Favorite Residential Architecture

[peaceloveunderstanding]

What is your favorite architecture for single family homes?

I am personally not very knowledgeable in architecture, so I don't know if I am using proper terminology or not, but my favorite is the French Provincial style and then second is the Spanish style. I also like the transitional style but I don't know if that is uniform enough to be considered and architecture. I like houses big, open, and with very light colors.

[TennBear]

Moonshield,

My favorite is the early 20th century style known as the Bungalow. Traditional workingman's homes that tended to be small but had a lot of character and detail work. They were available in a number of styles including Spanish. They have quirks in their designs which tend to make them interesting. They often had built-ins. These could be seating nooks, cabinets, sideboards, etc. Part of the reason for the built-ins was to make use of all the available space, since they were small. They were usually one or one and a half stories. Two story cousins would be four squares. The balloon constructed houses of the same era that are called that because they basically had four equal sides. You could go to this site to see some of the work of my favorite bungalow architects. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources...ages/index.html They tended to design for wealthy clients and their works are not workingman's homes. Some of my favorites are: Theodore Irwin House, Robert R Blacker House, S S Crow House, William R Thorsen House, and the David B Gamble House. All of these still exist. The Gamble House is open to the public, the Thorsen House is a Frat House on the Cal Berkley Campus, and the others are private homes.

[StevenRocks]

I'm a big fan of the Georgian and Colonial Revival styles, but the signature elements of those styles have been mis-used so much it's hard to find a good example in most neighborhoods.

[Ruso]

Spanish colonial style. Also, I love arabic constructions, I dont know why, they are just awesome. By a arabic housing I mean those famous blocks with round borders, that are constructed over each other. If someone with more knowledge on the subject could explain me more deeply about that style, I will be very grateful.

[hood]

It depends on whether your talking realistic designs or anything goes. My ultimate favorite design are the old gothic mansions. But when it comes to nice affordable and avalible houses, I like the "four pitch" houses, I'm not sure if thats the proper name but here is an example of an especially nice design, a brick one with a two-story porch, a bit neglected though. It's in Lansing, MI.

[StevenRocks]

^ The style's called foursquare usually, but yeah, that's a decent, affordable design for residential architecture.

[cheeriokid61]

I like modern ones with straight lines and lots of windows. Unfortunately, those are usually expensive. Other than that, I like the simple Georgian style houses. Yes, they look like a big block, but sometimes the less that goes in a design, the better it looks, and sometimes it can make the house look larger than it is, which gives a good first impression.

[NickR78]

Tutor style houses are nice....especially when they combine cut stone with the half timber motif. I'm also becoming attracted to the mid century aesthetic of the international style--and i love the houses by Richard Neutra in California

[MadVlad]

I like Perfect Sixs.

http://www.mutualhousing.org/properties/pa...ceii/ptii.jpg,3

[NickR78]

what is a perfect six?

[intcvlcphlga]

What is your favorite architecture for single family homes?

I am personally not very knowledgeable in architecture, so I don't know if I am using proper terminology or not, but my favorite is the French Provincial style and then second is the Spanish style. I also like the transitional style but I don't know if that is uniform enough to be considered and architecture. I like houses big, open, and with very light colors.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As an architect, I would argue that reducing residential architecture to a question of style, severely limits the ability of the architect and residential client to produce a design that actually reflects the client's needs and desires in his/her living environment and the specific site conditions (terrain, light, context, etc.). The notion of style is something that a historian rightly or wrongly attaches to recognizable attributes found in a collection of buildings that could then connote a "style." For example, if a Ward Willetts approached Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1900s and asked him to build a Georgian home, would he have ever been able to embark on a career that redefined the notion of the suburban home? So, in answer to your question - "what is your favorite architecture for single family homes?" - my response is an architecture that is designed around the specific wants and dreams of the family that will live there.

[MadVlad]

what is a perfect six?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Check the link I included, they are Perfect Six's. Hartford has a ton of them. Three story buildings, split so each floor has an apartment on the right and on the left. Each side shares a staircase, but not the whole building (usually).

