewelry to kitchen appliances, expressed the new Art Moderne ideals.
Art Moderne truly reflected the spirit of the early twentieth century. Expressing excitement over technological advancements, high speed transportation, and innovative new construction techniques, Art Modern design was highlighted at the 1933 World Fair Chicago. For homeowners, Art Moderne also proved to be a pragmatic style because these simple dwellings were so easy and economical to build.
From Jackie Craven

1945 - 1980: Ranch Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Ranch Style

One-story Ranch Style homes are so simple, some critics say they have no style. But there's more than meets the eye to the classic suburban Ranch Style house.
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Uncomplicated and informal Ranch houses evolved from several 20th century styles
Uncomplicated and informal Ranch houses evolved from several 20th century styles
Photo © iStockPhoto.com/Anne Kitzman
Known as American Ranch, Western Ranch, or California Rambler, Ranch Style houses can be found in nearly every part of the United States. Ranch Style houses have many of these features:
  • Single story
  • Low pitched gable roof
  • Deep-set eaves
  • Horizontal, rambling layout: Long, narrow, and low to the ground
  • Rectangular, L-shaped, or U-shaped design
  • Large windows: double-hung, sliding, and picture
  • Sliding glass doors leading out to patio
  • Attached garage
  • Simple floor plans
  • Emphasis on openness (few interior walls) and efficient use of space
  • Built from natural materials: Oak floors, wood or brick exterior
  • Lack decorative detailing, aside from decorative shutters
Variations on the Ranch Style:
Although Ranch Style homes are traditionally one-story, Raised Ranch and Split Level Ranch homes have several levels of living space. Contemporary Ranch Style homes are often accented with details borrowed from Mediterranean or Colonial styles.
Origins of the Ranch Style:
The earth-hugging Prairie Style houses pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright and the informal Bungalow styles of the early 20th century paved the way for the popular Ranch Style. Architect Cliff May is credited with building the first Ranch Style house in San Diego, California in 1932.
The California real estate developer Joseph Eichler popularized his own version of the Ranch Style, and Eichler Ranches were imitated across the USA. After World War II, simple, economical Ranch houses were mass-produced to meet the housing needs of returning soldiers and their families. Because so many Ranch Style homes were quickly built according to a cookie-cutter formula, the Ranch Style is often dismissed as ordinary or slipshod. Nevertheless, many homes built today have characteristics of the elegantly informal Ranch houses that Cliff May originated.

1945 - 1980s: Raised Ranch Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Raised Ranch

A traditional Ranch Style house is only one story, but a Raised Ranch raises the roof to provide extra living space.
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A Raised Ranch house raises the roof to provide extra living space.
Raised Ranch Style House in Northern Virginia
Photo © Jackie Craven
In this variation of the Ranch Style, the home has two stories. The lower story is at ground level or partially submerged below grade. From the main entrance, a full flight of stairs leads to the main living areas on the upper level. Some critics say that Raised Ranch houses are unattractive or ordinary. However, there's no question that this practical style fills a need for space and flexibility.

Raised Ranch style houses have many of these features:

  • Two stories
  • Attached garage
  • Partially submerged basement with finished rooms and windows
  • Low-pitched gable roof
  • Asymmetrical
  • Large windows: double-hung, sliding, and picture
  • Sliding glass doors leading to a back yard patio
  • Little decorative detailing, aside from decorative shutters and porch-roof supports

Variations on the Raised Ranch Style:

The Raised Ranch style has been adapted to take on a variety of forms. Neo-Mediterranean, Neo-Colonial, and other contemporary styles are often applied to the simple, practical Raised Ranch shape. Split-level homes may also be described as a variation on the Raised Ranch style. However, a true Raised Ranch has only two levels, while a split-level home has three stories or more.

Learn More About Ranch Style Houses:

1945 - 1980s: Split-Level Ranch Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Split-Level

In this popular variation of the Ranch house style, a Split-Level Ranch has three or more levels.
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This adaptation of the Ranch style has three levels.
Split-Level Ranch House
Photo © Kenneth Sponsler / iStockPhoto.com
A Split-Level Ranch is a Ranch Style house that is divided into several parts. One section is lowered and one section is raised.

Popular Split-Level Floor Plans:

  1. The front door opens to a landing. Facing the door, one short flight of stairs leads down. A parallel flight of stairs leads up.
  2. The front door opens into an entry wing or foyer apart from the main house. To one side, a short flight of stairs leads down. To the other side, a short flight of stairs leads up.
  3. The front door opens directly into the main living area. Elsewhere in the room, a short flight of stairs leads down and a parallel short flight of stairs leads up.
  4. The front door opens on the lowest level, entering a garage or mudroom. A short flight of stairs leads up to the main living area. From there, another short flight of stairs leads up to the bedrooms.
Regardless of the floor plan, split-level houses always have three or more levels. The main entrance is usually (although not always) on the center level.

