wajahatmughalAs a large country built by immigrants from all over the world, diverse perspectives have shaped American cuisine, fashion trends, and art styles. So it’s no wonder that American architecture was also influenced by America’s worldly population. Depending on where you live in the United States, the types of houses can run the gamut when it comes to shape, size, contraction, and architectural style. Ranch style homes are popular in the midwest, while Colonial Revival styles of houses can be found along the East Coast and Spanish Colonials reign in California. Because of the varying geographical influences on these design styles, it can be difficult to distinguish each type of home from the one next to it—what is actually the difference between a Victorian home and a Queen Anne anyway?
Not to be confused with the categories of homes—single-family, multi-family, condo, apartment, and co-op—we’re strictly talking about a home’s architectural type. That means looking at features like the trim, roofline, number of floors, building materials, and the windows’ and doors’ shape, size, and placement, as well as exterior features like porches.
Regardless of where you live, it’s helpful to identify what style of home you love (and hate), since it can help you decide where to move and which homes to consider. To teach you how to spot your favorites, we’ve rounded up a list of the most common types of houses in the country and their key identifying details. Here’s your list from A to Z—er, V.
Salt Box
Defined by the sharply slanted roof, salt-box houses are usually gable-roofed homes that have two stories in the front and only one in the back (hence the steep angle). These types of homes are often found along the New England coastline.
Carriage House
Carriage houses can be identified by their oversize and often arched center doorways. As the name suggests, wealthy families built these smaller homes in the past as accommodations for their horses and carriages. You usually see them in urban areas next to or adjoined with a standard row house.
Known for their symmetry, a duplex is a standard, single-family home that has been split down the middle into two units. Each duplex has two fully equipped single-family homes, each with its own entrance. In urban settings, a duplex can also refer to a single apartment unit that spans two floors.
Tudor
You can pick out Tudor homes easily thanks to their decorative half-timbering. This exterior accent is essentially a mock frame of thin boards with stucco or stone filling in the spaces between the boards. The rest of the exterior is usually brick. Tudors also tend to have a steeply pitched roof with multiple overlapping, front-facing gables (the triangular portion of the roof) of varying heights.
A-Frame
As the name suggests, A-frame homes are characterized by a triangular silhouette in the shape of a capital A. Most common in northern parts of the U.S., they’re designed so that snow and rain side easily down the sloped roof. This one is actually a prefab home you can buy and assemble yourself.
Semrushtools
Add comment