Common Architectural Styles

COLONIAL to 1785

Houses were typically built of vertical post and horizontal beams (post and beam construction) with a large, flat central chimney. A five-room plan was prevalent with a room on either side of the short front entry hall and a bigger room across the back of the house. This latter room was flanked by a tiny room in each of the back corners. Gable (inverted "V") and "Dutch" gambrel roofs were popular. The long side usually faced the street and had a center entrance framed by pilasters (flat-sided columns) and capped by a triangular pediment. More elaborate houses provide variations of this standard form.

1. Thomas Skelton House - 1799 124 Rte 1, Falmouth

2. 321 Falmouth Rd Falmouth

3. Daniel Howe House 1799 23 Danforth Street

4. Thomas Delano House - 1800 127 Pleasant Street

5. Capt. Nathaniel Dyer House - 1803 168 York Street

FEDERAL 1785 - 1830

Houses built just after the American Revolution were built on a lighter scale and included more decorative detailing. Fanlights over the front door -- either semicircular or elliptical -- with leaded glass were often used. The gable roof and hipped roof (where all four sides slope gradually to a flat top) were most popular. Almost everything was symmetrical.

6. Wadsworth- Longfellow House 487 Congress Street Colonial, 1785-1786 Federal, 1815

7. Hugh McLellan Mansion 1800 Spring Street

8. William Minot House 1807 Park Street

9. Stephen McLellan Mansion - 1800 116 High Street

10. Richard Hunnewell House 1805 156 State Street

GREEK REVIVAL 1825 - 1850

In the early days of our republic, American builders adopted classical Greek building forms for their new structures out of admiration for Greek democracy. Greek temples such as the Parthenon, with their long colonnades capped by a heavy frieze (ornamental ban) provided the standard model for Greek Revival buildings. On houses, look for sturdy columns, or pilasters on porches or smaller porticos. They may also appear at the corners of the house, framing the entire house of most other styles. The gable roof is the most prevalent with the narrower gable end often facing the street.

11. C.Q. Clapp House 1832 97 Spring Street

12. Thomas O'Brion House 1847 172 State Street

13. Congress Street Stroudwater

14. Spring Street Firehouse 1833

15. Henry and Horace Ward Houses 1833 97 State Street

ITALIANATE 1850 - 1885

Inspired by the villas of 15th to 17th century Italy, these houses are box-shaped and usually symmetrical, with low-pitched roofs and wide, overhanging eaves supported by elaborate brackets. Door hoods and round-headed windows or narrow, paired floor-to-ceiling windows are common features as are decorative quoins, or blocks, at the corners of the house. A boxy corner tower may also be featured.

16. Victoria Mansion 109 Danforth

17.James Merrill House 1858

18. Benjamin Farnsworth House 1867-68 357 Spring Street

19. George Wescott House 1874 364 Spring Street

20. Anne Whitney House 1877-78 365 Spring Street

QUEEN ANNE 1875 - 1900

A highly eclectic style, the Queen Anne is distinguished by its asymmetrical form, embellished with towers, bay windows, dormers and other fanciful detailing. Roof forms were complex and often dominated the building's design. Different siding types were often used on an individual house, such as clapboards for the first floor, with decorative, cut shingles for the upper floors. Green or red slate, brick and brownstone were also popular choices of building materials. Elaborate turned spindles often supported curving porches. Stained glass windows were also common.

21. Frederick E. Richards House - 1893 150 Vaughn Street

22. Elizabeth M. McDonald Cottage 1881-82 171 Vaughn Street

23. Harry Butler House 1892-94 Thomas & Spring

24. Elizabeth J. Eastburn House 1891 208 Spring Street

25. Frank Strout House 1898 55 Thomas Street

COLONIAL REVIVAL 1895 - 1940

At the time of America's Centennial in 1876, a wave of patriotic nostalgia swept the nation. People, notably architects, took new interest in America's Colonial past. The early houses became an inspiration for new design. In contrast to the asymmetry of the Queen Anne style, the Colonial Revival saw a gradual reversion to the symmetrical, more restrained forms of the the 18th century. A larger scale, however, distinguished this period from the Colonial period. These were bigger houses with bigger rooms, larger fireplaces, grander stairways, and higher ceilings. The use of later details, such as bay windows, often reveal that the house is a Revival rather than an original Colonial.

21. Mary Cate Thomas House 120 West Street

22. 231 Clifton

23. Richard Webb House 1906-1907 29 Bowdoin

24. George C. West House 1911 181 Western Promenade

25. Adam P. Leighton House 1902-1903 261 Western Promenade