Architectural Styles

The 1925 Paris Exhibition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs launched the Art Deco style, which echoed the Machine Age with geometric decorative elements and a vertically oriented design. This distinctly urban style was never widely used in residential buildings; it was more widespread in public and commercial buildings of the period.

Towers and other projections above the roofline enhance the vertical emphasis of this style, which was popularized by Hollywood movies of the 1930s. Flat roofs, metal window casements, and smooth stucco walls with rectangular cut-outs mark the exteriors of Art Deco homes. Facades are typically flush with zigzags and other stylized floral, geometric, and "sunrise" motifs. By 1940 the Art Deco style had evolved into "Art Moderne," which features curved corners, rectangular glass-block windows, and a boat-like appearance. Popularized in the United States by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, the style enjoyed a revival in the 1980s.

These narrow, rectangular one and one-half story houses originated in California during the 1880s as a reaction to the elaborate decoration of Victorian homes. The style then moved eastward to the Midwest in the early 20th century, where it remained popular until the Great Depression. Bungalows have low-pitched gabled or hipped roofs and small covered porches at the entry. The style became so popular that you could order a bungalow kit from Sears and Roebuck catalog. The name "bungalow" had its origins in India, where it indicated a small, thatched home.

Some of the first houses built in the United States were Cape Cods. The original colonial Cape Cod homes were shingle-sided, one-story cottages with no dormers. During the mid-20th century, the small, uncomplicated Cape Cod shape became popular in suburban developments. A 20th-century Cape Cod is square or rectangular with one or one-and-a-half stories and steeply pitched, gabled roofs. It may have dormers and shutters. The siding is usually clapboard or brick.

America's colonial period encompassed a number of housing types and styles. For more information about Colonial styles, see Cape Cod, Saltbox, Georgian, and Dutch Colonial. However, when we speak of the Colonial style, we often are referring to a rectangular, symmetrical home with bedrooms on the second floor. The double-hung windows usually have many small, equally sized square panes.

During the late 1800s and throughout the 20th century, builders borrowed Colonial ideas to create refined Colonial Revival homes with elegant central hallways and elaborate cornices. Unlike the original Colonials, Colonial Revival homes are often sided in white clapboard and trimmed with black or green shutters.

You know them by their odd-sized and often tall windows, their lack of ornamentation, and their unusual mixtures of wall materials—stone, brick, and wood, for instance. Architects designed Contemporary-style homes (in the Modern family) between 1950 and 1970, and created two versions: the flat-roof and gabled types. The latter is often characterized by exposed beams. Both breeds tend to be one-story tall and were designed to incorporate the surrounding landscape into their overall look.

Popularized at the turn of the 20th century by architect and furniture designer Gustav Stickley in his magazine, The Craftsman, the Craftsman-style bungalow reflected, said Stickley, "a house reduced to it's simplest form... its low, broad proportions and absolute lack of ornamentation gives it a character so natural and unaffected that it seems to... blend with any landscape."

The style, which was also widely billed as the "California bungalow" by architects such as Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, featured overhanging eaves, a low-slung gabled roof, and wide front porches framed by pedestal-like tapered columns. Material often included stone, rough-hewn wood, and stucco. Many homes have wide front porches across part of the front, supported by columns.

The Creole Cottage, which is mostly found in the South, originated in New Orleans in the 1700s. The homes are distinguished by a front wall that recedes to form a first-story porch and second-story balcony that stretch across the entire front of the structure. Full-length windows open into the balconies, and lacy ironwork characteristically runs across the second-story level. These two- and three-story homes are symmetrical in design with front entrances placed at the center.

"Creole French," a variation of the basic Creole design, came into vogue in southern states in the 1940s and 1950s.

This American style originated in homes built by German, or "Deutsch" settlers in Pennsylvania as early as the 1600s. A hallmark of the style is a broad gambrel roof with flaring eaves that extend over the porches, creating a barn-like effect. Early homes were a single room, and additions were added to each end, creating a distinctive linear floor plan. End walls are generally of stone, and the chimney is usually located on one or both ends. Double-hung sash windows with outward swinging wood casements, dormers with shed-like overhangs, and a central Dutch double doorway are also common. The double door, which is divided horizontally, was once used to keep livestock out of the home while allowing light and air to filter through the open top. The style enjoyed a revival during the first three decades of the 20th century as the country looked back with nostalgia to its colonial past.

