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Guide to American Homes, 1600 - Present

Residential Architecture in a Nutshell

By , About.com Guide

Even if your house is brand new, its architecture draws inspiration from the past. This index traces important housing styles from Colonial to modern times. Learn how houses have changed over the centuries, and discover interesting facts about the design influences that helped shape your own home. For more information about residential architecture, be sure to also visit our house styles picture dictionary.

American Colonial House Styles

Colonial homes in New England often had chimneys in the center. Photo @ Jackie Craven

1600s - 1800
When North America was colonized, settlers brought building traditions from many different countries. Colonial architecture includes a wide range of styles, including New England Colonial, German Colonial, Dutch Colonial, Spanish Colonial, French Colonial, and, of course, the ever-popular Colonial Cape Cod.

  • Guide to American Colonial House Styles
  • Neoclassical House Styles

    Greek Revival HouseDemocratic ideals are expressed in classical details of Greek Revival homes. Photo © Jackie Craven
    1780 - 1860
    During the founding of the United States, many people felt that ancient Greece expressed the ideals of democracy. Architecture reflected classical ideals of order and symmetry.
  • Federal and Adam House Style
  • Greek Revival House Style
  • Tidewater House Style
  • Antebellum Architecture
  • Victorian House Styles

    Queen Anne home in Saratoga, New YorkQueen Anne was the reigning style of the Victorian era. Photo © Jackie Craven

    1840 - 1900
    Mass-production and factory-made building parts made large, elaborate houses more affordable. A variety of Victorian styles emerged: Italianate, Second Empire, Gothic, Queen Anne, Romanesque, and many others. Each style had its own distinctive features.

  • Guide to Victorian House Styles
  • Gilded Age

    Beaux Arts MansionThe Vanderbilt Marble House in Newport, RI was a Beaux Arts mansion. Photo © Flikr member Daderot
    1880-1929
    The rise of Industrialism brought the period we know as the Gilded Age. Business leaders amassed enormous wealth and built palatial, elaborate homes.
  • Beaux Arts Style
  • Renaissance Revival House Style
  • Richardson Romanesque House Style
  • Queen Anne House Style
  • Tudor Revival House Style
  • Neo-Classical House Style
  • Frank Lloyd Wright Styles

    Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style houses were low and compact.Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style houses were low and compact. Photo © Steve Estes

    1901-1955
    Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home when he began to design houses with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces.

  • Prairie Style
  • Usonian Style
  • Hemicycle Design
  • Organic Design
  • Bungalow Styles

    California BungalowAffordable bungalows swept across America in the early 1900s. Photo © Diana Lundin / iStockPhoto

    1905-1930
    Named after primitive thatched huts used in India, bungaloid architecture suggested comfortable informality. However, not all bungalows were small, and bungalow houses often wore the trappings of many different styles, including Arts & Crafts, Spanish Revival, Colonial Revival, and Art Moderne.

  • American Bungalow Styles
  • Early 20th Century House Styles

    American Foursquare Style HouseThe practical American Foursquare style. Photo © Jackie Craven
    1905-1930
    In the early 1900s, builders slough off the elaborate Victorian styles. Homes for the new century were compact, economical, and informal.
  • Arts & Crafts (Craftsman)
  • Bungalow Styles
  • Tudor Cottage
  • Spanish Mission House Style
  • American Foursquare House Style
  • Colonial Revival House Style
  • Mid-20th Century House Styles

    Levittown Jubilee designLevittown Jubilee house, Twin Oaks, PA ©Jesse Gardner, CC BY-SA 2.0, flickr.com

    1930 - 1965
    During the Great Depression, Americans moved toward increasingly simple housing styles. Affordable Minimal Traditional, Ranch, and Cope Cod houses became the mainstay of the expanding suburbs. As soldiers returned from World War II, real estate developers raced to meet the rising demand for inexpensive housing. The era brought a flurry of innovations, from the metal prefab Lustron houses to the eco-friendly geodesic domes.

  • Mid-Century Homes, 1930 - 1965
  • Modernist Houses

    Postmodern home by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Robert Venturi. Pritzker Prize image.Postmodern home by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Robert Venturi. Pritzker Prize image.

    1930-present
    Modernist houses broke away from conventional forms, while postmodernist houses combined traditional forms in unexpected ways.

  • Art Moderne House Style
  • Bauhaus Style
  • International Style
  • Desert Modernism
  • Eichler Houses
  • Alexander Houses
  • Modern House Styles
  • A-Frame Style
  • Postmodern House Style
  • MORE HOUSE STYLES

    Continue to the next page for facts and photos for more house styles, including Spanish and Mediterranean styles, French styles, earth houses, prefab homes, and dome homes.
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