About Shingle Style Architecture

By Jackie Craven, About.com Guide

Whether sided in shingle, brick, or clapboard, Shingle Style homes marked a significant shift in American housing styles. Shingle architecture broke free from lavish, decorative designs popular in Victorian times. Deliberately rustic, the style suggested a more relaxed, informal style of living. Shingle Style homes could even take on the weather-beaten appearance of a tumble-down shelter on the craggy New England coast.

But this simplicity was, of course, a ruse. Shingle Style homes were never the humble dwellings of fishing folk. Built in seaside resorts like Newport, Cape Cod, eastern Long Island and coastal Maine, many of these houses were vacation "cottages" for the very wealthy. And, as the new casual look caught favor, Shingle Style homes popped up in fashionable neighborhoods far from the seashore.

The Shingle Style home shown here is the summer residence of George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States. Located on Walker's Point near Kennebunkport, Maine, the rambling shingle-sided mansion was built in 1903.