Architecture Guide

Home features:
Arches
Columns
Dormers
Roofs
Windows
Classic Moulding

Architecture:
Art Deco
California Bungalow
Cape Cod
Colonial
Contemporary
Craftsman
Creole
Dutch Colonial
Federal
French Provincial
Georgian
Gothic Revival
Greek Revival
International
Italianate
Monterey
National
Neoclassical
Prairie
Pueblo
Queen Anne
Ranch
Regency
Saltbox
Second Empire
Shed
Shingle
Shotgun
Spanish Eclectic
Split Level
Stick
Tudor
Victorian

International --Initiated by European architects--such as Mies van der Rohe--in the early 20th century, this is the style that introduced the idea of exposed functional building elements, such as elevator shafts, ground-to-ceiling plate glass windows, and smooth facades.

The style was molded from modern materials--concrete, glass, and steel--and is characterized by an absence of decoration. A steel skeleton typically supports these homes. Meanwhile, interior and exterior walls merely act as design and layout elements, and often feature dramatic, but nonsupporting projecting beams and columns. With its avant-garde elements, naturally the style appeared primarily in the East and in California.