Cape Cod Colonial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics This is a small, symmetrical 1 ½ story, compact house with a central entrance. The roof is the steep gable covered with shingles. The authentic types have low central chimneys, but end chimneys are very common in the new versions. Bedrooms are on the first floor. The attic may be finished into additional bedrooms and a bath. A vine-covered picket fence is traditional. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Traditionally, exterior walls were white clapboard, natural shingles or brick; modern versions have exterior walls made of a wide variety of materials
Simple double-hung windows
Shutters the same length as the windows
Simple cornice with gutters immediately above the first-floor windows
Easy to build, maintain and heat
Inherent in the design is the necessity to walk through one room to reach another

History The Cape Cod Colonial is the earliest dwelling type built by the American colonists that still is popular today. The early Cape Cod was very crude. It usually had one room on the first floor and a sleeping loft above. The modern version was the most popular house style in the U.S. from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Dutch Colonial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The Dutch Colonial is a moderate-sized, 2-story to 2 ½-story house with a gambrel roof and eaves that flare outward. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Central entrance
Dutch entrance door
Double-hung windows with small panes of glass
Exterior may be made of a wide variety of materials, such as clapboard, shingles, cut stone, brick or stucco
Second-story dormers through the roof are common
Chimney rarely in the center

History This is an indigenous American style that did not originate in Holland as is commonly believed. The Dutch settlers built these houses in Pennsylvania starting in the 1600s and soon after in New York.

French Normandy

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The main characteristic of this style is the central turret that usually is a staircase. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

1 ½ to 2 ½ stories
Exterior walls usually are brick, stone or stucco
Asymmetrical shape
Large chimneys
High, complicated roofs
Half timbers for decoration

History This house style originated in the Normandy area of France where house and barn were one building. The turret was used for storage of grain or ensilage.

Masonry Tudor or Jacobsen

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The Tudor is an imposing-looking house with fortress like lines. Siding chiefly is stone and brick with some stucco and half timbers. Windows and doors have molded cement or stone trim around them. This style also is called Jacobean in some areas.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Usually 2 ½ stories
Stone or cement window mullions and transoms
Casement windows with leaded glass (often diamond-shaped)
High, prominent chimneys with protruding chimney pots
Semi-hexagonal bays and turrets
Interior often laid out with odd-shaped rooms full of nooks and crannies, large fireplaces, beamed ceilings and rough plaster walls

History The style started in England in late fifteenth century during the reign of the House of Tudor. It did not become popular in the United States until the late 1800s.

California Ranch

Key Distinguishing Characteristics A California Ranch is a 1-story, ground-hugging house with a low, pitched roof. Other Distinguishing Characteristics Large double-hung, sliding and picture windows
Sliding glass doors leading onto the patios History The ranch house of the West has spread in popularity throughout the United States. Today, the term is commonly used to describe a wide variety of 1-story houses, including many smaller ones that used to be called Bungalows.

French Provincial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The French Provincial is a perfectly balanced, formal, 1 ½-story to 2 ½-story house with a high, steep hip roof and curved-headed upper windows that break through the cornice.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

French windows or shutters on the first floor
Two symmetrical 1-story wings
Usually made of brick

History The style originated in France during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715) by the rich who wanted showplace homes.

New England Colonial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The New England Colonial is a 2 ½-story, generally symmetrical, square or rectangular boxlike house with side or rear winds. The traditional material is narrow clapboard siding. The roof usually is the gable type covered with shingles.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Originals had chimneys at each end for heating
Modern versions have only one chimney at the end or in the center
Window are the double-hung type with small glass panes
Shutters the same size as the window
Central entrance door often has sidelights and a fanlight
Elaborate cornice with dentils
First floor has a central hallway running from the front to the rear
Bedrooms are on the second floor

History These large, roomy houses evolved from the Cape Cod style.

Cotswold

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The smallest of the English styles, the Cotswold sometimes is described a an Ann Hathaway or Hansel and Gretel Cottage. It is a ground-hugging, always asymmetrical style with a prominent brick or stone chimney in the front or on the side that appears to be very large in relation to the overall size of the house. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Walls of the originals were built of materials of the area - brick, stone, wood siding, half timbers
Steep gable roof with complex lines
Casement windows
Dormer windows smaller than the other windows
Rooms tend to be small and irregularly shaped
Layout often necessitates walking through one room to get to another (even the bedroom)
Upper-story bedrooms have steep walls and need dormers

History The Cotswold Cottage was first built in the Cotswold Hills of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester, England, starting about the time of the Norman conquest in 1066. The name is derived form “cot” (cottage) and “wold” (wood) - cottage in a wood. The romantic design was very popular throughout the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.

