Ever wonder
what someone meant when they referred to a home as a Cape Cod or Bungalow?
This page gives you the basics on architectural design names commonly found
in our area.
Tudor—
This architecture was popular in the 1920s and 1930s and continues to be a mainstay in
suburbs across the nation. The defining characteristics are half-timbering on bay windows
and upper floors, and facades that are dominated by one or more steeply pitched cross
gables.Patterned brick or stone walls are common, as are rounded doorways,
multipaned casement windows, and large stone chimneys.
Cape Cod--
Some of the first houses built in this country were Cape
Cods, and the style hit what was probably its apogee after World War II, when its inherent
modesty and simplicity made it popular with early suburban developers. Just about every
baby boomer either lived in a Cape Cod–style house or knows somebody who did.The look
is basic: square or modestly rectangular one-story houses, with steeply gabled
roofs—many with dormers—and unornamented facades; walls are usually of brick or
clapboard.
Federal—
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.
There's an appealing plainness and symmetry about many Federal houses. Red brick is the
most common building material. Doors often have sidelights and fanlights and whatever is
going on on the right side of the façade is echoed on the left. Double-hung windows with
shutters are common, as is a certain amount of restrained classical ornamentation around
cornices, doors, and windows.
Contemporary--
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.
Georgian--
Befitting a king--in fact, the style is named for four King Georges of England--Georgians
are crowned with such ornaments as multiple chimneys, roof balustrades, and pedimented
dormers. This detailed, but classically straight, architectural style dominated the
English colonies in the 1700s. Most surviving Georgians sport side-gabled roofs, are two
to three stories high, and are constructed in brick. Many feature a Palladian-style set of
three windows on the second floor above the front door.
Ranch--
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.
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.
Monterey--
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.
National--
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.
International--
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.
Bungalows--
In 1909, Architect Gustav Stickley wrote that a bungalow is "a house reduced to its
simplest form, which never fails to harmonize with its surroundings, because its low broad
proportions and absolute lack of ornamentation give it a character so natural and
unaffected that it seems to . . . blend with any landscape."
In fact, until Sears, Roebuck began selling mail-order models
with pre-cut lumber, the style often included 'rough' materials, such as cobblestones,
which were incorporated whole into foundations and chimneys. Bungalow interiors also
traditionally evince the simple style that Stickley espoused: straightforward and
functional. Front doors lead directly into living rooms; exposed beams decorate ceilings;
fireplaces incorporate cobblestones; and woodwork is finished with natural stains.
Split Level--
A Modern style that architects created to sequester certain living activities--such as
sleeping or socializing--split levels offered an multilevel alternative to the ubiquitous
Ranch style in the 1950s. The nether parts of a typical design were devoted to a garage
and TV room; the midlevel, which usually jutted out from the two-story section, offered
"quieter" quarters, such as the living and dining rooms; and the area above the
garage was designed for bedrooms. Found mostly in the East and Midwest, split-levels, like
their Ranch counterparts, were constructed with various building materials
Victorian—
Common to some degree almost everywhere, Victorian architecture, which dates from the
second half of the 19th century, has two main styles: Second Empire and Queen Anne.The former
is big and boxy, with mansard roofs, symmetrical facades, and heavy ornamentation. When
Walt Disney decided to re-create at Disneyland the main street of a typical 19th-century
small town, the style he used was Second Empire. Queen Anne is a much quirkier affair,
with asymmetrical facades, curved towers and porches, protruding bay windows, steeply
pitched roofs, and elaborate spindlework ornamentation
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