Architecture-Building & Construction

Architectural House Styles

Early American House Styles
Pueblo Styles
Prehistory - Present. Inspired by the simple adobe structures built by ancient tribes, comfortable, eco-friendly pueblo style homes are especially practical in dry climates. Traditional pueblo architecture dates back to the dawn of history; Pueblo Revival houses became popular in the early 1900s and are still a favored style in the southwestern regions of the United States.

Cape Cod House Style
1600s - 1950s. The Cape Cod house style originated in New England in the late 17th century. Today, the term refers to one-and-a-half story homes popular in the United States during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
Georgian Colonial House Style
1690s - 1830. This symmetrical, orderly style became prominent in Colonial America.

Log Cabins
1700s - present. Today's log homes are often spacious and elegant, but in colonial America, log cabins reflected the hardships of life on the North American frontier.

French Creole House Styles
1700s - 1800s. Spanish, African, Native American, and other heritages combine to create the Creole houses in America's French colonies.

Federal / Adam House Styles
1780 - 1840. Graceful details distinguish these homes from the pragmatic Georgian colonial style.

19th Century & Victorian House Styles
Greek Revival House Style
1825-1860. Democratic ideals are reflected in the classical details of Greek Revival homes.

Tidewater House Style
1800s. Built in coastal areas of the American South, these homes were designed for wet, hot climates.

Antebellum Architecture
1830-1862. Antebellum is not a style so much as an era. These grand plantation homes reflect the wealth and power of plantation owners in the American South prior to the Civil War.

Victorian Gothic House Styles
1840-1880. These buildings feature arches, pointed windows and other details borrowed from medieval Gothic cathedrals. Included are facts and photos for Gothic Revival, Carpenter Gothic and High Victorian Gothic architecture.

Victorian Italianate House Styles
1840-1885. Old World ideals transplanted to the United States.

Second Empire House Styles
1855-1885. With their high mansard roofs, these houses evoked European majesty.

Victorian Stick House Styles
1860-1890. Trusses and stickwork suggest medieval building techniques.

Eastlake Victorian Styles
1860 - 1880s. These fanciful Victorian houses are lavished with Eastlake style spindlework.

Folk Victorian House Styles
1870-1910. Just plain folk could afford these no-fuss homes, using trimwork made possible by mass production.

Shingle Style
1874-1910. Home designers rejected fussy Queen Anne ornamentation in homes that evoked rustic coastal living.

Richardsonian Romanesque House Styles
1880-1900. Romantic, castle-like buildings, often constructed of stone, inspired by designer Henry Hobson Richardson.

Victorian Queen Anne House Styles
1880-1910. Towers, turrets, wrap around porches and other fanciful details.

Gilded Age & Early 20th Century House Styles
Beaux Arts House Styles
1885- 1925. Swags, medallions, flowers, balustrades, balconies, grand stairways and other lavish features characterize this style, reserved for grandiose public buildings and homes for the very rich.

Colonial Revival House Styles
1880-1955. These symmetrical houses combine elements of Federal and Georgian architecture.

Mission & California Mission House Styles
1890-1920. Stucco walls, arches and other details inspired by the Spanish mission churches of colonial America.

Tudor Revival House Styles
1890-1940. Decorative half-timbering and other details suggest medieval building techniques.

Cotswold Cottage and English Country Styles
1890-1940. This subtype of the Tudor Revival style may remind you of a picturesque storybook cottage.

Renaissance Revival House Styles
1890 -1935. A fascination for the architecture of Renaissance Europe inspired these elegant homes and villas.

American Foursquare House Styles
1895-1930. This practical, economical style became one of the most popular in the United States.

Prairie School House Styles
1900-1920. The low, linear style pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Craftsman Bungalow House Styles
1905-1930. From the Arts & Crafts movement, an American style popularized through mail order catalogs.

Usonian Houses
1936-1960. When the United States was in an economic depression, Frank Lloyd Wright developed a simplified version of his Prairie School architecture. Designed to control costs, these homes had no attics, no basements, and little ornamentation.

Spanish Revival House Styles
1915-1940. The opening of the Panama canal inspired a variety of Spanish Colonial Revival and Mediterranean styles.

French-Inspired House Styles
1915-1945. French ideas are reflected in Normandy, Provincial, and a variety of other styles.

Art Moderne House Styles
1930-1945. With smooth, white walls and a sleek streamlined appearance, these cube-shaped homes expressed the spirit of the machine age.

Late 20th Century through Today
Ranch Style Homes
1935 - Present. The rambling, no-nonsense Ranch styles became dominant in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. If you live in the suburbs, there's a good chance your home is a Western Ranch, American Ranch, or California Rambler.

Raised Ranch (Split Level) House Styles
1935 - Present. A traditional Ranch Style house is only one story, but a split level, "Raised Ranch" house has room to grow. A finished basement with large windows creates extra living space below, while a raised roof leaves room for bedrooms above.

A-Frame Homes
1957-Present. With a dramatic, sloping roof and cozy living quarters, an A-frame style house is ideal for wintery regions with lots of snow.

Postmodern Homes
1965 - Present. Rebelling against minimalist modernist architecture, Postmodern houses tend to give the impression that anything goes - the impossible is not only possible, but exaggerated.

Neoeclectic Homes
1965 - Present. Decorative details borrowed from the past and selected from a construction catalog create a mixture that can be difficult to define.

Dome Homes
Late 20th century. Monolithic domes and the innovative geodesic dome technology pioneered by Buckminister Fuller.

Earth Homes
From prehistoric times to the present. Cob, straw bale, earth bermed and underground homes are inexpensive, energy efficient and surprisingly comfortable.

posted by Ronald @ 4:39 AM