[Mith242]

Spanish colonial style. Also, I love arabic constructions, I dont know why, they are just awesome. By a arabic housing I mean those famous blocks with round borders, that are constructed over each other. If someone with more knowledge on the subject could explain me more deeply about that style, I will be very grateful. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you might be talking about adobe. It's used a lot in areas of the southwestern US like New Mexico. I really like the old adobe missions in New Mexico. Santa Fe is also a good place to see a lot of adobe buildings.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

Basically something like this stucco, tile roof, modern, big but mostly one story, I also like those older southern looking houses.

[intcvlcphlga]

Basically something like this stucco, tile roof, modern

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This not modern. Stylistically, it's a McMansion beotchization of Palladian, Spanish and Southwestern architecture - basically take the classical motif of the arch that Palladio popularized in the Renaissance, take the McMansion motif of presenting multiple gables to the street, cover it in EIFS and add the all-too-familiar American innovation of an elevation whose primary elevation is the 3-car garage.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

This not modern.  Stylistically, it's a McMansion beotchization of Palladian, Spanish and Southwestern architecture - basically take the classical motif of the arch that Palladio popularized in the Renaissance, take the McMansion motif of presenting multiple gables to the street, cover it in EIFS and add the all-too-familiar American innovation of an elevation whose primary elevation is the 3-car garage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well i didnt mean it like that i meant that houses from the 50's that did have the same general style werent even built like that one in the picture and also i like the roofs on newer houses how they have so many setbacks i think theyd be called compared to 50 years ago. I also fail to see how its McMansion when its mostly single story except for that part above the garage but the kind of house id want would be completely single story and if i actually could afford a house like that in florida chances are i could afford more than one car and im one of those people obsessed with cars so id have that garage packed and maybe even the driveway.

[Ruso]

I think you might be talking about adobe.  It's used a lot in areas of the southwestern US like New Mexico.  I really like the old adobe missions in New Mexico.  Santa Fe is also a good place to see a lot of adobe buildings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, I have seen those in New Mexico. Adobe is very popular in deserted areas then, right?

[pyper]

I'm a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright. His homes took on various styles through the years. You really can't appreciate them from pictures though. Of the ones I've been inside of, the Robie House might be my favorite; Auldbrass at Yemasee, SC, might be the best sited.

[FromCityToRural]

I like a postmodern approach inspired by midcentury aesthetics. That is, a 50's look and feel with modern "architecture couture" touches. Very geometric but never boxy. It would be somewhat reminiscent of the low, wide look of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie school of architecture, of whom I'm also a very big fan. Take a walk around Frank Lloyd Wright's neighborhood in Oak Park, IL, and it's absolutely amazing.

[Jasoncw]

I don't know what this particular style is called, but I like it. That photo is by Ramcharger. The design is "messy" enough to be cozy and reletivly unique, but everything in the design is still, imo at least, very nice looking.

[bmorescottamanda]

Basically something like this stucco, tile roof, modern, big but mostly one story, I also like those older southern looking houses.

Yea I like that kind of house to. It also looks like the houses that they have in Las Vegas.

[Gusterfell]

I don't know what this particular style is called, but I like it. That photo is by Ramcharger. The design is "messy" enough to be cozy and reletivly unique, but everything in the design is still, imo at least, very nice looking.

That's called Queen Anne style, one of the most popular and versatile styles of the mid-late 1800s. They can range from quite simple and affordable, to large mansions like this one. Some of the largest, like your example, are masonry, but most of these houses are built of wood.

It's one of my favorite styles, and that's a beautiful house. Do you know where it is?

[Jasoncw]

Oh ok, now I know what style that is.

That's in midtown Detroit. The picture was taken earlier this summer.

[ZachariahDaMan]

I like Greek Revival, many of the old houses in my town are that style.

Hanford House

Sheldon Inn

Patterson House

Bradford House

[suburban george3]

My favorite style is the Craftsman style bungalow. Just luv them..