Front Gable, New England Colonial, Charlestone Colonial, or English Colonial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics This is a 2 ½-story, symmetrical square or rectangular boxlike house with a protruding front wing that distinguishes the style from a New England Colonial. The bedrooms are on the second floor.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

House and wing have gable roofs
Basic house usually is clapboard
Wing front often is cut stone
Cornice on the front or on all four sides
Double-hung windows with small panes of glass
Shutters the same size as the windows
Central entrance in the front wing has a sidelight and fanlight
Wing has stone columns on four corners
Central hallway runs from the wing to the rear of the house
Bedrooms on the second floor

History Like the New England Colonial, this style evolved from the Cape Cod. The first houses of this style were built in the 1700s.

Queen Anne

Key Distinguishing Characteristics Queen Anne has come to be applied to any Victorian house that cannot be otherwise classified. They are all unique-looking, multistory houses, irregular in shape, with a variety of surface textures, materials and colors.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Half timbering
Windows of various forms
Upper stories that project over the lower ones
Bay windows
Turrets
Big chimneys

History First designed in England by Richard Norman Shaw, Queen Anne was started here as a style by architect Henry Hobson Richardson in the early 1870s.

Greek Revival

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The Greek Revival style is a 2-story or 3-story, symmetrical house that is a copy of a Greek temple complete with columns, architraves, friezes and cornices.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Windows are small and hidden for they are not part of the Greek temple architecture
Interior design is sacrificed for the exterior design

History There is little difference between a Greek Revival and a Classic Colonial. Many architectural historians consider them to be the same style. For clarity of identification, the houses that look like the traditional Greek temple generally are called Greek Revival. The style became popular in the United States in the early 1800s, especially for public buildings.

Regency

Key Distinguishing Characteristics This is a 2-story or 3-story, symmetrical house with a hip roof. A small octagonal window over the front door is traditional. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Almost always brick, often painted white
One chimney on the side
Double-hung windows
Shutters the same size as the windows
A simple informal style without the classic lines of the Georgian

History This style reached its peak of popularity in England between 1810 and 1820. Many of these houses ere built in the United States in the late 1800s, throughout the 1900s and still are being built today.

Elizabethan (or half timber)

Key Distinguishing Characteristics This is a 2-story or 2 ½- story house, often with part of the second story overhanging the first. It has less stonework and is less fort-like than the Tudor. Stone and stucco walls with half timbers are most common. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Massive sculptured chimneys
Used brick between half timers is called “nogging”; when not covered with stucco, it is “exposed nogging”
Complicated high peaked roofs that are expensive to install and subject to leaks because of complex valleys
Small, leaded-glass casement windows
Interior often has large halls and a spacious living room with a large fireplace and beamed ceilings
Bedrooms are on the second floor

History These houses were erected in England throughout the prosperous reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), particularly in the London area. The characteristic protruding second story supported by wooden brackets is a carryover from narrow London lots where extra space could be obtained by overhanging the street.

International

Key Distinguishing Characteristics This design is very simple, with no ornamentation. The windows appear to be continuous rather than appearing to be holes in the walls.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Flat roofs
Smooth, uniform wall surfaces
Windows that turn the corner of the house

History The style was started in Europe in the 1920s by Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the architects of the Bauhaus. It was introduced in the United States in the 1930s and is the basis of much modern architecture.

Southern Colonial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The Southern Colonial is a large, 2-story or 3-story, frame house with a characteristic colonnade extending across the front. The roof extends over the colonnade.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Hip or gable roof covered with shingles
Symmetrical
Second-story balcony
Balustrade
Belvedere
Double-hung windows with small panes of glass
Shutters are the same size as the windows
Cornices with dentils

History The style is a southern conception of the New England Colonial and Georgian Colonial modified to suit the warmer climate. The classic example pictured here is Mount Vernon, built in the 1700s.

Salt Box Colonial

Key Distinguishing Characteristics This is 2-story or 2 ½-story, square or rectangular house with a steep gable roof that extends down to the first floor in the rear.

Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Exterior walls usually are clapboard or shingles
Large central chimney
Large double-hung windows with small panes of glass
No windows in the rear
Shutters the same size as the windows
To obtain the traditional lean-to look, headroom in the rear must be sacrificed.

History The Saltbox is a Colonial New England farmhouse that grew in the form of a lean-to shed or room added to the rear of the house. The rear was oriented to the north to ward off cold winter winds. Its name comes from the resemblance to the saltbox found in old country stores.

Williamsburg Georgian

Key Distinguishing Characteristics The houses built in Williamsburg were representative of the early Georgian houses built in America throughout the early 1700s. They had simple exterior lines and generally fewer of the decorative devices characteristic of the later Georgian houses. Most were 2-story or 3-story rectangular houses with two large chimneys rising high above the roof at each end. Other Distinguishing Characteristics

Sliding double-hung windows with small panes
Simple front entrances

History Williamsburg, Virginia, was the cultural and political capital of the colonies during most of the 1700s. The houses here were based on the styles developed in England during the reigns of the four King Georges. The Williamsburg houses were built in the early 1700s. With gifts of about $40 million, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., has restored the community.