American Styles
Acadian/Louisiana/French
Colonial: Steeply-pitched gable roofs
extending over wide, wrap-around porches, usually
raised on pilings or high piers. Chiefly found in
South Louisiana, but the style has spread
throughout the southern coastal states.
Log Cabin/Rustic: A
house made entirely of unfinished logs, chinked
between to keep out cold and heat. Usually one
story, with a simple shingle covered gable roof-
may have a sleeping loft in the attic portion.
Very small windows.
Coastal/Beach: Houses
built near coastal or beach areas are usually
always built on raised foundations- either
pilings with the entire first floor used as a
parking area or covered outdoor room, or bricked
and used as a part of the structure. Typically,
they have wide porches on the second story (which
is actually the first story of living space) or
open decks. In the past, these homes were built
as vacation homes, but more and more people are
living in them year-round- hence, they can be
either very rustic and plain, or sumptuous and
elaborate.
Federal Colonial: Box-
shaped, multi-storied, symmetrical house with
clapboard or brick exterior walls, one or more
chimneys, windows with small glass panes, usually
no porch but an elaborate surround for the front
door.
Cape Cod: Very
small, compact, symmetrical house with a central
entrance and sleeping quarters in the attic.
Always 1 1/2 stories. There are usually no halls-
rooms are reached by walking through other rooms.
May have a very narrow overhang for front door
but usually no porches.
Dutch Colonial: Usually
has a gambrel roof with dormers and wide flaring
eaves, or parapet walls with chimneys. Most built
as one story houses, with the attic used as
sleeping quarters. In traditional dutch colonial,
walls were made of stone only, but modern homes
use a variety of materials.
Spanish Colonial:
Early Classical Revival:
Georgian:
New England Farmhouse: A
simple box-shaped house, traditionally with white
clapboard siding with a steep-pitched roof and
dormers to allow sleeping quarters in the attic.
Most have a wide porch on at least the front, and
sometimes the two sides.
Saltbox: Usually
two stories, square or rectangular house with a
steep gable roof that extends down to the first
story in the rear. Exterior walls are usually
clapboard or shingles, but modern homes can be
masonry. Most have either a large central chimney
or end chimneys, usually no decorative elements
on exterior of building and no porch or overhang
for front door.
Plantation/Greek Revival: The
most easily identified features of this type of
building are the tall columns, most 2 stories
high, which can be either only in the front or
around the entire building, sometimes with a
2-storied porch. Most southern plantations were
built in this style.
Ranch: One story,
ground hugging style with a low-pitched gable or
hipped roof. Usually very narrow, long home, with
sleeping quarters on one end and living quarters
in the center, with built-in garage and utility
rooms on the other end. Glass sliding doors lead
out to a rear patio in most designs.
1935-Present.
Cottage: "Storybook"
cottage. Very small, compact house with a side or
front chimney that usually appears very large in
relation to the rest of the house. Dormers are
very small "doghouse" type to allow
light into the attic, and most have steep gable
roofs to allow for sleeping quarters. 1890-1940
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