Old-House STYLE GUIDE. A Selection Of American Houses From

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1 Old-House STYLE GUIDE [ t [ A Selection Of American Houses From

2 Early American (Georgian) The earliest American houses were like their English antecedents influenced by architecture from the ancient world. Taking cues from the Italian Renaissance, Georgian houses are first and foremost an exercise in symmetry, and were fine homes for increasingly prosperous colonial citizens, from Maine to parts of Georgia and Tennessee, who sought more upscale residences. In their simplest, earliest forms, the houses feature brick or stone facades (timber in the north) built on a rectangular plan and featuring a prominent dentillated cornice and matching windows in aligned vertical and horizontal rows. Paneled doors were topped with a decorative crown including a transom; roofs could be hipped or side-gabled. After around 1750, the style became much more refined to include the addition of Palladian windows, elaborate fanlights and door surrounds, and prominent entrance porticos. Paneled front door Decorative door crown with transom Tooth-like dentils on the cornice Nine- or 12-light sash windows Windows aligned in symmetrical rows Greek Revival As a relatively new country, America was sympathetic to Greece s war of independence, and as a result, Greek-themed architecture swept across the country in the decades following America s break from Britain. From New England to eastern Texas, houses with classical columns, pilasters, elaborate entablatures, and decorations from the ancient world (Greek key, anthenium, mutules) became commonplace. While buildings varied in their degree of dressing, most were painted white or cream and had low-pitched gabled or hipped roofs. The style s spread was also fueled by the ready availability of pattern books and carpenter s guides, and for more than two decades Greek Revival architecture was so popular that it was also known as the National Style. Classical entablature Triangular pedimented portico Porch supported by Ionic, Doric, or Corinthian columns Pilasters Imposing entryway

3 ITALIANATE In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, as the American middle class began to grow and prosper, more and more people sought to escape the dirt and disease of the city. In their new rural and suburban havens, they built Italian-style houses based on Tuscan country houses to reflect their wealth and modern taste. Examples of Italianate homes can now be found throughout the Midwest, as well as in the cities of the Northeast and in San Francisco. Although Italian styles were often blended with the Gothic features popular at the time, there are some distinguishing hallmarks of the picturesque Italianate home. Grander Italianate mansions are marked by three-part Venetian windows and stone construction, while less expensive homes were built with brick or wood. Italianate roofs vary widely, both in shape and material. They might be low-hipped, gabled, or almost flat, and can be constructed out of slate, lead, tin, or terne. Two or three stories Asymmetrical massing Broad eaves supported by decorative brackets Tall, narrow windows with ornate hoods or frames Square cupolas or belvederes Tall, narrow, elaborately framed double entry doors SECOND EMPIRE In the mid-19th century, during the reign of Napoleon III (known as the French Second Empire), anything French was in vogue in America including the building fashions. The seeds of Second Empire architecture were planted two centuries earlier, when French architect Francois Mansart developed a dual-pitched roof later known as a mansard roof to squeeze an extra floor of living space above the technical roof line. While the Parisians used the mansard roof to escape paying higher building taxes, many wealthy Americans adopted the style for its aesthetic value. They built their Second Empire houses primarily in the Northeast and Midwest, with less frequent examples scattered throughout the South and West. The Second Empire style was also widely used for public buildings during the Grant administration, lending it the nickname General Grant Style. But after the panic of 1873 and the ensuing economic depression, Second Empire quickly became passé. Dual-pitched mansard roof Molded cornices on the lower roof slope Decorative brackets beneath the eaves Ornate stone or cast iron window and door surrounds Columns and pilasters Iron cresting along the upper cornice Roofs decorated with colored patterns or textures

4 QUEEN ANNE At the height of the Victorian Era, the Queen Anne arrived in an explosion of architectural finery. Literally dripping in décor from steeply pitched, irregularly shaped rooflines to shapely turned woodwork and elaborately textured wall surfaces Queen Anne houses were decked to the hilt on every imaginable surface. Thanks to Industrial Revolution innovations, assembly-line shingles and millwork were affordable to a wide public for the first time (previously they had been wrought by hand at great expense), and an expanding railroad network made these pre-cut decorative pieces readily available. Consequently, Queen Anne homes popped up from the mid-atlantic to California (they are less prevalent in the Northeast). While the style was named for the formal Renaissance architecture prominent during the early 18th-century reign of Queen Anne, the details instead drew heavily from Medieval examples (Elizabethan and Jacobean eras in particular). Steeply pitched, irregularly shaped roof Dominant front-facing gable Full-width asymmetrical porch Decorative brickwork, timbering, brackets, spindlework Few flat wall surfaces (bows, recesses, angles, and textures common) Windows with one large pane bordered by smaller (often colored) panes Towers or turrets COLONIAL REVIVAL Inspired by the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia and eager to replicate the glory of America s early days, architects and builders in the late 19th century turned to the past for inspiration, awakening a revival in early American and Dutch Colonial styles. The fervor spread throughout the country and lasted for nearly a century, making the Colonial Revival America s most popular house style. The earliest examples of Colonial Revival architecture are somewhat eclectic, melding the open plans of fashionable Queen Anne houses with the simple detailing of earlier Georgians and Adams. By the end of World War I, the Colonial Revival s ideals had shifted to more accurately reflect the spirit of the originals, to the point where they are now often confused with their 18th-century predecessors. Colonial Revival houses, however, tend to be larger and slightly more ornamented than original Colonials, featuring details such as front doors with small, stylized porches or broken pediments (which are rarely seen on true Colonials). Front door accented with pilaster-supported pediment or porch, and surrounded by fanlight and/or sidelights Double-hung windows with multi-pane glazing Symmetrically balanced windows and center door Broken pediment