Ubiquitous up and down the East Coast, Federal-style architecture dates from the late 1700s and coincided with a reawakening of interest in classical Greek and Roman culture. Builders began to add swags, garlands, elliptical windows, and other decorative details to rectangular Georgian houses. The style that emerged resembles Georgian, but is more delicate and more formal. Many Federal-style homes have an arched Palladian window on the second story above the front door. The front door usually has sidelights and a semicircular fanlight. Federal-style homes are often called "Adam" after the English brothers who popularized the style.

Balance and symmetry are the ruling characteristics of this formal style. Homes are often brick with detailing in copper or slate. Windows and chimneys are symmetrical and perfectly balanced, at least in original versions of the style. Defining features include a steep, high, hip roof; balcony and porch balustrades; rectangle doors set in arched openings; and double French windows with shutters. Second-story windows usually have a curved head that breaks through the cornice.

The design had its origins in the style of rural manor homes, or chateaus, built by the French nobles during the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-1600s. The French Provincial design was a popular Revival style in the 1920s and again in the 1960s.

Befitting a king—in fact, the style is named for four King Georges of England—Georgian homes are refined and symmetrical with paired chimneys and a decorative crown over the front door. Modeled after the more elaborate homes of England, the Georgian style dominated the British colonies in the 1700s. Most surviving Georgians sport side-gabled roofs, are two to three stories high, and are constructed in brick. Georgian homes almost always feature an orderly row of five windows across the second story. Modern-day builders often combine features of the refined Georgian style with decorative flourishes from the more formal Federal style.

The influence of English romanticism and the mass production of elaborate wooden millwork after the Industrial Revolution fueled the construction of Gothic Revival homes in the mid-1800s. These picturesque structures are marked by "Gothic" windows with distinctive pointed arches; exposed framing timbers; and steep, vaulted roofs with cross-gables. Extravagant features may include towers and verandas. Ornate wooden detailing is generously applied as gable, window, and door trim.

American architects Alexander Jackson Davis and Andrew Jackson Downing championed Gothic in domestic buildings in the 1830s. Most Gothic Revival homes were constructed between 1840 and 1870 in the Northeast.

This style is predominantly found in the Midwest, South, New England, and Midatlantic regions, though you may spot subtypes in parts of California. Its popularity in the 1800s stemmed from archeological findings of the time, indicating that the Grecians had spawned Roman culture. American architects also favored the style for political reasons: the War of 1812 cast England in an unfavorable light; and public sentiment favored the Greeks in their war for independence in the 1820s.

Identify the style by its entry, full-height, or full-building width porches, entryway columns sized in scale to the porch type, and a front door surrounded by narrow rectangular windows. Roofs are generally gabled or hipped. Roof cornices sport a wide trim. The front-gable found in one subtype became a common feature in Midwestern and Northeastern residential architecture well into the 20th century. The townhouse variation is made up of narrow, urban homes that don't always feature porches. Look for townhouses in Boston, Galveston, Texas., Mobile, Ala., New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, Va., and Savannah, Ga.

Initiated by European architects—such as Mies van der Rohe—in the early 20th century, this is the style that introduced the idea of exposed functional building elements, such as elevator shafts, ground-to-ceiling plate glass windows, and smooth facades.

The style was molded from modern materials—concrete, glass, and steel—and is characterized by an absence of decoration. A steel skeleton typically supports these homes. Meanwhile, interior and exterior walls merely act as design and layout elements, and often feature dramatic, but nonsupporting projecting beams and columns. With its avant-garde elements, naturally the style appeared primarily in the East and in California.

Italianate homes, which appeared in Midwest, East Coast, and San Francisco areas between 1850 and 1880, can be quite ornate despite their solid square shape. Features include symmetrical bay windows in front; small chimneys set in irregular locations; tall, narrow, windows; and towers, in some cases. The elaborate window designs reappear in the supports, columns, and door frames.

This style emerged in 1853 when Boston merchant Thomas Larkin relocated to Monterey, Calif. The style updates Larkin's vision of a New England Colonial with an Adobe brick exterior. The Adobe reflected an element of Spanish Colonial houses common in the Monterey area at the time. Later Monterey versions merged Spanish Eclectic with Colonial Revival styles to greater or lesser extents.

Larkin's design also established a defining feature of Montereys: a second-floor with a balcony. At the time one-story homes dominated the Bay Area.

In today's Montereys, balcony railings are typically styled in iron or wood; roofs are low pitched or gabled and covered with shingles—variants sometimes feature tiles—and exterior walls are constructed in stucco, brick, or wood.

