Various Types of House Styles

Description: Gambrel houses feature a roof with two differently angled pitches on each of its sides. The lower portion of the roof has a steeper pitch than the upper portion.

Facts: Gambrel houses may feature an engineered truss design so that none of the interior walls are load-bearing.

Also known as: Split foyer

Description: Bi-level homes include two short sets of stairs and two levels. The main entrance to the home leads to the landing of a stairway. From there a short flight of stairs leads up to the top floor and another short flight of stairs leads down to the lower floor. The top floor often has full height ceilings with the living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms, while the lower floor likely has lower ceilings and is partially underground. A garage may take up a portion of the lower floor.

Description: Cape Cod houses are square or rectangular and typically are made of wood. They feature a symmetrical design (doors and windows on the outside of the building are placed symmetrically) with one or one and a half stories. Their roofs are steeply pitched and gabled (there is a wall at each end of the house that forms a triangle with respect to the roof). They may have dormers (windows set vertically in a structure projecting through the sloping roof) and shutters. The siding is usually wide clapboard, shingles, or brick. They may include a centralized fireplace that is connected to all the rooms.

Also known as: California ranch, in-line house

Description: Ranch style houses have one story with a rectangular open plan (the living areas are not distinctly separated). They tend to be long houses, consisting of a series of connected rectangular rooms. They have a pitched roof, and may have a built in garage, wood or brick exterior walls, sliding and picture windows, and sliding doors leading to patios.

Facts: This style came about in the 1930s and became highly popular in the 1950s and 1960s during the building boom after World War II.