5 TUDOR A popular suburban counterpart to the Colonial Revival style, Tudor houses built in the late 19th and early 20th century put a new spin on a different centuries-old building style the manors and cottages of Medieval England. Drawing from this deep well of inspiration, Tudor houses ran the gamut of styles, from modest brick abodes with a single half-timbered Elizabethan gable to more elaborate structures showcasing multiple gables and embellishments like oriel windows and battlementstyle end porches. Tudors are typically classified by their primary cladding brick (the most common material), stucco, stone, or wood. Often, Tudor façades display some combination of these materials. Although Tudor homes were most popular in newly developing suburbs throughout the U.S., they cropped up in urban and rural areas as well. Steeply pitched roof and gables One or more prominent cross-gables, often half-timbered Dominant chimneys topped with chimney pots Tall, narrow, multi-paned casement windows (often with diamond-shaped muntins) Arched entry doors PRAIRIE The Prairie style took root in the early 20th century, the brainchild of an innovative group of Chicago architects known as the Prairie School, led by Frank Lloyd Wright and his teacher, Louis Sullivan. What set the Prairie School architects apart was that, rather than focusing on public buildings, they turned their forward-thinking creativity to the private domain. Examples of Prairie houses are primarily concentrated in the Midwestern states, particularly around large cities. One of the most prominent characteristics of the Prairie School is an emphasis on verticality a low-pitched, usually hipped roof with wide, overhanging eaves. The eaves, along with stark cornices, banks of ribbon windows (sometimes wrapping around corners), and façades bearing repetitive segmented panels accentuate the style s trademark horizontal lines. Two stories with one-story wings or porches Solid, square porch supports Cantilevered roofs Contrasting trim on the roof line Front doors with sidelight panels Banks of ribbon windows

6 FOURSQUARE Considered the vernacular and most common form of Prairie houses, Foursquares, with their hipped roofs, symmetrical façades, and fullwidth front porches, sprouted like weeds throughout the Midwest, but can be seen (albeit less frequently) in suburbs from Washington, D.C., to California, thanks to their popularity in pattern books. The Foursquare also called the American Foursquare is easy to identify by its square shape, central staircase, and four-rooms-to-a-floor plan. They are commonly two and a half stories tall, and can feature Mission or Italian Renaissance details like tiled roofs and cornice-line brackets. Two and a half stories Square plan Central stairway Steeply pitched hipped or pyramidal roof Full-width front porch BUNGALOW Often thought of as an all-american house type, the bungalow can actually be traced back to India, where British colonists first built them as living quarters. The concept spread from India to Canada, but it was in California that bungalows really took off, although they can also be found throughout the West, Midwest, mid-atlantic, and South. Bungalows typically emphasize the openness and simplicity of the Arts & Crafts, Mission, and Prairie styles: French doors, large windows, pergolas, sleeping porches, natural wood trim, ceramic tile hearths, stained glass, short paneled pillars, built-in furnishings, and colonnades separating living and dining rooms. Low rooflines and horizontal silhouettes One or one and a half stories Deep porches Wide eaves with exposed rafter ends and triangular or squared-off brackets Front, end, or cross gables At least one bedroom on the first floor

7 ART DECO For a nation in the grips of two World Wars and the Great Depression, the uplifting lines of the Art Deco style provided a symbol of hope and optimism. Springing primarily from the 1925 Exhibition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris (from which the style adopted its name), Art Deco embraced a futuristic look, taking geometric design cues from newly streamlined trains, planes, ships, and automobiles. The style is generally divided into two phases: Zigzag, which lasted roughly from World War I until the 1930s, and Streamline (or Art Moderne), which carried elements of Art Deco into the 1950s. Zigzag buildings are typically marked by decorative elements like chevrons, circles, and stepped-back lines, while Streamline structures tend to feature curved walls, horizontal reveals, and glass-block walls. Art Deco s influence across the country was widely scattered; today, the largest clusters of Art Deco architecture can be found in post-depression boom towns like Tulsa and Miami. Smooth wall surface (usually stucco) Flat roof Decorative geometric projections on the façade (Zigzag) Towers that extend above the roofline (Zigzag) Curved walls with glass-block windows (Streamline) Horizontal grooves, lines, and balustrades (Streamline) RANCH Based on the dwellings that populated rural California in the 19th century and incorporating horizontal elements from the Prairie style, the postwar ranch house was universally beloved by neo-suburbanites in search of easy, single-level living. The compact house designs that had typified America s streetcar suburbs fell out of fashion as the rise of the automobile made it possible for commuters to build rambling abodes on larger lots further away from city centers. Often shaped like Ls or Us and usually boasting asymmetrical façades, ranches were designed for family living, with open floor plans and backyard patios. The one-story structures often featured living rooms dominated by a picture windows and an attached garage to hold the now-necessary family car. One story, with a wide, asymmetrical façade Low-pitched hipped or cross-gabled roof Moderate to wide eave overhangs Ribbon or picture windows on the façade, smaller windows in back Decorative shutters or iron porch supports