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Architecture Guide

Common residential architecture styles found in Portland and surrounding areas.

Craftsman

Sometimes referred to as Arts and Crafts. A rebellion against mass-produced, machine-made materials beginning in 19th century England. Wooden construction and hand craftsmanship favored.

Period:
1900-1925

Styles:
California Bungalow, Prairie Style, Spanish Eclectic

Influences:
Gustav Stickley and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Classic Features:

Exterior: Low slung roof, wide front porch with gabled columns, wide eave overhangs, rustic siding materials such as cedar shingles, stone, or stucco.
Interior: Exposed rafters and wooden brackets, built-in cabinets, bookshelves, and window seats, oak wainscoting, moldings, and beams.

Commonly found:

Multnomah Village
Irvington
Alameda
The Hawthorne District
Sunnyside
Laurelhurst
Alberta Arts
Grant Park
Concordia
St. John’s
Portsmouth
Woodstock
Hollyrood
Northwest (Nob Hill)
Mt. Tabor
Woodlawn
Albina
Rose City
Beaumont-Willshire
John’s Landing

Tudor

An enormously popular style in the 1920’s and 1930’s with modified versions returning to popularity in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Inspired by Midevil and 16th century English architecture.

Period:
1890-1940

Classic Features:

Half-timbering on bay windows and upper floors.
Façade dominated by one or more steeply pitched cross gable.
Patterned brick or stone walls.
Rounded doorways.
Multi-paned casement windows.
Interior is frequently fitted with oak paneling.

Commonly Found:

West Hills (Portland Heights)
Arrington Heights
Kings Heights
Westover Heights
Willamette Heights
Grant Park
Alameda
Dunthorpe

Cottage

A subcategory of the Tudor style of architecture. Patterned after rustic cottages built in southwestern England beginning in Mid-evil times.

Styles:
English, Cotswold, Hathaway, Hansel and Gretel.

Classic Features:

Interior rooms generally of irregular shape.
Sloping, uneven gable roof.
Asymmetrical.
Prominent chimney of brick or stone.
Casement windows, often of leaded glass.
Small dormer windows.
A feeling of being low to the ground, regardless of number of stories.

Victorian

Dates from the second half of the 19th century. Advances in technology meant that builders could now incorporate mass produced ornamentation. The last true Victorians were build in the early 1900’s, but contemporary builders often borrow upon these ideals.

Period:
1880-1910

Styles:
Queen Anne, Italianate, Second Empire, Stick

Influences:
Richard Norman Shaw, Henry Hobson Richardson

Classic Features:

Heavy ornamentation (often described as “gingerbread” such as brackets, spindles, and patterned shingles.
Steep cross-gabled roofs, towers, and vertical windows.
Multi-story floor plans with projecting wings, porches or balconies.

Commonly Found:

Northwest (Nob Hill)
Kings Hill
Goose Hollow
Sellwood
The Hawthorne District
Sullivan’s Gulch
Irvington

Colonial Revival

This period was originally inspired by the 1876 Centennial Celebration as architects turned to the American past for inspiration. Industrial era Americans were yearning for the more simple times of yesteryear and wanted architecture that reflected that.

Period:
1900-1940

Styles:
Colonial, Dutch Colonial, Georgian, Federal, Cape Cod

Influences:
1876 Centennial Celebration

Classic Features:

Exterior: Rectangular and symmetrical in shape. May be brick or clapboard. Strong entrance. Cornices feature little overhang, with dentil moldings or modillions. Double hung, multi-paned windows.
Interior: Central hall entrance. Second floor bedrooms.

Commonly found:

West Hills (Portland Heights)
Arlington Heights
Westover Heights
Green Hills
Council Crest
Dunthorpe
Eastmoreland
Laurelhurst
Waverly
Parts of Irvington

American Foursquare/Old Portland Style

Post Victorian style found in nearly every part of the United States. Details draw on many different styles of homes including Craftsman, Italian Renaissance, Mission and Prairie. Popularized by pattern books and Sears Roebuck and Company mail order kits.

Period:
1890-1960 Also Called: Prairie Box

Influences:
Sears Roebuck and Company

Classic Features:

Exterior: Simple box shape, 2 and a half stories high, large central dormer, full-width porch with stairs. Low-hipped roof with deep overhang.
Interior: Four room (more or less equally sized) floor plan. Livable attic due to requisite dormer.

Ranch Style/Daylight Ranch

Originated in California in the 1930’s and was one of the most popular styles of home in the 1950’s and 60’s. With the advent of the automobile, homebuyers could move to larger homes on lots in the suburbs.

Period:
1925-1960

Also called:
American or Western ranch, California Rambler Influences: Cliff May

Classic Features:

Low pitched
Gable roof
Single story
Horizontal rambling layout (long narrow and low to the ground)
Large windows may be double hung
Sliding or picture
Lack of decorative detailing

Commonly found:

Hillsdale
Bridlemile
Vermont Hills
Maplewood
Hayhurst
West Slope
Garden Home
Raleigh Hills
Burlingame

Traditional Modern

Heavily influenced by diminishing land masses thorough out the US and the economic pressures on developers to build homes of good size on small lots. Typically found in subdivisions. May feature multiple styles of architecture in one structure.

Period:
1980’s—present

Influences:
Past Architectural styles

Classic Features:

Exterior: May be a mix of multiple styles of architecture.
Interior: 2nd floor bedrooms 3-5 in number, 2-3 full bathrooms. Great-room kitchen area w/ separate living and dining rooms.

Commonly Found:

Portland suburbs (Lake Oswego, Tigard, Beaverton)
Areas of SW and NW Portland.

Art Moderne

Streamlined homes that often incorporate high tech materials (i.e. polished aluminum, stainless steel, plastic). Characterized by an absence of decoration. Typically supported by a steel skeleton and may feature non-supporting projecting beams and columns.

Period:
1925-1960

Styles:
International, Bahaus Influences: Mies Van der Rohe

Classic Features:

Exterior walls finished with glazed stucco or other smooth materials
Curved corners
Glass block windows
Round porthole windows
Flat roofs

Commonly found:

West Hills (Council Crest, Kings Heights, Portland Heights, Cardinal Heights)
Fulton Park

Townhomes and Condominium’s

Townhome:
Also known as a Planned Unit Development. Generally consists of platted properties where each owner owns the living unit and land under and/or directly adjacent to the living unit. There are generally party walls between units which are the joint responsibility of the owners adjacent to such surfaces.Common areas, which the Community Association would be responsible for, may or may not exist.

Condominium:
Typically high rise style buildings. The exterior of the building and grounds are owned and maintained by a Community Association or company. An owner typically owns the property within the 4 walls of their individual living unit. The owner has undivided ownership interest in the common building elements (i.e. roof, exterior building surfaces, and grounds).