Glossary
1 1/2 story
1 story
2 story
acanthus leaves
active system
Adam Style
adobe block house
American Foursquare
anchors
and other details
Apartments
arcade
arched doorway with carved stone decoration
arched entry with wooden door
arched windows with elaborate hood molding
architrave
Art Deco
Art Moderne
atrium
awning window
balcony
balcony
balcony and portico
balusters
band of sash windows
bay window
belt course
belvedere
block thermal mass
brackets
brackets under eaves
brick
brick quoins
brick walls with stone ledge
broad gables at different heights
broad gables with exposed rafters
broad shingled hip roof
broken pediment
broken window
Bungalow
Bungalow
buttress
California Ranch
cantilevered balconies
Cape Cod
carved
carved decorative panels
carved stone crest
carved wood decorations
casement window
casement windows
casement windows
casement windows
central courtyard
Chicago Style
chimney and raised center to pin the house down
chimney with small tile roof
chimneys at gable ends
chimneys at gable ends
circular
clan houses
clapboard siding
clapboard siding
Classic urns
classical columns
classical detailing
climate
closed porch
Colonial Bungalow
Colonial Revival
Colonial shutters
Colonial Styles
Colossal Doric columns
colossal fluted Doric columns
columns
columns
composition
concrete exterior
concrete slab topped with bricks
continuous band of recessed windows
continuous casement windows
corbelling
corner windows
cornice
Cotswold Cottage
coursed rough cut stone
covered porch
Craftsman Style
cresting
cross gable
curtain wall
curved corners
curved gable end
decorated belt course
decorative brick work
decorative entablature
decorative entablature
decorative gingerbread bargeboard
dentils under cornice
detailing
Dog Trot
door and window trim
dormers with arched windows
dormer
dormers
double French doors
double French entry doors
double hung window
double sash window
Dugout
Dutch Colonial
earth lodge
Earth Sheltered House
Eastern Stick Style
eaves close to wall
elaborate Palladian windows
encircling veranda
Energy-Efficient Housing
entablature window surrounds
entry staircase
exposed rafters and purlins under roof and dormers
exterior deck
exterior siding of brick
exterior siding of stone
exterior siding of stucco
exterior siding of wood
eyebrow canopies
faces
family cottage
Fantasy Houses
Federal
Federal style portico with wrought iron balcony
few small windows
fish scale and straight shingle patterns
fish scale shingles in gable ends
flat
flat arch
flat arch with keystone
flat roof with parapet wall
flat roof with stepped parapet
flat roof without eaves
Flemish bond brick work
Flounder House
fluted colossal columns
folk
fortress
French Colonial
French doors
French Roof House
frieze
front porch
gable
gable roof
gambrel roof with wide overhang
gallery
gambrel
garage
garage facing street
geometric designed panel inserts above windows
Georgian
Georgian Style
German stone houses
glass architectural blocks in vertical pattern
glass block window
Gothic Revival
Greek Revival
ground pillars
half-timbering
hip
hip roof with overhang
hip roof with wide eaves
hip with gable
hood
horizontal bands under windows
houseboats
inner courtyard
International Style
intersecting planes of gable roof
Into the 20th Century
irregular
Italianate Style
Jeffersonian Classicism
L shape
large central chimney
large front porch
lintel
location
low gable roof
low hip roof
low hip roof with wide eaves
low pediment
low pitch gable roof
low pitch hip roof
low pitch red tile roof
low pitch roof
mansard
mansard roof with patterned tile
maroon
mauve
metal casement windows
Midwest regional Prairie style variation
Mining Camp
Mobile Homes
Modernistic
modified Palladian window
Monterrey Style
mousetoothing
multi-colored lights in upper sash
multiple chimneys
multiple diagonally placed chimneys
multiple doorways
mustard
Neo-Expressionism
New England Colonial
number of stories
octagon
Octagon House
Octagon Style
olive
open porch
optional decoration
oriel window
overhanging eaves with purlins
oversized chimney
oversized cornice
painted white clapboard siding
Palladian window
Palladian window
paneled doorway
paneled frieze
parapet wall raised on elbows
passive system
pattern books
pavilion
pavilion roof
pediment
pedimented entrance
pediments
picture window
picture window
pilasters
piloti
pinnacle
pinnacles
pit house
plain*
plain white stucco
plan shape
plate glass windows
pointed arches
pointed windows
porch post with braces
porches
porches and balconies with extended beams
portable sleeper
portico
post and balustrade
Prairie Style
Prairie Style
Prairie Style
Prefab Houses
projecting bay windows
