What is the architectural style of this home??

December 26, 2008 10:16 AM

what is the architectural style of this house? It's a fixer upper that we plan to gut and try to keep with the style of the home as much as we can on our beer money. ;) I haven't had much luck scouring the net. It's listed as a colonial but it doesn't seem to be a "true" colonial? I'm wondering if anyone here can break it down for me. Thanks!
posted by Jujee to home & garden (15 comments total)

It looks like your basic vernacular colonial architecture. The roofline is a little strange—colonial uses a lot of dormers, usually—but it's certainly closer to "colonial" than to Queen Anne, Arts & Crafts, [Greek|Egyptian] Revival, and what have you.
posted by sonic meat machine at 10:22 AM on December 26, 2008

Perhaps a Sears house, or a knockoff of a Sears kit house?
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:31 AM on December 26, 2008

It looks similar to my house, which was originally a 2-bedroom bungalow built in about 1910. Sometime in the 50's or 60's, a full second story was added on instead of the 1/2 story it originally had, giving us that odd roof line thing like yours has. My house has had several additions aside from that (the original was only ~700 sq. ft and now it's more than double that) and you have to squint pretty hard to really see what the original structure of the house might have looked like.

I bet you could get a better answer if you posted about what year it was built, what the floor plan looks like and if it has any characteristics on the interior that might distinguish it (like woodwork or built-ins if they're still intact). That might give us some clues.

The drawing in the advertisement that MonkeyToes posted looks similar too.

Oh, and that is a really cute house! Have fun fixing it up!
posted by howrobotsaremade at 10:45 AM on December 26, 2008

Says the architecture student brother:
"I don't know. It's not really any style very specifically. It looks pretty turn of the century, kind of colonial I guess. It's the kind of thing where at this point in architectural history -- the beginning of modernism, etc.-- people just sort of began mixing and matching elements that they liked, with less attention to staying within a very specific style. Looking at that picture, it really does look like a Sears house, but I didn't think about that when I first saw it. As far as a matching interior goes, I would say do it like the house is, that is, mostly colonial sort of styled, but if there are other elements that you like but wouldn't 'fit' in a colonial house, whatever. Put them in anyway."
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 11:21 AM on December 26, 2008

He would also like my to apologize for making him sound like a moron.
"I didn't realize I was dictating an answer, I thought you were just asking."
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 11:25 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Have a look at the Sears kit house, Windsor model.
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:32 PM on December 26, 2008

This looks like it started life out as a classic colonial salt box. This link tells you a little bit about the progression of most of these.

Many older houses went through a period of renovation as time and money permitted, so the main core of the house is probably 20 or more years older than the rest. Salt boxes were common even before 1800, so the main core could conceivably be very old.

The large dormer is kind of craftmans kinda of victorian style so was most likely added in the mid teens through the early 30's. You can also see where the porch was created and closed in at some point and a small lean-to addition was added. All the funny roof seams are a good indication of how many times the roof line has been changed.

Actually the porch with the one over one windows looks like it has been redone kind of recently. Check the glass and see if its all wavy, it so it is nice old glass. The door on the porch is craftsman inspired.

Its really a charming little house and you could interpret the interior to any era from colonial to victorian to craftmans and still be in good. I would let your own style play here and even as a preservationist, I say you have every good reason to do what you want on your interior. All the changes you can see were done because the owner wanted them done, so don't worry much about being overly dogmatic about the renovation. If you have original mouldings though, I would be careful to protect and preserve them, if you want to move a wall or a doorway carefully pry them off and reuse them.

On a personal note, I might open the porch back up, it would bring a lightness to the facade
posted by stormygrey at 12:37 PM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Or perhaps the Marion? (Poking around this site might help you identify your house. This pic is the closest match I've seen.)
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:38 PM on December 26, 2008

Oh and btw, way to mish-mashy to be a Sears house. An owner might have tried to emulate a Sears house or something, but this house has clearly been altered substantially since it was first built.
posted by stormygrey at 12:39 PM on December 26, 2008

Here is a another little sketch of a salt box. Notice the windows have many panes, these are called lights. The windows in this sketch are 8 over 8. Many craftsman are six over one or for over one and such. The one over one window on your house is probably very modern, changing the windows will be expensive but can make your house look more authentic.
posted by stormygrey at 12:50 PM on December 26, 2008

Might be worth a trip to your local building department to view copies of all the permits that have been issued on the house. That way you can figure out which features have been added by past owners, and sort of trace back to how it might have looked originally.

I agree with stormygrey, open that porch back up if you have the space!
posted by Joh at 3:50 PM on December 26, 2008

I came here to say more or less what stormygrey said. It's a hodgepodge of a few different additions. Without knowing it's age, it's hard to say it's a true Colonial (18th century)- if it was, you'd have multi-pane windows, though they certainly could have been replaced in the 19th or early 20th century. Another indicator that it might be quite old would be if the original core house as two rooms wide and one room deep- this is the basic "I" structure that many true colonials exhibit, and that were updated to "saltboxes". From the outside arrangement of the windows, it doesn't look like this is the case, so I would be calling this style Folk Victorian, but the window arrangement could have been changed at a later date as well. At any rate, houses in this general style with a back lean-to, glassed in porch, and added dormer are common all over the country, particularly in rural areas, from Colonial times to early 20th century. We'd need more details to really figure it out, but you can't go wrong with "Colonial" or "farmhouse".
posted by oneirodynia at 4:04 PM on December 26, 2008

Thanks so much for everyone's input. This is really helping us! Here's some more info on the house that I should have originally included! It was built in 1921 and the total SF of the home itself is 1182 with three bedrooms upstairs and two full baths - a small unfinished attic and unfinished basement. It's really quite small. There is a two car garage built from cement blocks on the ground level and set to the left of the house in the back of the lot that we think might have been a carriage house?? - it has a door upstairs that opens to the outside...I'm assuming this is where hay might have been thrown out or brought up to? I know nothing of these things but am interested in learning.
posted by Jujee at 7:04 PM on December 26, 2008

Where did you get that 1921 date? It might be that that is when it was first on the tax roll, but not neccessarily when it was built. It looks quite a bit older than 1921, but its possible.

If you want a fun day at the courthouse, just go down and trace the address back in the tax rolls, it will show additions and such, its kind of fun.
posted by stormygrey at 7:58 PM on December 26, 2008

yeah, got it from the assessor's site. rifling back on the tax rolls does sound like it would be fun / interesting!
posted by Jujee at 9:28 PM on December 26, 2008