How Old Is My American House?
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We often take a day out to visit interesting American buildings. There are organisations dedicated to preserving and scores of books written on the history and structure of ancient monuments, churches, town halls and civic buildings but how often do we look around our locality and the houses that are around us?
It is only when you stop to examine a house that you realise that there is just as much to admire in the layout and architectural features as those national monuments. Gaining a knowledge of them adds to our understanding of our local social history. About How Old is My American House?
The history and growth of America can be seen by studying its houses. As early settlers arrived, they bought with them their building techniques and architectural styles. Then over time these became the American Colonial style and eventually borrowing from Europe and South America the American architects using local materials developed a plethora of house styles. Of course, many factors including the availability of local materials and geography were to play a part in the design of these homes and that led to so many regional as well as national variations in architectural styles. All of this makes it difficult to pin down the exact date when one style was replaced by another so the time frames used here are an amalgam of the commonly agreed and popular dates used by the experts in this field. Beware however even experts disagree. This is not meant to be a definitive answer to how old is my house but more a set of clues to help you decide when it may have been built. it is in response to many requests for an American equivalent to the UK version of How old is my House and is aimed at house historians, house holders who are interested in their homes history and schools and colleges who need quick and easy reference to house styles. 
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Click on the house style below to find out more
Colonial Style Romantic Style Victorian Style Colonial Revival Style Revival Style Spanish Colonial Revival Style Art & Crafts Style Modernist Style Glossary of Architectural terms used |