More About Split-Level Houses:

Split-level design reflects an approach popularized by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright believed that houses with "half floors" would blend naturally with the landscape. Living areas could be separated from private areas by just a few steps, rather than a single long staircase. For facts about split-level architecture along with photos and diagrams, an excellent resource is the Web site SplitLevel.net.

Learn More About Ranch Style Houses:

1948 - 1950: Lustron Homes

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Lustron Homes

Made of steel coated with porcelain enamel, Lustron Homes were manufactured like cars and transported across the USA. Find facts about Lustron Homes below.
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Original Prototype of a Lustron Home in Hinsdale, Illinois
Original Prototype of a Lustron Home in Hinsdale, Illinois
Publicity image courtesy KDN Films, Inc

Lustron Homes have these features:

  • One-story with a rectangular Ranch Style shape
  • Roof and walls made of prefabricated steel panels
  • Panels coated with colored porcelain enamel (the same finish found on bathtubs and appliances)
  • Four factory-colored finishes: Desert Tan, Dove Gray, Maize Yellow, or Surf Blue
  • Magnets or glued-on hooks used to hang pictures on metal walls
  • Concrete slab foundation
  • Two or three bedrooms
  • Radiant heating in the ceiling
  • Built-in bookcase, china cabinet, and overhead cabinets
  • Combination washing machine / dishwasher

About Lustron Homes:

At the end of World War II, the United States didn't have enough housing for the 12-million soldiers returning home. President Harry Truman pressured builders and suppliers to construct affordable housing. Many architects and designers, including Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller, tried to design inexpensive prefab housing that could be built quickly. But one of the most promising ventures was the Lustron Home by businessman and inventor Carl Strandlund. Vowing to mass-produce steel houses at the rate of 100 a day, Strandlund landed $37 million in government loans. The first Lustron house was produced in March 1948. Over the next two years, 2,498 Lustron Homes were manufactured. The steel houses were made like cars on conveyor belts in a former aircraft plant in Columbus, Ohio. Flatbed trucks transported the Lustron panels to 36 states, where they were assembled on concrete slabs using nuts and bolts. Assembly took about two weeks. The completed house cost between $7,000 and $10,000, not including the foundation and the lot.
Orders for some 20,000 Lustron Homes poured in, but by 1950 the Lustron Corporation was bankrupt. Today, well-preserved Lustron homes are scarce. Many have been demolished. Others have been altered as homeowners added drywall walls and new exterior siding.

Lustron Homes on the Web:

Further Reading About Lustron Homes:

  • Lustron Homes: The History of a Postwar Prefabricated Housing Experiment
    by Thomas T. Fetters (compare prices)

Film About Lustron Homes:

See More Metal Houses:

1949 - 1974: Eichler Houses

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Eichler Houses

Real estate developer Joseph Eichler brought a fresh, new modernist approach to affordable tract housing.
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The Foster Residence, an Eichler House in Los Angeles, California
The Foster Residence, an Eichler House in Los Angeles, California
Photo by Wikimedia Member Los Angeles, Creative Commons license 3.0
Eichler House is a term used to describe homes constructed by California real estate developer Joseph Eichler. Between the 1949 and 1974, Joseph Eichler's company, Eichler Homes, constructed about 11,000 houses in California and three houses in New York state. An Eichler House is essentially a one-story Ranch, but Eichler's company reinvented the style, creating a revolutionary new approach to suburban tract housing. Many other builders across the United States imitated the design ideas that Joseph Eichler pioneered.

Common features of Eichler Homes:

  • Post-and-beam construction
  • Concrete slab foundation
  • Long front facade with attached carport
  • An open-air courtyard at the entrance
  • Floor-to-ceiling windows
  • Sliding glass doors
  • Radiant heat in the floors
  • Exposed ceiling beams

Architects for Eichler Homes:

  • Robert Anshen of Anshen & Allen
  • A. Quincy Jones of Jones & Emmons
  • Claude Oakland
  • Pietro Belluschi

Where to Find Eichler Houses:

