What Style House is Your Home

When people look to remodel their homes, they know they need more space or curb appeal but if they’re adding features and style they may not know which features would enhance , not detract, from their architectural style.

There are many popular styles of homes in the Washington Metropolitan Area – with architecture as diverse as its residents. Being educated about which style of home you have can help you research tastefully-remodeled homes similar to yours and give you a head start at determining your design.

Here’s a short list of the most iconic styles you’ll see around Virginia, Washington DC, or Maryland. Very few homes these days are strictly one style but mixes:

Cape Cod Style
The simple, rectangular homes popular in 20th century suburbs originated in Colonial New England back in early Colonial days. The original Cape Cod house was a simple, one-story structure with a single chimney in the center.

Federal and Adam House Styles
Graceful detail make this a popular house style originating in the late 18th century. Woodlawn, near Mount Vernon VA with its fanlight and elliptical windows in the gable is a good example of a Federal design.

Folk Victorian
Affordable and simple, these North American homes, became a popular style around the turn of the 20th Century. Square and symmetrical in shape they usually had porches embellished with spindle work or flat jigsaw cut trim.

Queen Anne Victorian 
This Victorian era popular style had round towers and wrap-around porches give Queen Anne houses a regal air.

Shingle Style
Another turn of the century design is the Shingle Style home. Architects who didn’t like Victorian fussiness designed rustic Shingle Style homes, popular in the Northeastern United States between 1874 and 1910.Rambling and asymmetrical Shingle Style homes are a popular look along the Eastern Shore.

Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival style is based loosely on Federal and Georgian house styles, and another architectural rebellion against excessively elaborate Victorian Queen Anne architecture. Between World War I and II, Colonial Revival was the most popular historic revival house style in the United States.

Tudor
Tudor style houses usually feature striking decorative half-timbering and suggest a look associated with Medieval times. They may have overlapping gables, parapets, and beautifully patterned brick or stonework. These historic details sometimes combine with Victorian or Craftsman flourishes. Tudors can be simple cottages or mansions.

Prairie Style
1893-1920. Frank Lloyd Wright transformed the American home when he began to design “Prairie” style houses with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces.

American Foursquare
The American Foursquare, or the Prairie Box, was a post-Victorian style that shared many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. The boxy foursquare shape provided roomy interiors for homes on small city lots. The simple, square shape also made the Foursquare style especially practical for mail order house kits from Sears and other catalog companies. They were frequently dressed up with features from other styles.

Arts and Crafts (Craftsman)
The word “Craftsman” came to mean any house that expressed Arts and Crafts ideals, most especially the simple, economical, and extremely popular Bungalow. The word bungalow is often used for any small 20th century home that uses space efficiently. However there are particular features we associate with bungalow architecture in the USA. A Craftsman house is often a Bungalow, the truest form of American Arts & Craft architecture – but many other styles can have Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman features. From cozy bungalows to sprawling Prairie houses, many American homes were shaped by Craftsman ideas and modified to fit the climate of the area they were built in. (The name bungalows, although quite American,  has its roots in India. In the province of Bengal, single-family homes were called bangla or ban gala.)

American Bungalow are usually 1 and a ½ stories, living room at center with connecting rooms, no hallways, built-ins.

Ranch Style
(variations are Raised Ranch and Split-Level)

From 1945 to the 1980′s the Ranch Style was popular across the United States with each region having its particular style. A Ranch is a very simple, one-story styled house sometimes with a rambling layout, large windows, attached garage with an emphasis on openness and efficient use of space. They usually don’t have much in the way of decorative detailing aside from shutters. They are generally built with natural materials like brick, stone and wood with oak floors. Raised and Split-Level ranches are 2 levels and often have walk-out basements. Most likely you must walk up steps to the front door.

Builder’s Colonial / Neocolonial
1965-Present. Neocolonial, or Builder’s Colonial, houses incorporate mixture of historic styles adapted for contemporary lifestyles. New England Colonial, Southern Colonial, Georgian, and Federal details are imitated using low-maintenance modern materials. The idea is to convey the traditional, refined atmosphere of a Colonial home, but not to recreate a Colonial style.

Unlike the earlier Colonial Revival homes, the interiors of Neocolonial, or Builder’s Colonial, homes have the latest and greatest with great rooms, high-tech kitchens, and other conveniences.

Neoeclectic Houses
1965-Present. A longing for a more traditional style influenced the design of modest tract housing in North America. Builders began to offer traditional, Neoeclectic (or, Neo-eclectic) houses that were “customized” using a mixture of features. These homes are sometimes called Postmodern because they mix styles – critics use the term McMansion to describe a Neoeclectic home that is over-sized and pretentious.

Contemporary
1965-Present. Contemporary homes are usually irregular in shape and are designed for today’s lifestyles with huge, modern windows and large, open spaces.

So, recognize your home from these descriptions? You may not if your home has had a few owners who added their own personalities to the look along the years – but we can help.  When you have your ideas together, bring them to Colonial Remodeling. Our designers can turn your concept into a remodeling with the right features, the correct architectural elements that will all come together for a more beautiful home addition, entranceway, exterior upgrade, windows and trim  - inside and out. Visit our different photo galleries and see if you can recognize the different styles of homes – then contact Colonial Remodeling, Today’s Remodeling Experts.