In the United States, the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
classifies its listings by various
types of architecture. Listed properties often are given one or more of 40 standard architectural style classifications that appear in the
National Register Information System
The National Register Information System (NRIS) is a database of properties that have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The database includes more than 84,000 entries of historic sites that are currently listed ...
(NRIS) database. Other properties are given a custom architectural description with "vernacular" or other qualifiers, and others have no style classification. Many National Register-listed properties do not fit into the several categories listed here, or they fit into more specialized subcategories.
Complete list of architectural style codes
The complete list of the 40 architectural style codes in the
National Register Information System—NRIS follows:
[
]
Selected NRIS styles
Some selected National Register Information System (NRIS) styles, with examples, include:
Federal architecture
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
was the classicizing architecture style built in the newly founded United States between c. 1780 and 1830. Examples include: the Old Town Hall
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
in Massachusetts, and Plumb House in Virginia.
Greek Revival architecture
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
is a Neoclassical movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. It emerged in the U.S. following the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
and while a revolutionary war in Greece attracted America's interest. Greek Revival architecture was popularized by Minard Lafever
Minard Lafever (1798–1854) was an American architect of churches and houses in the United States in the early nineteenth century.
Life and career
Lafever began life as a carpenter around 1820. At this period in the United States there were no ...
's pattern books: ''The Young Builders' General Instructor'' in 1829, the ''Modern Builders' Guide'' in 1833, ''The Beauties of Modern Architecture'' in 1835, and ''The Architectural Instructor'' in 1850.
Greek Revival in the U.S. includes vernacular versions such as the 1839 Simsbury Townhouse
The Simsbury Townhouse is a historic municipal building at 695 Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury, Connecticut. Built in 1839, it was Simsbury's town hall until 1931, and is a good local example of Greek Revival architecture. It was listed on the N ...
built by an unknown craftsman [ and ] and the Dicksonia Plantation
Dicksonia, also known as the Turner-Dickson House, was a historic plantation house just south of Lowndesboro, Alabama, United States. Dating back to 1830, it was destroyed by fire twice. The house was recorded by the Historic American Buildings ...
, and high-style versions such as the Second Bank of the United States, Philadelphia.
;Plantation houses
Many plantation houses in the Southern United States were built in Greek Revival variations, including Millford Plantation
Millford Plantation (also spelled Milford) is a historic forced-labor farm and plantation house located on SC 261 west of Pinewood, South Carolina. It was sometimes called Manning's Folly, because of its remote location in the High Hills of S ...
, Melrose, Gaineswood
Gaineswood is a plantation house in Demopolis, Alabama, United States. It is the grandest plantation house ever built in Marengo County and is one of the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama.Gamble, Rober ...
, and Annandale Plantation
Annandale Plantation was a cotton plantation worked by enslaved laborers in what is now the Mannsdale neighborhood of Madison, Mississippi.
Its Italianate-style plantation house was designed and built for Margaret Louisa Thompson Johnstone, the ...
Palladian Revival architecture
Examples of the American revival of classical Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
include: The Rotunda by Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia, and the Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland.
Late Victorian architecture
Late Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...
is widely distributed on the register's listings, for many building types in every state. The Carpenter Gothic style was popular for Late Victorian wooden churches.
Queen Anne
The Queen Anne style was popular in later American Victorian architecture, after the earlier Italianate style
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
, and is frequent on NRHP residential listings. The Shingle Style is an American variation of Queen Anne.
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals
A grouping of historicist architecture Revival style
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothic Revival (a reviva ...
s, with the title Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals, has been applied by the NRHP for many listings. There are numerous listed buildings designed in an amalgam of several to many revival styles that defy a singular or simpler classification title.
Mission/Spanish Revival
Mission/Spanish Revival is an amalgam of two distinct styles popular in different but adjacent eras: the primarily late-19th-century Mission Revival Style architecture
The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...
and early-20th-century (and later) Spanish Colonial Revival architecture
The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
In th ...
