Intricate stone ornament surrounding doors and windows

Sloping mansard roofs, often with multi-colored slate shingles and elaborate dormers

Prominent cornices

Styles can vary—as long as it is topped with a mansard roof, it’s Second Empire

Can be brick or frame construction

Does NOT have overhanging eaves like a bungalow

Roof is a little more steep than a bungalow and not hipped 

Street-facing gable

Often have Italianate details

More than two stories

Steeply-pitched roof

Asymmetrical façade

Partial or full-width porch

Lack of a smooth-walled appearance

“Rusticated” (rough) limestone façade (earlier versions) and smooth limestone facades (later)

Brick sides

Usually two or three stories, occasionally one-story “shoebox” greystones can be found

May have large pediments, elaborate parapets, arched windows, columns and other Romanesque or Neo-Classical details

Accentuated front door, normally with decorative crown (pediment) supported by pilasters

Center entrance, symmetrical

Side gables (roof slopes front-to-back)

Windows usually have double-hung sashes and multi-pane glazing 

Gambrel-style gable roof

Nearly-full second story

Often have dormers or continuous shed dormer with several windows

May have a full-width front porch

Low-pitched roof, usually hipped

Widely-overhanging eaves

Two stories with one story wings, porches and porte cocheres

Eaves, cornices and facade details that emphasize horizontal lines

Often massive, square porch supports

Symmetrical

Square or slightly rectangular footprint

2-½ stories

Centered attic dormer

Low-hipped roofs with overhangs

Covered front porch that extends the length of the façade

Predecessor to Chicago bungalow, with some built concurrently

Frame (wood) construction

Low-pitched, gabled roof (occasionally hipped) with wide, unenclosed overhang

Roof rafters usually exposed

Decorative (false) beams or braces added under gables

Full or partial-width porches with roof supported by tapered square columns

Brick construction

1-½ stories above a basement

Low-pitched hipped roof (occasionally gabled), with wide overhangs

Porch with steps ascending from street level (sometimes side entrances)

Generous windows, sometimes with leaded art glass

Simple style influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement

Predecessor to Chicago bungalow, with some built concurrently

Similar characteristics as Chicago bungalow except side gable roofline

Shed dormers or pitched dormers

Can be brick, frame, or stucco

Incorporates Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Beaux-Arts, Italian Renaissance, Arabic Andalusian architecture, and Venetian Gothic architecture

Typically a rectangular floor plan

Clay tile roofs

Windows in the shape of arches or circles (or arches above windows)

Ornamentation may be simple or dramatic

May have lush gardens or landscaping

Smooth wall surface (often stucco)

Flat roof

Zigzags, chevrons, and other stylized and geometric motifs used as decorative elements

Towers or other vertical projections above the roof line (vertical emphasis)

Smooth wall surface, usually stucco

Often has rounded surfaces

Flat roof, usually with small ledge (coping) at roofline

Horizontal grooves or lines in walls and horizontal balustrade elements (horizontal emphasis)

Façade usually asymmetrical

Square footprint

Brick exterior

Unadorned except for decorative shutters

Bay window

Two stories

Hipped roof

Steeply-pitched roof

Cross gables

1-½ stories

Decorative half-timbering

Tall, narrow windows

Large chimney

(Cottage-y stone details around doors and windows are another good hint)

Brick construction

Front gable, occasionally a cross-gable

1-½ stories

Similar to Tudor Revivals but generally with paired-down detailing and a slightly lower pitch to the roof

Part of the Minimal Traditional trend in small home building of the era

Single story or split-level

Low-pitched or flat roof

Asymmetrical floor plan

Indoor-meets-outdoor living spaces (lots of windows and connections between indoor and outdoor spaces)

Attached garage

Back patio space

One-story (sometimes two-story if raised ranch)

Asymmetrical

Low-pitched roof, sometimes cantilevered (extending far beyond the outer wall)

Wood or brick cladding

Sometimes, decorative shutters (none pictured)

Two or three levels (often with a single-story wing)

Low-pitched roof with overhanging eaves

Garage and “family room” at lower level

Bedrooms are upstairs