pueblo
Queen Anne
quoins
raised basement
Ranch House
recessed loggia
rectangle
red tile chimney roof
red tile roof
reinforced concrete
Revival Styles and Romantic Ideas
ribbon windows
Richardsonian Romanesque
rocks
Roman Revival
roof beams
Roof Material
Roof Type
rosettes
round arch
sage
salt box
sash window with sidelights
sash windows tucked under eaves
scooped out area shelter
scrollwork
scrolls
Second Empire Style
second story exterior porch
shake shingles
shed
shelf
shingle siding
Shingle Style
shingled exterior
shingled porch post
sidelights
sidelights
single sash window
single story
skeletal construction
sliding window
smoke hole
smooth wall surfaces
solar panels
solar panels
Southern Colonial
spandrels
Spanish Colonial
Spanish Colonial Revival
spire
split double story
split level
Split Level
Split Level
square
squat tower with conical roof
stained glass casement windows
stained glass transom
stamped redwood
starter home
steep cross gable roof
steep cross gables
steep gable
steep gable rock
steep gable roof
steep gable with pinnacles
stepped gable end
stickwork
stone thermal mass
stone
stone chimney
stone foundation
stone porch
stoop
stout columns with floral capital design
straight side gable roof
stucco
stucco facade
stucco over adobe
Styles
Sullivanesque
sunbursts
Sunday Houses
T shape
tepee
terra cotta
terraces and balconies
thick stone walls
tile metal
tower
tower
tower and parapet with battlements
tower with conical roof
Townhouse
tracery with stained glass
transom
transom window
Tudor arch
tumbling
turned porch post
turned porch post
typical Queen Anne cottage
U shape
Up to the Present and Beyond
Venetian red
Venetian window
veranda
veranda
veranda
vermillion
Vernacular
vernacular
vertical board and batten siding
vertical elements and stepped back facade
vertical logs with rock and mortar fill
Victorian
vigas
weather board
Western Stick Style
wide arched entryway
wide entablature
wide gable with overhanging eaves
wide galleries
wide hip roof
wide ornamental frieze
window types
window with wrought iron grill
windows and door with leaded glass in geometric patterns
wood
wood shingle siding
wood shingle siding
wood shingles
wood siding
wooden plank
work bench
wrap-around windows
wrought iron anchors
wrought iron balconies
Terms by Style
vernacular
folk
German stone houses
location
climate
adobe block house
pueblo
central courtyard
fortress
inner courtyard
wide galleries
exterior deck
earth lodge
pit house
smoke hole
tepee
wooden plank
clan houses
Dugout
scrollwork
shake shingles
mousetoothing
tumbling
anchors
steep gable rock
thick stone walls
Octagon House
pediments
columns
scrolls
sunbursts
acanthus leaves
rosettes
brackets
balusters
faces
carved
stamped redwood
vermillion
sage
mustard
olive
maroon
terra cotta
mauve
Venetian red
pattern books
French Roof House
Sunday Houses
Flounder House
Dog Trot
Mining Camp
stained glass casement windows
Prairie Style
Bungalow
Colonial Bungalow
Ranch House
Split Level
Cape Cod
Townhouse
Apartments
Prefab Houses
Mobile Homes
Energy-Efficient Housing
passive system
stone thermal mass
block thermal mass
concrete slab topped with bricks
active system
solar panels
Earth Sheltered House
solar panels
Fantasy Houses
houseboats
portable sleeper
family cottage
starter home
Styles
Georgian Style
Prairie Style
Vernacular
- large central chimney
- wood shingles
- casement windows
- multiple diagonally placed chimneys
- gable roof
- curved gable end
- stepped gable end
- corbelling
- belt course
- multiple doorways
- few small windows
- stucco over adobe
- roof beams
- vigas
- flat roof with parapet wall
- covered porch
- broad shingled hip roof
- post and balustrade
- second story exterior porch
Monterrey Style
French Colonial
- pavilion roof
- casement windows
- gallery
- vertical logs with rock and mortar fill
- French doors
- hip roof with wide eaves
- double French entry doors
- encircling veranda
- raised basement
- entry staircase
- decorative brick work
- wrought iron anchors
- chimneys at gable ends
- parapet wall raised on elbows
- straight side gable roof
- weather board
- chimneys at gable ends
- gambrel roof with wide overhang
- wood shingle siding
- Colonial shutters
- dentils under cornice
- Classic urns
- flat arch with keystone
- fluted colossal columns
- paneled doorway
- pedimented entrance
- brick quoins
- Palladian window
- Venetian window
Federal
Adam Style
Jeffersonian Classicism
Roman Revival
Revival Styles and Romantic Ideas
- low pediment
- wide entablature
- cornice
- frieze
- architrave
- colossal fluted Doric columns
- entablature window surrounds
- painted white clapboard siding
