In some ways it’s remarkable that Craftsman-style homes were so attractive, given the round-about way they were conceived. Rather than emerging simply as a new architectural form, Craftsman homes developed as part of the Arts and Crafts movement, which in many ways was a reaction against the over-decorated and fragile aesthetics of the Victorian era, as well as the lack of personal touch in many modern-era buildings. Given those prerequisites, one might have expected an unfocussed, impressionistic style to emerge, rather than the refined, often symmetrical building shapes for which Craftsman style homes are known. These homes can generally be identified by their front entrances featuring a large raised porch with columns on either side, a central door, and a single second story window in the second floor gable. Roofs in this style are generally hipped, with overhanging eaves on all four sides. Other common Craftsman features include extensive stonework, rough-hewn wood, and stucco exteriors.

The popularization of Craftsman homes is largely credited to designer Gustav Stickley, a turn of the century architect who often featured these homes in his magazine, The Craftsman. Stickley famously referred to Craftsman style as “a house reduced to its simplest form,” wrote lengthy reviews on home and furniture originals by designers Harvey Ellis, the Greene Brothers, and others. Large numbers of Craftsman homes began appearing in San Diego in the early 20th century, which eventually led to the term “California Bungalow” for these types of homes.

Craftsman-style homes worked as well for families and middle class as they did for designers and artistic activists. One of the most significant advances made by these homes was the way they re-aligned the kitchen area with the rest of the main floor – instead of having a segregated kitchen with a formal dining room, Craftsman homes often had a built-in “breakfast nook” so that families could eat closer to the kitchen, which then became the center of activity on the upper floor.

The Cape Cod style dates back to the earliest period in American and Atlantic Canadian colonial history. These first homes in the 1600s were un-adorned and practical, built for year-round comfort in the windy, cold Eastern Seaboard climate. Scarce natural resources for building also helped keep these homes simple and small, with little deviation in design, and typically rock or plaster exterior walls.

Early Cape Cod homes had a narrow rectangular shape, with a steep pitched roof to keep winter snow from accumulating. Rarely built with upper floor dormers, these homes tended to have a stark, impenetrable look, which became fashionable during the Gothic Revival period of the early 19th century. Cape Cod windows were generally double paned with wooden shutters, and placed symmetrically on either side of a central door, as well as in the gable on either side of the house. The first Cape Cods, also known as Colonial Capes, were usually one or two rooms deep at the most and just a single story with a large attic, contrasting with many 18th and 19th century styles that featured large two and three story designs. Colonial Cape floor plans tended to max out at 1-2,000 sq ft, and were typically furnished with all hardwood floors.

Cape Cod architecture was less common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as other styles predominated, but it enjoyed a widespread revival in the 1920s, when builders in other parts of the nation started using the style. The family awarded a new Cape Cod style home in the 1938 Life Magazine project chose to build in Edina, Minnesota, far from the coastal Massachusetts region for which the style is named. Colonial Revival Capes introduced a variety of new features to the classic form, including upper-floor dormers for extra light, bay and picture windows, front entrance pilasters, and more modern floor plans that sometimes included a kitchen extension at the back of the house. But revivalists were careful to remember the Cape Cod’s original appeal rooted in classic design, practicality, and affordability, and designed their new homes as traditionally as possible.

One of the reasons Queen Anne architecture looks so different from other styles is that it was generally only used on houses. While other styles like Gothic Revival and Federal were being adapted for commercial buildings, churches, and public institutions, Queen Anne architecture was specifically made for upscale houses and mansions, using the latest materials and methods of the machine age. Another developmental difference between Queen Anne and other styles is that it didn’t tend to draw on past eras, but instead produced a new building school that helped set the stage for 20th century homes.

The defining characteristics of the Queen Anne style are many and not always consistent, but there are a few key elements. In general, Queen Anne homes use high-pitched, irregular roofs, spindles and lookouts, decorative structure elements such as columns, and covered balconies. Many Queen Anne homes also employ stained glass, turrets, half timbering in the gables similar to the Tudor style, and patterned masonry. Different sub-styles of the Queen Anne movement include Spindled, Free Classic, Half-Timbered, and Patterned Masonry.

