New York Home Styles
There are literally thousands of variations of styles and combinations of home styles available for purchase in Nassau, Queens and Suffolk Counties here in New York.  Many of these homes can cross-over into various building methods. However, for the purposes of this article, we will be detailing the most common home styles and construction methods used in New York only.

The type of construction and materials that are used to build a house are typically dictated by the style of the house itself. For example, ranch style homes are typically built using siding, or shakes on exterior walls. Whereas attached Colonial style townhomes are traditionally built with brick exteriors.  As with anything, there are many exceptions. For example, you could easily find an all-brick ranch in Queens, or a Colonial with a siding exterior in Long Island.

The architects and builders that were responsible for developing neighborhoods in the early 1900s often experimented with different construction methods for both aesthetic appeal and cost effectiveness.

Listed below are the major home style classifications, with sub-categories to further define the style of the house.

Cape Cod Style Homes

The Cape Cod style of house is often shortened to “cape.” Capes first started to appear on the American landscape as early as the late 1600’s and are still a popular style choice for homes today, as they are among the most affordable style of detached homes. Capes are typically smaller in size than Colonials, or Ranches and are usually one story homes with an attic. Tax assessors call this 1.5 story homes. They can range in size from 2 to four bedrooms in Queens, and usually from 3 to five bedrooms in Long Island. Typical features include a fairly steep roof, which was designed to prevent the accumulation of snow during harsh New England winters. Because of the steep roofs, the attics of capes are often finished to accommodate additional living space. This works fairly well, however, the ceilings do come down steeply allowing for less living space than on the first floor.

Many Capes have been dormered over the years to create more usable living space. Dormers are a variation of the standard roof construction with a more shallow pitch than the rest of the roof. This variation allows for a higher ceiling height and the addition of a window or windows.

For the most part, Capes have a centered entrance. Capes generally feature clapboard, shakes, or shingle siding, but can also be built with brick or stone exterior walls. The clapboard, shingles, or shakes were originally made of wood. Newer capes typically use vinyl siding, which is less expensive, and does not require paint. The wood clapboards actually swell in the winter, making the house more airtight, and contracts in the summer, allowing for greater air circulation. The windows are typically multi-paned and double-hung, with shutters on either side. The Cape usually has a shingle roof. Originally, these shingles were made of slate, but now due to the high cost of slate modern Cape homes usually have asphalt shingle roofs.  Older capes had the chimney running through the center of the house, when the fireplace was the main source of heat. Today, modern Capes have the chimney located on one of the exterior walls to provide more interior space.

Colonial Style Homes

The term Colonial refers to the fact that these houses were either built by, or reflect the style of houses that were used during the time of the original thirteen US colonies. Specifically, colonial-style homes are very simple, efficiently designed, and economical. Colonials are usually 2 or 2.5 stories high, and their architectural shape is easily identified by its’ simple square, or rectangular shape. Overall, Colonials are extremely symmetrical with same sized windows spaced evenly across the front of the house. Colonials have more sub-categories than any other style of home, and I am only illustrating the most popular sub-styles found here in New York. They are as follows:

Dutch Colonials: The Dutch settlers that came to New York during the 1700’s often used brick or stone to build their houses.  The rooflines they built reflected the styles that they were accustomed to seeing back in Europe. The roofs are gambrel roofs, and they feature two different angled slopes on either side of the roof line. The lower slope was a steeper on than the upper slope. The look of these roofs is similar to those seen on many barns in Upstate New York. The entrance and halls in the house, unlike the traditional colonial style, is often at the side of the house, rather than the center of the house.

Dutch Colonials can be found throughout Queens and Long Island.

Garrison Colonials: Garrison Colonials were some of the first substantial homes built by the English settlers from abroad. They included features from the houses built during medieval times in the United Kingdom, such as, steep gabled roofs, windows with small diamond shaped panes, unpainted clapboard or wood shingle siding, and an overhang across the second story of the front wall of the house.

Georgian Colonials:  Georgian Colonials were developed from the late 1600’s to early 1800’s. It is a refinement of New England Colonials and was preferred by wealthier homeowners. While the style reflects design features of more humble houses, it also includes features of more sophisticated British fashion of that era, which was inspired by designs from the Italian renaissance and ancient Greece and Rome. Georgian Colonials are larger than the earlier Colonial style homes. Like New England Colonials they are symmetrical, with windows evenly balanced on each side of a central front door (usually 5 windows). Georgian Colonials also have further refinements on the façade (front wall) of the home, such as, dentil moldings, elaborate shutters, heavy crown-moldings in the doorways, and columns on either side.  Additionally, Georgian Colonials have a pair of evenly spaced chimneys, instead of one central chimney.

Georgian Colonials are more easily found on Long Island in, Garden City, Brookville, Manhasset, Roslyn, Old Westbury, Port Washington, and Williston Park, just to name a few neighborhoods. In Northeastern Queens you can find a handful of Georgian Colonials in Bayside Gables, Malba, Douglaston Manor and Jamaica Estates.

Federal Colonials: Federal Colonials are a refinement of the Georgian Colonial. Like the Georgian Colonial, it is symmetrical, but the Federal Style Colonial is much more ornate with Palladian windows, oval rooms, and decorative garlands. These are all major features of Federal architecture.

Federal Colonials can be found in Old Brookville, Brookville, Roslyn, Manhasset and Garden City, as well as in the Hamptons.