- transom
- sidelights
- tower and parapet with battlements
- steep gable with pinnacles
- oriel window
- multiple chimneys
- pinnacles
- pointed arches
- tracery with stained glass
- Tudor arch
- vertical board and batten siding
- steep cross gable roof
- decorative gingerbread bargeboard
- pointed windows
Italianate Style
Octagon Style
- wide hip roof
- belvedere
- dormers with arched windows
- Colossal Doric columns
- double French doors
- Federal style portico with wrought iron balcony
- elaborate Palladian windows
- Flemish bond brick work
Victorian
Second Empire Style
- arched windows with elaborate hood molding
- paneled frieze
- tower
- mansard roof with patterned tile
- brackets under eaves
- veranda
- classical columns
- clapboard siding
- stickwork
- dormers
- steep cross gables
- overhanging eaves with purlins
- porch post with braces
- stout columns with floral capital design
- continuous band of recessed windows
- wide arched entryway
- coursed rough cut stone
- squat tower with conical roof
- decorated belt course
- recessed loggia
- tower with conical roof
- steep gable
- carved wood decorations
- decorative entablature
- turned porch post
- clapboard siding
- multi-colored lights in upper sash
- balcony and portico
- fish scale and straight shingle patterns
- fish scale shingles in gable ends
- decorative entablature
- stained glass transom
- typical Queen Anne cottage
- turned porch post
Shingle Style
- shingled exterior
- band of sash windows
- intersecting planes of gable roof
- balcony
- veranda
- modified Palladian window
- eaves close to wall
- shingled porch post
Into the 20th Century
Sullivanesque
- oversized cornice
- wide ornamental frieze
- spandrels
- projecting bay windows
- low hip roof with wide eaves
- continuous casement windows
- chimney and raised center to pin the house down
- terraces and balconies
- brick walls with stone ledge
- Midwest regional Prairie style variation
- windows and door with leaded glass in geometric patterns
Craftsman Style
- broad gables at different heights
- exposed rafters and purlins under roof and dormers
- shingle siding
- porches and balconies with extended beams
- exterior siding of stucco
- exterior siding of brick
- exterior siding of stone
- exterior siding of wood
- broad gables with exposed rafters
- front porch
- stucco facade
- chimney with small tile roof
- low pitch red tile roof
- arched doorway with carved stone decoration
- window with wrought iron grill
- red tile roof
- red tile chimney roof
- wrought iron balconies
- carved stone crest
- arched entry with wooden door
- smooth wall surfaces
- metal casement windows
- vertical elements and stepped back facade
- geometric designed panel inserts above windows
- wrap-around windows
- flat roof with stepped parapet
- glass architectural blocks in vertical pattern
- carved decorative panels
- curved corners
- eyebrow canopies
- horizontal bands under windows
- plain white stucco
- concrete exterior
- ribbon windows
- plate glass windows
- flat roof without eaves
- cantilevered balconies
- corner windows
- ground pillars
- piloti
- curtain wall
- skeletal construction
Up to the Present and Beyond
- detailing
- wide gable with overhanging eaves
- large front porch
- hip roof with overhang
- dormer
- sash windows tucked under eaves
- stone foundation
- stone chimney
- stone porch
- wood shingle siding
- optional decoration
- classical detailing
- low hip roof
- low gable roof
- single story
- picture window
- garage facing street
- low pitch roof
- low pitch hip roof
- low pitch gable roof
- wood siding
- picture window
- split double story
Cotswold Cottage
- casement windows
- oversized chimney
- steep gable roof
- brick
- stone
- stucco
- half-timbering
Categorization by Architectural Feature
number of stories
Roof Type
Roof Material
- single sash window
- double sash window
- sash window with sidelights
- double hung window
- casement window
- transom window
- Palladian window
- bay window
- sliding window
- broken window
- awning window
- glass block window
door and window trim
porches
and other details
Source Citation
Glenn, Patricia Brown. Under Every Roof: A Kids’ Style and Field Guide to the Architecture of American Houses. Washington, DC: The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc., 1993.
Key Facts
At time of upload on June 15, 2024:
- 163 duplicative terms of those already existing in the Architectural Dictionary
- 238 original terms
- 401 total terms in source
- 59.4% original terms in source
- 134 sources in dictionary
- 40,933 unique terms in dictionary
- 101,059 total terms all sources in dictionary