Home Style Guide

Your Guide to Home Styles in North America and Beyond

By Jackie Craven, About.com Guide

Explore home styles and housing types through history. In this house style guide, you'll find links to facts, photos, diagrams, and building plans for the most popular home styles in North America and other parts of the world.

American Colonial House Styles

1600s - 1800 When North America was colonized, settlers brought building traditions from many different countries. Architecture from America's colonial period continues to influence the houses we build today.

Classical House Styles

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.

Victorian House Styles

1840 - 1900 Mass-production and factory-made building parts made large, elaborate houses more affordable. A variety of Victorian styles emerged, each with its own distinctive features.

Gilded Age House Styles

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.

Frank Lloyd Wright House Styles

Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style houses were low and compact.

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

Early 20th Century House Styles

Small, affordable bungalows swept across America.

1905-1945 In the early 1900s, builders sloffed off the elaborate Victorian styles. Homes for the new century were compact, economical, and informal.

Post-War House Styles

Raised Ranch Style House in Northern Virginia

1945-1980 Soldiers returning from World War II brought an enormous need for housing. Real estate developers purchased large tracts of land and constructed homes with an eye on simplicity and affordability.

Modernist House Styles

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.

"Neo" House Styles

1965-present Neo means new. Many new homes borrow details from historic styles and combine them with modern features.

Spanish and Mediterranean House Styles

1600s - present Spanish settlers in Florida and the American Southwest brought a rich heritage of architectural traditions and combined them with ideas borrowed from Hopi and Pueblo Indians. Modern day "Spanish" style homes tend to be Mediterranean in flavor, incorporating details Italy, Portugal, Africa, Greece, and other countries.