Expert: Rikki Nyman - 11/28/2011

Question
My wife and I are hoping to close on this house soon. In the excitement and anticipation of owning our first (and probably last) house, we already envisioning some of the renovations we want to undertake. As I was researching similar period sample house plans at www.antiquehomestyle.com (great site!) That’s how I found a link to your site here. Regarding this house, we would like to know the architectural style and possibly the source for the plan/design. It was built in 1920 and is approx. 800 s.f. It’s basically a one story with a basement and a half floor second bedroom above the main. Let me know if you need to know any other details to make an ID.

Answer
Rich -

Your little house is typical of the many small post-WWI cottages that were built during the early 1920s. Cottage is the keyword here. After WWI, small houses were built by the bazillion for working- to middle-class families. Most were small, two-bedroom/one bath homes often with full basements. The average square footage was about 800 sf. The style was called "modern American cottage" in the Home Builders Catalog (1926-1931) but most authorities today would call it vernacular.

Your house reflects the modern but traditional style that many small cottages assumed after the war. Many new homes replaced the large porches of previous decades with small, hooded entry porches. Details were simplified but often traditional with elements like corbels, narrow eaves, shiplap and clapboard siding, and shutters for example.

Many of these small houses also veered in different stylistic directions as builders played with Romantic (English, Tudor, French, and Spanish) details. As a result, many neighborhoods had a much richer architectural character than we see these days.

There is a possibility that your home was built from a plan book. I haven't seen one exactly like yours, but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there. It's also possible that it was published in a local newspaper or simply invented by the builder.

Hope this helps!
Best regards,
Rikki Nyman
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