  • Chestnut Ridge, New York
  • San Francisco, California
  • Balboa Highlands neighborhood, San Fernando Valley, near Los Angeles, California
  • Sacramento, California
  • Orange, California
  • Thousand Oaks, California
  • Granada Hills, California
  • Lucas Valley and Marinwood, in Marin County, California
  • San Mateo Highlands, San Mateo County, California
  • Rancho San Miguel in Walnut Creek, California
  • Fairgrove Tract in Cupertino, California
  • Fairglen Tract in the Willow Glen neighborhood, San Jose, California
  • Midtown Palo Alto, California
Related: In Palm Springs, California, the Alexander Construction Company also pioneered modernist approaches to suburban housing, building thousands of open, sophisticated Alexander Homes.
References:

1954 - Present: Geodesic Dome

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Geodesic Dome

Buckminster Fuller's invention promised to provide affordable, energy-efficient housing for a troubled planet.
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Buckminster Fuller's amazing invention
Geodesic Dome
Photo © VisionsofAmerica, Joe Sohm/Getty Images
Developed by Buckminster Fuller in 1954, the Geodesic Dome was promoted as the world's strongest, most economical, lightweight structure. The ingenious engineering of the geodesic dome allows it to cover a wide stretch of space without using internal supports. The geodesic dome design was patented in 1965. Geodesic Domes are ideal for emergency housing and mobile shelters such as military camps. However, the innovative geodesic shape has been adopted for elegant, upscale housing.

More about Geodesic Domes:

1955 - 1965: Alexander Houses

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Alexander Houses

Real estate developers Robert and George Alexander captured the spirit of mid-century modernism, building more than 2,500 tract homes in southern California.
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Alexander Home in the Twin Palms Neighborhood, Palm Springs, California
Alexander Home in the Twin Palms Neighborhood (formerly known as Royal Desert Palms), Palm Springs, California. Palmer & Krisel, architects. 1957.
Photo © Jackie Craven
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the George Alexander Construction Company partnered with several architects to develop a unique approach to tract housing. Although the company worked in and near Palm Springs, California, the houses they built were imitated across the United States. The Alexander Construction Company gave their homes a variety of roof lines and exterior details, making each home seem unique. But, behind their facades, Alexander Homes shared many similarities.

Common features of Alexander Homes:

  • Post-and-beam construction
  • Expansive windows
  • No moldings or trim around windows and doors
  • Breezeway connecting carport to living quarters
  • Open floor plans
  • Three-quarter high wall partitions
  • Fiberglass or iron screens and walls with decorative cutouts
  • Idiosyncratic rooflines: Flat, slanted, or butterfly-shaped
  • Exposed ceiling beams
  • Exteriors finished with two-tone wood, patterned brick, or decorative concrete block
Architects for the Alexander Construction Company: See More Houses built by the Alexander Construction Company:
Related:
During the same time period, California builder Joseph Eichler also pioneered modernist approaches to suburban housing, building thousands of stylish Eichler Homes that were imitated across the USA.
References:

1957 - Present: A-frame Style

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

With a dramatic, sloping roof and cozy living quarters, an A-frame style house is ideal for wintery regions with lots of snow.
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Dramatic sloping roof
An inventive A-frame house in North Gloucestershire
© Architect John Wilkes, Gloucestershire Photo Library
A-frame houses have many of these features:
  • Triangular shape
  • Steeply sloping roof that extends to the ground on two sides
  • Front and rear gables
  • Deep-set eaves
  • 1½ or 2½ stories
  • Many large windows on front and rear façades
  • Small living space
  • Few vertical wall surfaces
About the A-frame Style
Triangular and tee-pee shaped homes date back to the dawn of time, but architect Andrew Geller turned an old idea into a revolutionary concept in 1957 when he built an "A-frame" house in Long Island, New York. Named for the distinctive shape of its roofline, Geller's design won international attention when it was featured in the New York Times. Soon, thousands of A-frame homes were built around the world.
The steep slope of the A-frame roof is designed to help heavy snow to slide to the ground, instead of remaining on top of the house and weighing it down. At the same time, the sloped roof provides two other benefits. It creates a half floor at the top of the house which can be used for lofts or storage space, and, since the roof extends down to the ground and doesn't need to painted, it minimizes the amount of exterior maintenance required on the house. On the other hand, the sloped roof creates a triangular "dead space" at the base of the walls on each floor. A-frame houses have limited living space and are usually built as vacation cottages for the mountains or beach.
Read About the A-frame House Style:
Beach Houses: Andrew Geller (compare prices)
In addition to the prototype A-frame house, Andrew Geller designed dozens of creative and playful beach houses in the 1950s and 60s. These pictures and drawings will delight anyone interested in Geller's architectural genius. Alastair Gordon (Author). ISBN: 1568983212