. The combined term, or the individual terms, are often used in the style classifications of NRHP listed buildings.
Pueblo Revival
Pueblo Revival Style architecture
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
is a revival style
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothic Revival (a reviva ...
based on traditional Native American Pueblo architecture
Pueblo architecture refers to the traditional architecture of the Pueblo people in what is now the Southwestern United States, especially New Mexico. Many of the same building techniques were later adapted by the Hispanos of New Mexico into the ...
of adobe dwellings–communities in the Pueblo culture
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...
, primarily in present-day New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, northeastern Arizona, and southwestern Colorado.
Examples include the Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...
, La Fonda on the Plaza
La Fonda on the Plaza is a historical luxury hotel, located at 100 E. San Francisco Street and Old Santa Fe Trail in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico adjacent to the Plaza. The hotel has been a member oHistoric Hotels of America the official program ...
, and the Mabel Dodge Luhan House
The Mabel Dodge Luhan House, also known as the Big House, is a historic house at 240 Morada Lane in Taos, New Mexico, United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991. and It is now used as a hotel and conference cente ...
in New Mexico, and the Painted Desert Inn
Painted Desert Inn is a historic complex in Petrified Forest National Park, in Apache County, Arizona, Apache County, eastern Arizona. It is located off Interstate 40 in Arizona, Interstate 40 and near the original alignment of historic U.S. Route ...
in Arizona.
Exotic Revival architecture
Exotic Revival architecture is another style that may reflect a mix of Moorish Revival architecture
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...
, Egyptian Revival architecture
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat o ...
, and other influences. Just a few of many National Register-listed places identified with this style are El Zaribah Shrine Auditorium
The Polly Rosenbaum Building, formerly the El Zaribah Shrine Auditorium, is a building in Phoenix, Arizona, at the corner of 15th Avenue and Washington Street, that was built in 1921. The building formerly housed the Arizona Mining and Mineral Mu ...
, Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, Fort Smith Masonic Temple, and Algeria Shrine Temple
The historic Algeria Shrine Temple, now also known as the Helena Civic Center, is a Moorish Revival building in Helena, Montana that was built in 1920. The building served as a meeting hall for the Algeria Shriners and had civic functions. It wa ...
.
Examples in California include Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Theatre of China has a long and complex history. Traditional Chinese theatre, generally in the form of Chinese opera, is musical theatre, musical in nature. Chinese theatre can trace its origin back a few millennia to ancient China, but the Chine ...
and Egyptian Theatre
Egyptian-style theatres are based on the traditional and historic design elements of Ancient Egypt.
The first Egyptian Theatre to be constructed in the US – which inspired many of the identically-named theatres that followed it – was Graum ...
in Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, the Citadel Outlets
The Citadel Outlets are an outlet mall in the City of Commerce, California along the Santa Ana Freeway southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, which features the Exotic Revival architecture of a tire factory, whose partial remnants the complex occup ...
in Commerce
Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...
near Los Angeles, and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum (REM) is devoted to ancient Egypt, located at Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States.
It was founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC). The Rosicr ...
in San Jose.
Mayan Revival
The Mayan Revival architecture
Mayan Revival is a modern architectural style popular in the Americas during the 1920s and 1930s that drew inspiration from the architecture and iconography of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.
History
Origins
Though the name of the s ...
style frequently blends Maya architectural and artistic motifs with those of other Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
n cultures, particularly of Aztec architecture
Aztec architecture is a late form of Mesoamerican architecture developed by the Aztec civilization. Much of what is known about it comes from the structures that are still standing. These structures have survived for several centuries because of ...
.
Examples include: the Mayan Theater
The Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, California is a landmark former movie palace and current nightclub and music venue.
History
The Mayan Theater opened in August 1927 as a performance arts theater.
Leon Hefflin Sr. rented out the Mayan Theater d ...
in Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...
