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Architecture
GUIDE
A - Frame
The A-Frame style is ideal for cold, snowy regions. Instead of piling on the roof, the snow slides down the steep slope of the A-Frame roof
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare is a very simple square shaped design with a wide porch across the entire house. The front door is centered with matching casement windows on either side. The pyramid shaped hip roof has a large dormer centered in the front of the house.
Art Deco
The Art Deco style is two or more stories with vertical lines. It is angular and boxy with a rounded extension. Glass blocks, metals, plastics, are the main features. The walls are smooth stucco or stone.
Bungalow - California
These simple, 1 1/2 story bungalows have a low profile, with a square shape, low slung gable or hip roof, an offset entry with a wide front porch, & exterior walls finished with stucco or stone.
Bungalow - Craftsman
Usually larger than the California Bungalow, the Craftsman features rows of high, small-ribbon windows, full width porches framed by tapered columns, and overhanging eaves with exposed rafters.
Cape Cod
The Cape Cod style house is usually rectangular shaped, one to one and a half stories, & has a steeply pitched gable roof with a small overhang. The roof is wood shingles and the exterior is wood siding or stucco. The multi paned windows with wood shutters are symmetrically placed on both sides of the front door. The garage is detached and placed at the back of the lot.
Colonial - Dutch
The dutch colonial house are one to two and a half stories with shed like dormers. They are easily identified by a distinctive gambrel roof. The front door may be a Dutch door, which is a horizontally divided double door.
Colonial - Revival
The colonial revival style are large with two or more stories. They feature wood exteriors with tall wood columns that are typically painted bright white. They are known for their graceful symmetry & elegant center entry hall.
Contemporary
Contemporary houses are characterized by attractive, simple, clean lines and the combination of of stone, glass, masonry, and wood in the exterior. These asymmetrical houses have a flat or low pitched roof. Ornamentation is simple with a vertical orientation.
English Cottage
The English Cottage is inspired after rustic cottages .Like their Tudor cousins, they are asymmetrical with an uneven sloping roof or slate or cedar. The exterior usually has brick, stone, or stucco with half-timbering. The low entry door creates a cozy feeling.
French Normandy
The French Normandy style features a round stone tower topped with a cone shaped roof. Vertical, half timbering adds height to the house. French normandy's have hip roofs and have stone, stucco, or bricks as siding,
French Provincial
The French Provincial style features large, square, symmetrical two-story houses with a distinctive steep, high, hip roof. The exterior is usually white brick or stucco. Windows and chimneys are perfectly symmetrical. They have a balcony and porch, rectangular doors, and double French windows.
International
International is a modern, asymmetrical, and very practical in its use of concrete, glass, and steel to create sleek lines. With a flat roof and floor to ceiling window walls, the design is avant-garde.
Mediterranean
A blend of Italian, Moorish, Byzantine, & the early California mission blend together to create Mediterranean architecture. White, light colored stucco on the exterior and a red tiled gable roof with very little or no overhanging eaves. Other features include arched doorways and windows, courtyard entrances, patios, ornamental tile, & wrought iron ornamentation.
Mission
Often called the California Mission, the houses are easily recognized by the round parapets on the roof that resemble those found on early Spanish colonial churches. Most mission styles have arched windows and a small courtyard entry with an arched front door.
Monterey
The Monterey style has a second story balcony on the front of the house. These houses often have a courtyard and wrought iron trim and fencing. The roof is a shallow pitched gable or hipped roof with red tiles and wood shakes. Windows are often tall and in pairs with false shutters.
Prairie Style
An extension of the bungalow style, they are designed with low horizontal lines that require large lots and are more expensive to build. They have low pitched hip roofs, with large overhanging eaves. They feature casement windows, and rows of small, high windows.
Pueblo/Santa Fe
Suitable for hot/dry climates, these thick earth colored adobe walls and flat roofs with rounded parapets make these houses look chunky. Roof beams called vigas, protrude through the walls and help support the roof.
Queen Anne
These houses were built with multiple stories with projecting wings, a complicated roof line with a very steep cross-gabled roofs, towers, turrets, vertical windows and balconies, multiple chimneys with decorative chimney pots, scrollwork, bric-a-brac, gingerbread, gingerbread with frosting., and a round tower.
Ranch
Ranch style houses are practical, informal and comfortable. They are featured as a one story, rambling, rectangular, L-shaped or U-shaped house. They have a low pitch gable or hipped roof, attached garage, stucco, wood, or brick exterior walls. Picture windows and sliding doors lead to the patio.
Shed
The shed style is a modern style characterized by its asymmetrical style and multiple roofs sloping in different directions. Typically exterior walls stucco or wood with small windows and recessed doorways.
Spanish Revival
The Pueblo inspired homes have rounded walls and flat roofs. The homes have red tiled roofs, stucco siding, arched entryways and windows, and decorative tiles by the windows and doors.
Tudor
The Tudor style gives a medieval style, characterized by patterned bricks or stone walls, rounded doorways, and casement windows. Inside they have arched entry ways projecting oriel windows on the second floor, and large leaded glass windows and stone mullions.
Victorian
The Victorian is asymmetrical, rectangular, or L-shaped, with white wood siding, steep gabled roofs, and a front porch with turned spindles. They are adorned with flat jigsaw cut trim in a variety of patterns and shapes.
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