1958-early 1960s: Swiss Miss Houses

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Swiss Miss

A-frame "Swiss Miss" houses combine the charm of a Swiss chalet with the tropical flavor of a Polynesian hut.
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Swiss Miss House in Palm Springs, California
Swiss Miss style house, Palm Springs, California
Photo: Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism
Swiss Miss is an informal name given to a variation of the A-Frame house style. Created by draftsman Charles Dubois, a Swiss Miss house resembles a Swiss chalet with tropical, Tiki details. The Alexander Construction company built fifteen Swiss Miss houses in Palm Springs, California. Other firms built similar homes elsewhere in the United States, but Swiss Miss remained a rare, novelty style, mainly associated with Palm Springs.
Features of the Swiss Miss house style:
  • An enormous central gable dominates the front facade
  • The gable eaves often (but not always) extend almost to the ground
  • Narrow rectangular posts may be used to support the gable
  • In some homes, an overlapping second gable may rise above the central gable
  • An open living area is placed beneath the central gable
  • Roofs over adjacent rooms may be flat
  • Post-and-beam construction
  • Wooden tongue-in-groove or board-and-batten exterior
  • Stone walls by the main entrance
  • Stone chimney
  • Enormous windows
Learn more about Swiss Miss Houses from these sources: Related Information:
Features of Neoeclectic Homes:
  • Constructed in the 1960s or later
  • Historic styles imitated using modern materials like vinyl or imitation stone
  • Details from several historic styles combined
  • Details from several cultures combined
  • Brick, stone, vinyl, and composite materials combined
About Neoeclectic Houses
During the late 1960s, a rebellion against modernism and a longing for more traditional styles influenced the design of modest tract housing in North America. Builders began to borrow freely from a variety of historic traditions, offering Neoeclectic (or, Neo-eclectic) houses that were "customized" using a mixture of features selected from construction catalogs. These homes are sometimes called Postmodern because they borrow from a variety of styles without consideration for continuity or context. However, Neoeclectic homes are not usually experimental and do not reflect the artistic vision you would find in a truly original, architect-designed postmodern home.
Critics use the term McMansion to describe a Neoeclectic home that is over-sized and pretentious. Coined from the McDonald's fast food restaurant, the name McMansion implies that these homes are hastily assembled using cheaply-made materials and a menu of mix-and-match decorative details.

1965 - Present: Neo-mediterranean

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

Details from Spain, Italy, and other Mediterranean countries combine with North American ideas to create contemporary Mediterranean or Neo-mediterranean homes.
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Neoeclectic homes with a Mediterranean flair
Spanish and Italian details mingle with contemporary styling in Neo-mediterranean style homes.
Photo: Jupiterimages Corporation
Neo-mediterranean is a Neoeclectic house style that incoporates a fanciful mix of details suggested by the architecture of Spain, Italy, and Greece, Morocco, and the Spanish Colonies. Realtors often call Neo-mediterrean houses Mediterranean or Spanish. Neo-mediterranean houses have many of these features:
  • Low-pitched roof
  • Red roof tiles
  • Stucco siding
  • Arches above doors, windows, or porches
  • Heavy carved wooden doors
A Neo-mediterranean home may resemble the much earlier Spanish Revival style. However, Neo-mediterranean homes are not careful recreations of Spanish Colonial architecture. If you remove the romantic decorative details, a Neo-mediterranean home is more likely to resemble a no-nonsense, all-American Ranch or Raised Ranch.

1965 - Present: Contemporary

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Contemporary

Contemporary homes are designed for today's lifestyles with huge windows and large, open spaces.
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Huge windows and large, open spaces
Contemporary homes are known for their large windows and unusual shapes.
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation
Contemporary houses have many of these features:
  • odd, irregular shape
  • lack of ornamentation
  • tall, over-sized windows, some with trapezoid shapes
  • open floor plan
  • natural materials such as cedar or stone
  • harmony with the surrounding landscape
Also look for:
  • Some contemporary homes have flat roofs. Other contemporary homes have gabled roofs with cathedral ceilings and exposed beams.
About Contemporary House Styles
"Contemporary" describes a catch-all style that can take on many different shapes. A Contemporary home can have the quirkiness of Postmodernism, but it will not express the same kind of irony or humor you find in a Postmodern house. Some Neoeclectic homes are called "Contemporaries," but a true Contemporary does not use odd mixtures of historic deals the way a Neoeclectic house does.
Confused? Your most important clue is the windows: A Contemporary home will always have expansive, very tall panes of glass.
Related Styles