; the Hollyhock House
The Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright originally as a residence for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall (built, 1919–1921). The building is now the centerpi ...
by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
in East Hollywood
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
; and the Aztec Hotel
The Aztec Hotel is a historical landmark building in Monrovia, California, Monrovia, in the San Gabriel Valley, California. The hotel is an example of Mayan Revival architecture still in existence. It was designed by architect Robert Stacy-Judd, a ...
on historic U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
in Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
.
Postmedieval English
"Postmedieval English" architecture is a style term used for a number of NRHP listings, including William Ward Jr. House
The William Ward Jr. House is a historic house at 137 Powder Hill Road in Middlefield, Connecticut. Built in 1742, it is the oldest surviving house in Middlefield. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Description an ...
in Middlefield, Connecticut.
Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements
"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements" are revival style
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothic Revival (a reviva ...
s and other American architectural movements, that originated during increasing development in the United States during the Second Industrial Revolution
The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Firs ...
of the late 19th century, and continuing development and urbanization during the early 20th century before World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
;Arts
'American Movements' is a broader design and art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...
phrase used in the visual arts of the United States
Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arch ...
. It refers to U.S. centric art and design movements that originated during any century of the country's history.
Bungalow/Craftsman
Bungalow/Craftsman is a term commonly appearing in NRHP listings, which reflects American Craftsman
American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...
and Bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
styles.
American Craftsman
American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...
is often a term used for the Arts and Crafts movement works and philosophy expressed in the United States. It can include domestic architecture, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, decorative arts, and the fine arts. Many Craftsman and other style influenced California bungalow houses were popular and built nationwide into the 1930s.
Very large and well detailed custom residences are described as ultimate bungalow
An ultimate bungalow is a large and detailed American Craftsman-style home, based on the bungalow form.
Overview
The ultimate bungalow style is associated with such California architects as Greene and Greene, Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. S ...
s, such as the works by Greene and Greene
Greene and Greene was an architectural firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (January 23, 1870 – October 2, 1954), influential early 20th Century American architects. Active primarily in Cali ...
in California. Examples include: the Gamble House in Pasadena, and the Thorsen House
The William R. Thorsen House, often referred to as the Thorsen House, is a historic residence in Berkeley, California. Built in 1909 for William and Caroline Thorsen, it is one of the last of four standing ultimate bungalows designed by Henry an ...
in Berkeley. Smaller American Craftsman homes include: Batchelder House and Holmes-Shannon House
The Holmes-Shannon House is a Craftsman style home with Tudor influences.
History
It was built in 1911 in the Victoria Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Designed by Robert Farquhar Train and Robert Edmund Williams, the house was ...
. Bungalow examples include the Birthplace of Richard Nixon and the Lanterman House
Lanterman House is a bungalow-style historic house museum in La Cañada Flintridge, California on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was commissioned by Dr. Roy Lanterman in 1915 and was built by A. L. Haley (b. 1865), who was a ...
. Bungalow court
A bungalow court is a style of multi-family housing which features several small houses arranged around a central garden. The bungalow court was created in Pasadena, California in 1909 and was the predominant form of multi-family housing in Southe ...
s include: Palmetto Court and Gartz Court
Gartz Court is a bungalow court located at 745 N. Pasadena Ave. in Pasadena, California. The court consists of five buildings containing six residential units, which surround an oval rose garden and walkways. Built in 1910, the court, along with B ...
.
Early Commercial
There are hundreds of National Register-listed buildings of the Early Commercial architecture type.
The style may be a subtype/predecessor of the full Chicago School style architecture.
Plains Commercial
:Plains Commercial architecture and Plains Commercial Style is another variant of the Chicago School style.
See also
*National Register of Historic Places property types
The U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) classifies its listings by various types of properties. Listed properties generally fall into one of five categories, though there are special considerations for other types of properties whi ...
* Index: American architectural styles
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
01
*
Architecture lists
Lists of buildings and structures in the United States
National Register of Historic Places
United States history-related lists