New England Colonials: The New England Colonial style was developed after the Garrison style in the 1600’s and incorporates features that were very popular in New England at the time. They are two story homes with gables on the side of the house and a striking entry door at the center. A massive chimney runs through the center of the house to conserve heat during the cold New York winters. While the siding of the original houses of this time period were not painted, new construction New England Colonials is New York are often made of maintenance-free materials such as vinyl.

Contemporary Style Homes

Contemporary Style Homes became popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Contemporary Style Houses are made up of simple, uncluttered shapes that are efficient to build. Contemporary style is characterized by simple clean lines, with styling features that include multiple roof levels, garage placement in the front of the house, roofs with a more shallow pitch that extend continuously from a higher level down over a lower level. The simple, clean lines are not only cost effective to build, but also attractive. Windows are large and sometimes triangular, or trapezoidal (four sided with at least two sides parallel). The sides of these windows are often shaped to follow the pitch of the roofline. The siding tends to be a mix of materials: wood, brick, rock, siding and stucco. Natural or stained wood siding is also popular. The siding is sometimes placed with the lines of the panels running in a vertical, or diagonal direction. Additional vertical ornamentation accents in simple patterns are also popular.

Contemporary Home styles are extremely popular in New Construction and can be found throughout Queens, Nassau and Suffolk County.

Ranch Style Homes

As the name implies the Ranch style of home originated in the West. The first modern ranch home was built in 1935 in San Diego California. While Ranches are still being built today, the height of their popularity was in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Ranches generally have a fairly plain exterior that usually consists of single story construction, a low-pitched roof with large overhangs, large windows, and an attached garage. The interior generally has a less formal and more open-style floor plan – usually with an L-shaped Living Room and Dining Room, and of course, all bedrooms are on the first floor. Because a Ranch style home generally requires more land to build per square foot of living space many ranches are on larger lots. This is especially true in Nassau and Suffolk County.

Ranches are usually built with the following materials: Shingles or Shakes, Brick, or a combination of the two.

Common variations to the traditional Ranch are explained below:

Split-level or Split: These homes are built on the same basic principles of a classic ranch home. However, the rooms, or living areas are at different levels. For example, the dining room and kitchen may be together, but you might have to go down 3-4 steps to get to the living room. The bedrooms will usually be up 3-4 steps. Splits are prevalent in Salisbury Estates in Nassau County.

Raised Ranch: Raised Ranches are different from traditional Ranch style homes because they have a finished basement that is only partially below ground level. These layouts allow for larger windows and a brighter, more welcoming living space. Generally, upon entering the main door of a Raised Ranch home you will be faced with two flights of stairs – one leading down to the finished basement, the other leading up to the main living area.

Tudor Style Homes

Tudor homes actually date back to the 1500’s, and even earlier! Tudor style homes have post and beam construction for which they were originally built. The areas between the posts and beams were filled with plaster to close off the building from the outside, leaving the face of the posts and beams exposed. This is the basis for the rough sawn post and beam-framing members that are left visible from the outside walls of the house and ceilings inside the house. In spite of the original purpose of those posts and beams, most of today’s Tudor homes are not actually built using post and beam construction, but more economical light timber framing. The exposed post and beam look is created strictly for appearance by simply attaching rough-sawn lumber to the outside of the house. The wall surface between is then finished with plaster, or stucco rather than the typical brick or siding finishes.

Other features that define the Tudor style are steep roofs with multiple rooflines, dormers, and large brick chimneys with interesting brickwork are also common aesthetics. The windows of Tudor houses tend to be tall and narrow with small panes of glass in casement windows. Very often, leaded glass is used, and sometimes in areas of the home requiring privacy like a bathroom, or a window facing another home there will be a stained glass window.
Lower floors of a Tudor home are commonly made from brick or stone, and the upper portions of the home are generally made from stucco, and roofs almost always made out of slate. All of these features are costly, which is why Tudors are more expensive than other home styles.

The interior features of Tudors are high ceilings, wood details heavy baseboard moldings, carved archways in-between rooms, cut-outs in walls, and hardwood floors in herringbone patterns, or border style floors. True Tudors can be on the dark side due to the small and narrow windows, which can deter those seeking bright and sunny homes.

Tudors are prevalent throughout Queens in areas like Jamaica Estates, Hollis Hills, and Bayside.

Some homes are called Tudor Colonials by Realtors, because they blend traditional Colonial style and layout with some of the cosmetic interior details of Tudors.

Victorian Style Homes

The Victorian, or, as sometimes referred to, eclectic revivalism, style homes were built between the 1830’s and early 1900’s. Victorian homes are usually 2 stories high, and its design features include a steeply pitched roof, turrets, dormers, large porches with turned posts and decorative railing, decorative gable trim, and corbels which are a projection of stone, or wood from the face of a wall, placed in rows and tiers.

The Victorian home is actually a combination of different house styles: Italianate, Second Empire, and Queen Anne. This style is sometimes thought of as cluttered with trim and ornamentation, but these are exactly the features that made the style so popular during the 1800’s. Victorian style homes are still very popular, and many people seek out old Victorian’s to restore them to their former glory, and often times Victorians in poor condition with original details untouched will demand higher prices, than other home styles in better condition.

If you are looking to buy a home in Nassau, or Queens County call me at 917-921-5397, today! I’ll help you find your dream home, and will be able to guide you in all areas of the Home Buying process.