1965 - Present: Postmodern (Pomo)

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond

Unique, whimsical, and surprising, Postmodern houses give the impression that anything goes. The impossible is not only possible, but exaggerated.
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Unique, whimsical, and surprising
The Vanna Venturi House by Pritzker Prize Laureate Robert Venturi
Pritzker Prize Image
Postmodern houses have many of these features:
  • Sense of "anything goes": Forms filled with humor, irony, ambiguity, contradiction
  • Juxtaposition of styles: Blend of traditional, contemporary, and newly-invented forms
  • Exaggerated or abstract traditional detailing
  • Materials or decorations drawn from far away sources
About the Postmodern Style
Postmodern (or post-modern) architecture evolved from Modernism, yet it rebells against that style. Modernism is viewed as excessively minimalist, anonymous, monotonous, and boring. Postmodernism has a sense of humor. The style often combines two or more very different elements. A Postmodern house may combine traditional with invented forms or use familiar shapes in surprising, unexpected ways. In other words, postmodern houses often don't have anything in common with one another, other than their lack of commonality. Postmodern houses may be bizarre, humorous, or shocking, but they are always unique.
Sometimes the term Postmodern is loosely used to describe Neoeclectic homes that combine a variety of historic styles. However, unless there is a sense of surprise, irony, or originality, a neoeclectic home is not truly postmodern. Postmodern houses are also sometimes called "Contemporaries," but a true Contemporary Style house does not incorporate traditional or historical architectural details.
Postmodern Architects
Further Reading:
  • Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
    In this groundbreaking book, published in 1966, Robert Venturi challenged modernism and celebrated the mix of historic styles in great cities like Rome. (Compare Prices)
  • Learning from Las Vegas
    Subtitled "The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form," this postmodernist classic called the "vulgar billboards" of the Vegas Strip emblems for a new architecture. Published in 1972, the book was written by Robert Venturi, Steven Izenour, and Denise Scott Brown. (Compare Prices)
Related Styles:

1975 - Present: Monolithic Dome

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Monolithic Dome

Also known as EcoShells, Monolithic Domes can survive tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fire, and insects.
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Built to weather tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fire, and insects.
Monolithic dome homes in the village of New Ngelepen on Java Island, Indonesia
Photo © Dimas Ardian/Getty Images
A Monolithic Dome is a one-peice structure made with concrete and rebar (ridged steel rods). The Monolithic Dome Institute uses the term EcoShells (Economical, Eco-Friendly and Thin-Shell) to describe the monolithic dome structures they developed.

Advantages of Monolithic Dome Construction:

  • Monolithic Domes use half as much concrete and steel as traditional buildings.
  • The curved shape of the dome makes it resistant to wind and storm damage.
  • During earthquakes, Monolithic Domes move with the ground instead of collapsing.
  • Monolithic Domes cannot be damaged by fire, rot, or insects.
  • The thermal mass of the concrete walls makes Monolithic Domes energy-efficient.

Development of the Monolithic Dome:

The idea of constructing dome-shaped structures dates back to prehistoric times, but the development of modern concrete and steel Monolithic Domes is credited to designer David B. South. When he was a teenager, South heard architect-inventor Buckminster Fuller speak about the innovative geodesic dome that he developed. Fascinated, South began experimenting. In 1975, South worked with his brothers Barry and Randy to construct a dome-shaped potato storage facility in Shelley, Idaho. Measuring 105 feet round and 35 feet high, the structure is considered the first modern Monolithic Dome. David B. South patented the process and established an enterprise for constructing Monolithic Dome homes, schools, churches, sport stadiums, and commercial buildings. The Monolithic Domes shown here are located in the village of New Ngelepen in Yogyakarta province, Java Island, Indonesia. In 2006, Domes for the World Foundation supplied about 70 of these homes to earthquake survivors. Each home cost about $1,500. For upscale versions of the idea, see: Modernist Dome Homes.

How Monolithic Domes are Constructed:

  1. A circular concrete slab floor is reinforced with steel rebar.
  2. Vertical steel bars are embedded in the outer edge of the foundation to support the dome.
  3. Blower fans inflate an Airform made of PVC coated nylon or polyester fabrics.
  4. The Airform swells to assume the shape of the structure.
  5. A grid of vertical and horizontal rebar surrounds the exterior of the Airform.
  6. 2 or 3 inches of concrete is applied over the rebar grid.
  7. After the concrete is dry, the Airform is removed from the inside. The Airform can be re-used.

More About Monolithic Domes:

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