While generally very attractive, Queen Anne homes are often derided as being excessive, or “ginger-bread” like. It’s true that Queen Anne architecture was the product of a rapidly changing era, and many of the homes included features never seen before, so the criticism holds some weight.

The name for the Queen Anne style is often attributed to an 1852 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray entitled “The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. , A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne,” which was popular for decades in the English speaking world. By contrast, stylish and modern furnishings from the historical reign of England’s Queen Anne, came to be classified in a style known as “William and Mary. ”

Several design elements set the Second Empire style apart from other building forms. Most notably, the style is known for its widespread use of Mansard roofing, which produced the style’s famously imposing stature. Mansard roofs are hipped and double sloped, with a nearly vertical lower slope, and a much flatter upper slope that isn’t usually visible from ground level. The four-sided, double sloped approach made these roofs extremely functional as well as attractive, and allowed for large three story floor plans. Often a house with a small ground floor footprint could have the same volume as a tall apartment building or row house using a Mansard roof. The stylish look of these roofs was often enhanced with molded cornices aligned with windows and doors on lower floors. Many Mansard roofs also included a third slope along the bottom edge acting as an overhang, and a rounded main slope to give the roof a domed look.

Another common feature of the Second Empire architecture was a tower, or tower-like element, usually at the front and center of a building. This feature is instantly recognizable in many Second Empire city hall and parliament buildings, and often resembles a bell tower. With a large tower to offset the profile of buildings, the Second Empire style could often be employed to produce much larger structures – this meant the style was doubly useful in sizing applications, as it allowed small footprints to be used to their maximum potential, and large footprints to become more stylish and less monolithic. Prior to the construction of the Pentagon in the 1940s some of the world’s largest roofs were built in the Second Empire style, including that of the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, and the Ohio State Asylum for the Insane. Both of these institutions were built according to the Kirkbride Plan for mental asylums, which helped shape the Second Empire style in dozens of imposing, steep roofed health care facilities built throughout the late 19th century.

The practicality of Second Empire architecture was often overshadowed by its abundant ornamentation. Extensive custom molding on the exterior of these buildings was often matched by intricate detailing on the interior walls, often accented by high sculpted pillars and wide winding staircases. Beautiful ornamentation helped make the Second Empire style popular, but also may have helped push it into obscurity, as plainer building styles became more popular during the early 20th century.

As the name suggests, Shingle architecture relies heavily on the use of shingles on roofs and exterior walls. As a result, shingle style homes looked naturally more ornate than most homes, and required less ornamentation. The shingle skin of these homes also provided extra insulation, and kept the homes dryer and warmer during wet winter months. Stone counteractions on many of these homes also helped extend their life span for many generations of residents.

The exterior style of shingle homes was also defined by large, asymmetrical shapes, and generally horizontal profiles. Unpractical on small city properties, the style worked well on large coastal estates – many of the most famous examples of shingle architecture were built on the New England seashore. Shingle style homes tended to rely less on form than their Queen Anne predecessors, although they employed many of the same shapes. Features like gambrel roofing, polygon towers, and multiple eaves helped evoke the Queen Anne style while allowing for progression of the form. Since Shingle architecture is less clearly defined in shape, it’s sometimes more difficult to identify at a glance, except for the telltale shingle roof and siding.

Although Shingle architecture became fairly widespread around the turn of the 20th century under New York architects like William Rutherford Mead, Stanford White, and Charles Follen McKim, the style never attained the same popularity as Queen Anne architecture.

The interior style of Shingle homes was often characterized by the use of natural light. Shingle home floor plans were generally more open, and room to room transitions were often more informal than Queen Ann style homes, primarily because of their larger size. In this way, Shingle homes were often more accommodating to guests and large families.

Home buyers and sellers in the northeast and great lakes region will likely come across the Shingle style at some point, and a basic understanding of the form could prove a great advantage over other investors.