Born out of the fundamental need for shelter, National-style homes, whose roots are set in Native American and pre-railroad dwellings, remain unadorned and utilitarian. The style is characterized by rectangular shapes with side gabled roofs or square layouts with pyramidal roofs. The gabled-front-and-wing style pictured here is the most prevalent type with a side-gabled wing attached at a right angle to the gabled front. Two subsets of the National style, known as "hall-and-parlor family" and "I-house," are characterized by layouts that are two rooms wide and one room deep. Massed plan styles, recognized by a layout more than one room deep, often sport side gables and shed-roofed porches. You'll find National homes throughout the country.

A well-publicized, world-class event can inspire fashion for years. At least that's the case with the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which showcased cutting-edge classical buildings that architects around the country emulated in their own residential and commercial designs. The Neoclassical style remained popular through the 1950s in incarnations from one-story cottages to multilevel manses. Its identifying Ionic or Corinthian columned porches often extend the full height of the house. Also typical: symmetrical facades, elaborate, decorative designs above and around doorways, and roof-line balustrades (low parapet walls).

In suburban Chicago in 1893, Frank Lloyd Wright, America's most famous architect, designed the first Prairie-style house, and it's still a common style throughout the Midwest. Prairie houses come in two styles—boxy and symmetrical or low-slung and asymmetrical. Roofs are low-pitched, with wide eaves. Brick and clapboard are the most common building materials. Other details: rows of casement windows; one-story porches with massive square supports; and stylized floral and circular geometric terra-cotta or masonry ornamentation around doors, windows, and cornices.

Taking its cues from Native American and Spanish Colonial styles, chunky looking Pueblos emerged around 1900 in California, but proved most popular in Arizona and New Mexico, where many original designs still survive.

The style is characterized by flat roofs, parapet walls with round edges, earth-colored stucco or adobe-brick walls, straight-edge window frames, and roof beams that project through the wall. The interior typically features corner fireplaces, unpainted wood columns, and tile or brick floors.

A sub-style of the late Victorian era, Queen Anne is a collection of coquettish detailing and eclectic materials. Steep cross-gabled roofs, towers, and vertical windows are all typical of a Queen Anne home. Inventive, multistory floor plans often include projecting wings, several porches and balconies, and multiple chimneys with decorative chimney pots.

Wooden "gingerbread" trim in scrolled and rounded "fish-scale" patterns frequently graces gables and porches. Massive cut stone foundations are typical of period houses. Created by English architect Richard Norman Shaw, the style was popularized after the Civil War by architect Henry Hobson Richardson and spread rapidly, especially in the South and West.

Sometimes called the California ranch style, this home in the Modern family, originated there in 1930s. It emerged as one of the most popular American styles in the 1950s and 60s, when the automobile had replaced early 20th-century forms of transportation, such as streetcars.

Now mobile homebuyers could move to the suburbs into bigger homes on bigger lots. The style takes its cues from Spanish Colonial and Prairie and Craftsman homes, and is characterized by its one-story, pitched-roof construction, built-in garage, wood or brick exterior walls, sliding and picture windows, and sliding doors leading to patios.

Although they borrow from the Georgian's classic lines, Regency homes eschew ornamentation. They're symmetrical, two or three stories, and usually built in brick. Typically, they feature an octagonal window over the front door, one chimney at the side of the house, double-hung windows, and a hip roof. They've been built in the United States since the early 1800s.

This New England Colonial style got its name because the sharply sloping gable roof that resembled the boxes used for storing salt. The step roofline often plunges from two and one-half stories in front to a single story in the rear. In Colonial times, the lower rear portion was often used as a partially enclosed shed, which was oriented north as a windbreak. These square or rectangular homes typically have a large central chimney and large, double-hung windows with shutters. Exterior walls are made of clapboard or shingles. In the South this style is known as a "cat's slide" and was a popular in the 1800s.

Popular in the Midwest and Northeast, this Victorian style was fashionable for public buildings during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, but its elaborate, costly detail fell out of favor in the late 1800s for economic reasons. Second empire homes feature windows, molded cornices, and decorative brackets under the eaves. One subtype sports a rectangular tower at the front and center of the structure.

A subset of the Modern style, Shed homes were particular favorites of architects in the 1960s and 1970s. They feature multiple roofs sloping in different directions, which creates multigeometric shapes; wood shingle, board, or brick exterior cladding; recessed and downplayed front doorways; and small windows. There's virtually no symmetry to the style.

This American style originated in cottages along the trendy, wealthy Northeastern coastal towns of Cape Cod, Long Island, and Newport in the late 19th century. Architectural publishers publicized it, but the style was never as popular around the country as the Queen Anne. Shingle homes borrow wide porches, shingles, and asymmetrical forms from the Queen Anne.

