Each design has its style. Sleek, stylish, and sophisticated! While we see various house designs, architectural styles signify determined plan classifications, from Traditional to Modern. At the same time, when we talk about architecture in the Bay Area, the houses have a rich and unique structural history.
Here’s an article that talks about the home architecture styles found in the Bay area. If you are keen on becoming familiar with the home design styles in the Bay area, take a look at some of the most popular architectural styles.
Mid-century Modern Homes
Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius, architects who played prominent roles in the Bauhaus movement, brought this style to America. Homes with this style can be seen in Virginia and Maryland.
Mid-century Modern homes are genuinely a thing of beauty. The indoor-outdoor living idea was new to the home plan during the 1950s. With extensive glass walls, this style is also considered an outdoor space in its philosophy. Pared-down stylish, clean lines, level, low-pitched rooftops, sharp points, natural hues, and an open plan idea are signs of a Mid-century present-day home.
Ranch-style, Split-Level Ranch, Contemporary, and Shed-style homes were a few styles included in the Mid-century Modern category. Ranch-style homes can be spotted in Southern California.
Eichler Homes
Bay Area inhabitants are likely to be acquainted with Eichler-style homes. As indicated by the Eichler Network, Joseph Eichler (1900-1974) fabricated almost 11,000 single-family homes in California.
In Northern California, the Eichler homes can be seen across the East Bay, Marin region, San Mateo County, Palo Alto, San Jose, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Eichler’s three small communities in Southern California remain in Orange, Thousand Oaks, and Granada Hills.
Eichler homes regularly include open floor plans, glass dividers, and post-and-beam construction. Reports are that Eichler got inspired by engineer Frank Lloyd Wright and introduced quality architecture at affordable rates. Wright is one of the most-popular architects for the long, low Prairie-school style home that focused on natural design.
Italianate
Regularly remembered for the alleged Picturesque Movement, Italianate condos are recognizable by their wide extending moldings with weighty sections and their lavishly ornamented windows, yards, and entryways. Some of the first Italian villas were designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in the 16th century.
Italianate style was mainstream across the U.S. and Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. It was Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) who brought this concept to the American audience. The National Park Service owns one of the finest examples of late Victorian Italianate architecture. The John Muir National Historic Site in California, lays claim to the 17-room John Muir Mansion, built in 1882.
Even though Italianate-style homes were simple, they consisted of tight windows with adjusted tops, bogus railing rooftops with ornamental edging, and multi-story octagonal inlet windows. This house style used wood in San Francisco, in contrast to stone, for comparable development in the East.
Stick Houses
Stick houses, developed during the late half of the 19th century, featured thin wooden beams along the facades of the house. Stick-style houses were inspired by European Gothic and are known for their decorative geometry. Stick remained stylish throughout the 1890s in San Francisco, bringing intricate, Eastlake-inspired façade ornament to numerous wood row houses.
An American planner named Richard Morris Hunt started to plan and build Stick houses in America. He had studied in France when a revival of half-timbered architecture began. He was motivated by the rebuilding of Medieval German towns. Stick houses can be generally straight or include more elaborate enhancements from brackets on the peaks or other woodwork.
Queen Anne
Queen Anne homes are definitive in the excessive plan. These homes feature narrow windows, improved rooftop lines, flashy trimming, turrets, and more. This element was created around 1880 and joined a wide range of components from different styles. Queen Anne’s structures greatly vary. However, a few of the aforesaid qualities make the style easy to recognize.
The historic district around West Montgomery Avenue in Rockville, Maryland, is home to swanky Queen Anne-style homes. The most popular American Queen Anne residence is the Carson Mansion in Eureka, California. Newsom and Newsom, renowned builder-architects of the 19th-century, are known for creating elegant homes and public buildings in California.
Monterey Revival
Throughout history, particular styles have gotten inseparable from architects. Thomas Larkin, a Boston merchant who relocated to California, inspired the Monterey Revival style. Regardless of whether you call it “Monterey Colonial” or “Monterey Revival,” one thing is clear: The impact of Larkin and his unmistakable style has had a lasting influence.
Although created in California, the Monterey Revival home-style is an influence of Spanish architecture with its adobe-style development and red mud-tiled rooftops. These homes usually are two stories tall and feature plastered exteriors, tiled or shingled roofs, and shutters. These plan components all add to a classic Southwestern look.
If Monterey style is what revives your interest in architecture and housing, you may consider a drive up the Bay region. Many of these homes can be seen across Monterey, Salinas, Watsonville, and Martinez.
Craftsman
The Craftsman home design was developed in resistance to the wave of manufactured homes. Even though it instilled a fear that traditional trades would lose to machines, it prodded the height of homebuilding to creative art. These homes are simple yet wonderfully crafted. The features include low-pitched peak rooftops, wide overhang, and high-quality stone or carpentry.
Frank Lloyd Wright, a notable U.S. architect, had played a key role in designing Craftsman-style homes in America. This style can be seen in some places in San Diego and other older neighborhoods of many western American cities.
Marina
Designed in the Marina District in San Francisco, the Marina home architecture style incorporates both Mission Revival and deco elements. Marina houses are single-family homes that usually place the parlor at the front of the house, sitting above the road, with rooms at the rear of the house. The roofs of Marina-style homes are flat. The back of the house typically features a sunroom with ample windows.
Characterized by an “under” garage that sits below the home’s main living spaces, Marina-style homes are generally built from the late 1910s to the early 1930s. This style of architecture can be seen across Richmond and Sunset Districts.
In Conclusion
These mainstream styles lend a unique character and appearance to every new home. Regardless of whether you’re attracted to Italianate line houses, Spanish-affected Monterey Revival homes, or extreme Queen Anne plans, you’re sure to discover the home style of your dreams.
Do home architecture styles in the Bay Area inspire you? Design Everest can help you plan and bring your dream style into reality. If you are looking for quality construction and some appealing design features, we at Design Everest would love to introduce you to this type of homes.
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