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What type of house do we have?

javelin

Architecture Pros,

We moved into this house last year, but have no idea what style of house it is. Can anyone shed any light? Thank you SO much in advance!

Best,

Jay

 
Jun 10, 14 1:08 pm
curtkram

probably somewhere in one of these:

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/

Jun 10, 14 2:15 pm  · 
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Lovely plan. Still have the original kitchen?

Jun 10, 14 2:38 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

I just love how those storm shutters don't even cover half the width of the windows.

Jun 10, 14 2:54 pm  · 
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Actually, Non Sequitur, I think those shutters are folded over twice, do you know what I mean?  two panels hinged together? They look real.

javelin, my question to the many people who come here and ask this very question is: Why does it matter? It's an American residential style of the last century.  American houses are often mutts, which is fine. It's a very handsome house with great detailing, and obviously you like it or you wouldn't have bought it.  What is your end goal in categorizing it?

Jun 10, 14 3:19 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

You might be correct Donna. Those two rooms must be extra important to be the only ones protected though.

Jun 10, 14 3:35 pm  · 
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DeTwan

Looks to be a 'Shirt waist' house. Is the foundation truely stone or is veneered?

Jun 10, 14 5:47 pm  · 
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The details of this house tells me that it could be a Craftsman(but I've been wrong before).

Jun 10, 14 9:17 pm  · 
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DeTwan, I'd never heard that term "shirt waist house" before, very interesting.

It makes me want to point out to the OP what I said before: American residential work is very often a mashup.  Builders in a given locale will try something and find success with it, then other builders will copy it.  Shirt waist isn't a "style", it's a local tradition.  Yes, there are houses built very specifically to adhere to the rules of a defined style - Colonial, Italianate, etc. - but more often they are agglomerations of what is visually popular and technically feasible for the builder at the time.

Jun 11, 14 8:45 am  · 
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Realtors are much better at naming things. 

I see Craftsman here, but also several more formal Classical/Colonial details. This kind of hybrid/mutt/eclectic design was popular for decades, most notably as developed by McKim Mead White and others in the early 20thC.

For many architects during this era, showing their knowledge of architectural history through the creative collaging and manipulation of elements from different periods and traditions was how they approached design. As noted above, it's probably not all that valuable to name it. 

But a realtor still could/would. 

Jun 11, 14 9:28 am  · 
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citizen

Wow, that's a beaut.  I'm with Donna that those shutters look real, and must be bi-fold.  You can see top/bottom hinges connecting them to the window frame, which I don't think would be there for applied cosmetic shutters.

And that plan shows the exterior walls as concrete of what, 12" thickness?  Heavy!  And would this mean that the second floor is wood frame and stucco?  Or more concrete with a different exterior finish?

The capper for me is that funky vaulted Palladian pediment porch (cantilevered, yet!) poking from beneath that Elizabethan (?) bay window above.  Fantastic, in a weird way.

I agree with Donna and Steven that naming a "style" for most houses is a realtor's game, not an architect's.

Jun 11, 14 12:24 pm  · 
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DeTwan

"I agree with Donna and Steven that naming a "style" for most houses is a realtor's game, not an architect's.

I guess that is why realtors make 6-7% a sale, and architects are luck if they get that percentage off their fees...

Can we get a realtor to chime in here...hello...?

Prob out selling a house...cash!

Jun 11, 14 12:34 pm  · 
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citizen

That's funny, DeTwan, because as soon as I posted that sentence, I regretted not qualifying it.  Because this is another chunk of effort that's easy to hand off to other professions.

What I should have written: identifying an architectural style or formal pattern is work for architectural historians and preservationists --many of whom are architects.

The naming-- really, branding-- of residential aesthetics done by realtors is for another purpose altogether.  

Jun 11, 14 1:37 pm  · 
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Veuxx

Beautiful house.

Jun 11, 14 3:54 pm  · 
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snooker-doodle-dandy

Do you have a view of the Ocean.....that is what is important in Residential Architecture. 

just kidding...snd.

Jun 11, 14 7:32 pm  · 
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IDEA Architecture College

No doubt the house is beautiful but that surrounding is adding more beauty to it.

Jun 13, 14 6:22 am  · 
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