The architecture of the United States has included a wide variety of styles throughout its history. Home styles in the U.S. are regionally different, and the forms they have to put affected by many other types of architecture. The result is an eclectic mix of different styles at home are often found in the same area, also on the same block. Here are some of the most popular types of houses that are to be found in most parts of America. The Cape Cod style home in colonial New England emerged and they were built back in the 1600s and the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. In the colonial era a house in Cape Cod, a simple, one-story structure was made of wood with a chimney in the center and a symmetrical appearance. Cape Cod houses have a steep roof with side gables, dormers for lighting, blinds, and the little street decorations. Georgian Colonial was to be a popular style during the year 1700 through the 1850s, found primarily in the east and south. Roomy and comfortable, Georgian Colonial homes are square and symmetric shape with a paneled door in the middle. A distinctive, decorative crown adorns the entrance to the rule before a medium pitched roof. Flattened columns or columns can be found on both sides of the door. If they sound familiar? The most famous example of late Georgian architecture is the White House. In the middle of the 19th Century, many wealthy Americans believed that ancient Greece represented the spirit of democracy. It is no wonder then that during this time, the Greek Revival was a popular form of architecture. Greek Revival details are reminiscent of the Parthenon, with columns and a stately appearance. Greek Revival houses usually have a symmetrical shape, gable pediment and bold but simple-shaped parts. Many Greek Revival houses also tend to have a porch with columns, decorative pilasters and narrow windows. The Queen Anne style became an architectural fashion in the 1880s and 1890s. The industrial revolution brought new technologies had enabled the developers to use pre-cut exterior trim that mass produced whimsical houses are looking to create. Victorian Queen Anne homes are often round or square towers, turrets, wrap-around portals and other fanciful details. Queen Anne houses can also take a steep roof, front facing gables, asymmetrical in shape, bay windows, ornamental spindles and brackets. With Tudor Revival, the name almost says that these houses were in 1500 during the Tudor dynasty built in England, but in fact they are the early 20th Century re-inventions of the Middle Ages in the country and even palaces. In fact, they are also called Medieval Revival. Tudor Revival houses are half-exposed with decorative wood to give the appearance of a medieval house. You can even create a false thatched roof. Decorative woodwork and some brick-work can be found on the exterior walls. Tudor-style homes can also be highly pitched roofs, massive chimneys, prominent cross gables and narrow windows with small panes. Stick Victorian houses grew in popularity in the mid-19th Century. Victorian sticks can often be mistaken for Tudor Revival, as they also contain timber or "stickwork and other details borrowed from the Middle Ages are exposed. However, most Tudor Revival houses with stucco, stone, brick or unilateral, are Victorian style stick while houses usually with wood. Stick Victorian homes tend to have a rectangular shape, steep gables, overhanging eve and decorative brackets and parentheses. Colonial Revival became a standard in the 19th and 20 Century, as the Americans tried to express their patriotism and return to traditional architectural styles. During this time, builders romanticized colonial architecture, design rectangular brick homes, which were 2 to 3 storeys high. The living areas are in the first floor and bedrooms on the upper floors. Colonial Revival house has a symmetrical facade, brick or wood siding, simple details, a pitched roof and dormers. Some may even have a temple, as the entrance, with pillars or columns and porticos topped by pediments. The Colonial Revival was so popular, yet this style of homes built before the mid-1950s. California Bungalows, Craftsman Bungalows, and Chicago Bungalows were variations of affordable housing type that swept across the U.S. much of the 20th Century. Bungalow houses come in many styles, but most have a simple box-like, horizontal forms, one and a half stories high, have proved to be efficient floor plan with living quarters on the ground floor rooms connected by corridors and a living room in the center. The kitchens also tend to have built-in cupboards, shelves, and seats. The Foursquare style home, sometimes called the Prairie Box was pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 20th Century. As the name implies, they have a simple box shape and a four-bedroom floor plan. Simple Foursquare houses were built in brick, stone, stucco, concrete block, or wood and have large central dormer. Full-width porches with wide staircases are also very popular in Foursquare architecture. Uncomplicated Ranch houses evolved from several styles of the 20th Century, including hikers and bungalows. Sometimes, as in California Rambler, ranch style homes are usually one-story tall and rectangular, L-shape or U-shaped set out in the design. They tend to have a low-pitched gable roof, deep-set eaves attached garages, large windows and sliding glass doors.
Architectural Styles Primer
Matt Barker is a professional broker specializing in Minneapolis real estate. A recognized expert, it is Matt's passion for customer service that differentiates it. Contact Matt at any time for information about Minneapolis and the surrounding Twin Cities area, including Big Lake, MN Real Estate.
