Photo courtesy Allan Ferguson, Flickr

Buying a Historic Home:What’s Your Style? (Part 2)

This style is most common in the Northeast and Midwest, but you can find examples throughout the country. Look for a mansard roof with dormer windows on a steep slope, molded cornices along the top and bottom of the roof, decorated brackets under the eaves, and windows and doors that are rounded at the top.

* Dormer: Projection in a sloped roof usually containing a window.

* Eaves: The underside of a sloping roof overhang at a wall.

1. Second Empire

Photo courtesy taberandrew, Flickr

Defined primarily by decorative detailing, you’ll find ornamental trusses at the peak of gables, large overhanging eaves, and clapboard walls with horizontal and vertical wood banding (stickwork) raised from the wall surface. Found primarily in the Northeast and San Francisco Bay area, this style is considered a transition from Gothic Revival to Queen Anne.

* Gable: The triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof.

* Truss: Triangular framework, typically consisting of rafters and posts, supporting a roof.

2. Stick Style

Photo courtesy Swampyank, Wikimedia Commons

A very popular style across the country during the last quarter of the 19th century, you can identify these houses by their steeply pitched, irregular, or cross gable roofs, classical detailing at the cornices, and double-hung windows that often contain stained or colored glass.

3. Queen Anne

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Exterior walls of wood shingles, often mixed with clapboard, stone, or patterned brick, and irregular pitched roofs covered in wood shingles give this style its name.

4. Shingle Style

Photo courtesy Allan Ferguson, Flickr

Named for the American architect H. H. Richardson, who was the leading practitioner of the Romanesque Revival style in the late 19th century, this style was favored for public buildings and churches. Richardson designed few houses in this style, but elements of his work, like heavy rusticated stone exterior walls with arches over doors and windows and squat porch columns, found their way into many residences during this period.

* Rusticated: Stone cut in massive blocks separated by deep joints, giving a rich texture to the wall.

5. Richardsonian Romanesque

Photo courtesy Bernt Rostad, Flickr

As its name implies, this style is derived from the styles popular during the American colonial period, particularly Georgian and Late Georgian, so a Colonial Revival is often hard to distinguish from these two. The major difference lies in the manufacture of construction materials -- earlier styles were made by hand, giving them a slightly irregular appearance; Colonial Revival houses were machine-made, so they are precisely shaped.

6. Colonial Revival

Photo courtesy Shakespeare, Wikimedia Commons

The major distinguishing features of this type of house are wooden half-timbered and stucco walls, large decorative gable ends or side chimneys, and slate or asphalt shingled roofs designed to look like thatch.

7. Tudor Revival

Photo courtesy chicagogeek, Flickr

Predominantly found in California and the Southwest, the Mission style is derived from the Spanish Colonial. Look for smooth stucco walls and low-pitched roofs covered in mission tiles. You’ll also often find large front and wrapped porches supported by heavy square piers or squat columns.

8. Mission

Photo courtesy Shiny Things, Flickr

Developed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, this style is often called the first truly American style of architecture. These houses have open floor plans, low ceilings, and prominent central fireplaces. They are mostly concentrated in the upper Midwest, but can be found across the country.

9. Prairie Style

Photo from the Historic American Buildings Survey, HABS ILL, 16-OAKPA, 5-2

A compact plan, limited hallways, low gable or hipped roof, exposed rafters at the eaves, and a large front porch are all identifying characteristics of this style. You’ll also often see double-hung windows that have a multi-paned upper sash and single-pane lower sash.

* Hipped roof: All sides slope downwards to the walls (generally a gentle slope), thus it is a house with no gables.

10. Bungalow or Craftsman

Photo courtesy Patty Y 1000, Flickr

11. Mediterranean Revival. Combining Italian, Spanish, Moorish, and North African elements, these houses are characterized by light color stucco exteriors, low-pitched tile roofs, archways and arcaded entrances, wrought-iron grill work, and small balconies.

12. Art Deco and Art Moderne. Both of these styles feature open floor plans, flat or very low-pitched roofs with low profile parapets, smooth stucco walls, and horizontal groupings of metal casement windows. The main difference is on the exterior -- Deco houses utilize geometric motifs, while Moderne houses have streamlined, usually horizontal detailing. * Parapet: A low wall at the top of a façade usually hiding a flat or low-pitched roof.

13. International or Modern. Often associated with high-rise offices and apartment buildings, structures in this style are almost always rectangular in shape, have exterior walls of glass or smooth stucco, and have a flat roof with a minimal parapet. You’ll find houses in this style primarily in California and the Northeast.

A Few Extras:

(Clockwise from top) Photos courtesy Marc Averett, Phillip Pessar, and blipsman, Flickr

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