They're also characterized by unadorned doors, windows, porches, and cornices; continuous wood shingles; a steeply pitched roof line; and large porches. The style hints at towers, but they're usually just extensions of the roof line.

Tradition has it that if you fire a shotgun through the front doorway of this long, narrow home, the bullet will exit directly through the back door. The style is characterized by a single story with a gabled roof. Shotguns are usually only one room wide, with each room leading directly into the next. Exterior features include a vent on the front gable and a full front porch trimmed with gingerbread brackets and ornamentation. Mail-order plans and parts for shotgun homes were widely available at the turn-of-the-century, making it a popular, low-cost structure to build in both urban and suburban settings.

Side gabled is a descriptive word for a house with its front door under the side of a gabled roof. Examples can be seen in many residential styles, from ranch to Georgian.

Saltbox roofs are typical of colonial architecture in New England. A saltbox house is two stories tall at the front and has a low pitched roof at the rear of the house. It gets its name from its resemblance to the salt boxes used in colonial times.

The hipped roofs of the pavilions have four inclined planes that meet at a single point. They are also sometimes called pyramid hip roofs and are typically used on smaller buildings such as garages or pool houses.

Mansard roofs have four sloped sides, like a hip roof, with each side sloping shallowly over a steep slope, similar to a mansard roof. There are almost always dormers in a mansard roof. Mansard is named after the French architect Francois Mansart (1598-1666), known for using this style of roof. This roof style was particularly popular in the second half of the 19th century and is often seen on Victorian terraced houses.

Hip roofs slope in four directions. The "hip" is the angle formed where two inclined sides meet. This roof is used with many different styles of architecture and is said to withstand hurricane force winds better than a gabled roof.

Flat arches are either level or have a slightly curved arch. This arch has supportive voussoirs, which are wedge-shaped stones or bricks.

Gothic arches, also called pointed arches, are narrow and pointed at the top. They were seen during the Gothic period in Europe from about middle 12th century to the 16th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America, a Gothic Revival style incorporated these pointed arches into homes and buildings.

Moorish arches, also called Horseshoe Arches, have an exotic shape. They're most likely to be seen on commercial buildings such as theaters. A Moorish Revival style of the early 20th century in America reintroduced this arch style into the architecture scene.

Roman arches are semi-circular and were first used widely by Roman engineers. Using arches and concrete, the Romans were able to build on a previously unseen scale. This rounded arch style is seen today in the Spanish Colonial architectural style and the Richardsonian Romanesque style, as well as others based on Classical Roman architecture.

Segmental arches have a partial curve, like an eyebrow. One of the earliest examples of a segmental arch in the West is the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence, Italy, which was built in the 14th century.

Tudor arches have a low point and are seen mostly on Tudor Revival and Gothic Revival styles of architecture, both popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America. These arches are based on the architecture of the English Tudor period of the 16th century.

Corinthian columns have capitals with two rows of carved acanthus leaves and four spirals sprouting over the leaves. This style of column was originally Greek but was more widely used by the Romans.

Doric columns are used in the Doric order of Architecture, one of the three widely-seen Classical orders of architecture originating from ancient Greece. Doric columns have capitals with a simple curved molding. They were more typical of ancient Greek architecture than of Roman architecture.

Egyptian columns often have a lotus motif on the capital. Originally used during Ancient Egyptian times, this style re-appeared during the Egyptian Revival style seen during the late 18th and 19th centuries as well as in the Art Deco style in the early to mid 20th century. They became particularly fashionable, along with all things Egyptian, in the years following Howard Carter's discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922.

Ionic columns have a capital with two spirals, called volutes, and relatively slender shafts. The Ionic Order of architecture was seen during both ancient Greek and Roman civilizations though in Greek architecture the shafts are more likely to be fluted and in Roman architecture they are more likely to be plain.

Romanesque columns were originally seen in the Romanesque style of architecture in Western Europe from the 9th century to the 12th century. Romanesque, also known as "Norman" in France and England, had a revival in the 1800s where the columns typical of the style, with simple curved moldings, were fashionable. The American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) put his own spin on the Romanesque style in what is called Richardsonian Romanesque; this was quite popular in the 19th century.

Eyebrow dormers have a low upward curve, with no distinct vertical sides, allowing for a curved window that looks much like an eye behind sleepy eyelids. Eyebrow dormers are often seen in shingled roofs, particularly in the Shingle style of architecture popular in the late 19th century.

Gable dormers have a gabled roof, with two sloping planes that meet at a central ridge. During the English Tudor period in the 16th century, dormers with gable roofs were typical.

Hipped dormers have a hipped roof with three sloping planes that meet at the top. Prairie Style and Craftsman houses will sometimes have hipped dormers, as will most homes with a hipped roof.

Inset dormers are also called recessed dormers. Unlike most other dormers, which extend out from a roof, this style is set back into the roof, creating a much different look.

Shed dormers have a roof with a single sloping plane that extends over the window. This style of dormer is seen in a wide variety of architectural styles, including Arts & Crafts and Colonial Revival

Cavetto is a concave molding that is a quarter-round. It is used for crown molding as a transition from wall to ceiling planes.

Cyma recta has a concave curve over a convex curve. It is essentially a cavetto over an ovolo and was traditionally used in Classical architecture in the cornice and architrave.

Cyma reversa, also called an Ogee, is the opposite of cyma recta; it has a convex curve over a concave curve. Like Cyma Recta, it was used in Classical architecture in the cornice or architrave of a building.

Hood molding is the projection from a wall over an arch. This type of molding, seen typically in Gothic architecture, was used to protect the archway from rainwater. It also serves as a decorative frame for the top of an arch.

Label molding is a horizontal projection over a window or doorway that drops vertically to about a third of the way down the sides of the opening. This type of molding, like hood molding, is used to divert rainwater away from a doorway or window. Label molding was used in Gothic and Tudor architecture.

Ovolo is a convex molding that is a quarter-round. It is a Classical molding that is often seen with decorative motif on it.

Scotia is a concave molding that curves to a half-round, creating a semi-circle or half an ellipse. It was typically used in Classical architecture at the base of a column.

Cross gable roofs have two or more gable rooflines that intersect. A house with a basic gable roof will have a rectangular shape, but a house with a cross gable roof can have a more complex shape and therefore a more complex layout.

Front-gabled houses have a gable roof and the front door is under the gable. The gable is the area at the front and back of the house beneath the pitched roof that follows the roofline. It is typically triangular. A gable roof is very common and has two sloping planes that meet in a central ridge.

Gambrel roofs have a shallow slope over a steep slope. This roof is typical of the Dutch colonial architectural style and is also frequently seen on barns.

Hipped roofs slope in four directions. The "hip" is the angle formed where two sloped sides meet. This roof is used with many different architectural styles and is said to stand up to hurricane winds better than a gable roof.

Mansard roofs have four sloping sides, like a hipped roof, and each side has a shallow slope over a steep slope, similar to a gambrel roof. There are almost always dormers in a mansard roof. Mansard is named after the French architect Francois Mansart (1598-1666), who was known to use this style of roof. This roof style was particularly popular in the latter half of the 19th century, and is often seen on Victorian row houses.

Pavilion-hipped roofs have four sloping planes that meet in a single point. They are sometimes also called pyramid-hipped roofs and are typically used on smaller buildings, such as garages or pool houses.

Saltbox roofs are typical of colonial architecture in New England. A saltbox house is two stories high in the front and has a low sloping roofline in the back of the house. It is named after its resemblance to saltboxes used in colonial times.

Side gabled is descriptive word for a house with its front door under the side of a gabled roof. Examples can be seen in many residential styles, from ranch houses to Georgians.

Bay windows project from the side of a home, adding light and extra square footage to a room. The area within a bay window creates a cozy nook, well suited for a window seat or dining room.

Arched windows project from the side of a building like bay windows, only with a curved shape. An arch window is usually more expensive to build than a bay window.

Box windows project from the side of a house. They are square in shape with 90 degree angles at the corners. The window shape creates a shelf that is ideal for adding space in front of a kitchen sink or desk.

Casement windows hinge on one side of the window frame so they open like a door. These are widely used in traditional and contemporary design. Casement windows are typical of the Tudor architectural style and are particularly convenient over a kitchen sink where it is easier to open a window with a crank than to lean over a counter and push up.

Sash windows have two panes that slide up and down vertically. Early double-hung windows had many panes of glass per pane and were called "12 over 12", meaning 12 panes per pane. This is a common type of window that is quite versatile as you can open it a little or a lot from the top or bottom.

Bay windows project from the side of a building, like a bay window, but are located on the second story or higher and are supported by corbels or columns. Bay windows bring more light and space into a room and have been used in many styles of architecture.

Paired windows are two windows next to each other, often under an arch. The support between the windows is called the mullion.

Palladian windows are named after the 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who used this window design to develop what is known as the Palladian style of architecture. This window will be a focal point in a room and has been widely used in a variety of traditional architectural styles.

Ribbon windows are a row of windows separated by vertical posts, called mullions. Ribbon windows can be used high on a wall to add light to a room. Ribbon windows installed near the ceiling are called clerestory windows.