Wonderful explanation of the Texas Hill Country, Ms. Dame! I love it too!

Before Mr. Carrier invented air conditioning and turned all houses everywhere into similar boxes with eight-foot ceilings, it was climate which created and influenced regional styles of architecture. Historical styles of architecture evolved and were maintained as a response to the climatic conditions of individual regions.

For example, in the northeast of the U.S., long and brutal winters were the dominant weather condition. Thus houses developed which were small, compact with a central fireplace for heating. Ceilings were low, and interiors were organized around the central fireplace with few windows.

In the south of the U.S., conditions were exactly the opposite. Long hot, and often highly humid conditions were the dominant weather condition. As a result, several styles of regional architecture were developed. Some houses were "dog trot" houses, i.e., with an open "breeze way" space--the dog trot--separating the two parts of the habitable house. The dog trot provided additional cooling breezes and offered a shady outdoor space for use. Other houses enclosed the dog trot as a central corridor with exterior doors at each end as the organizing device for habitable rooms on either side of the central corridor. Still other houses, particularly larger homes in the deep south, raised their living floors one level above ground as the means of allowing cooling breezes to flow beneath the living spaces, while taking advantage of the often more powerful cooling breezes at the first and second levels above ground.

Southwestern houses often took advantage of adobe and local materials to form their houses.

History is filled with a rich vocabulary of regional architectural styles for residences, all based on some sort of local weather and materials unique to the region just as Ms. Dame describes for our wonderful Hill Country in Texas.

Thank you, ODD and Virgil, for such informative responses. As an artist, I love the intellectual side of architecture, but I am equally drawn to its humanistic, geographic, and historical aspects — the reasons for being.

I am equally drawn to its humanistic, geographic, and historical aspects — the reasons for being.

I'm the same way, which is why I am now seriously considering the vernacular style. Because it's not just about aesthetics, but the connection to place and history, and the *why* behind everything. If I'm going to build something awesome, I want it to reflect/blend into the landscape. I want it to be native.

This forum has made me appreciate this all the more. So many times, we see homes posted and we all have to ask, "Where is this being built?" It saddens me that we can't instantly identify more of them. If someone posted a Texas Hill Country house, we could logically conclude that they are probably at least somewhere in Texas, lol.

I'm still drawn to French Norman, Spanish Colonial, Storybook, and Tudor Revival, but TX Hill Country is making its way to my list of favorites because it has culture and history where I currently am, even though I'm not a native Texan (but, so far, three of my children are). I've never had roots anywhere (military brat), so maybe that's why vernacular appeals to me, too, like it fills an unknown void or something.

Anyway, I wish more people would contribute to this thread! The world is a big place, and this thread has the potential to be a great encyclopedia.

My part of KY has never been quite able to decide who we are/where we are. Yes, there are a few horse farms, but the majority are near Lexington. One sees not only the miles of fences (sadly, no longer painted white but now creosote for economy's sake) and many dry stone walls with the thin stones on top, on the diagonal - known as "slave walls".

In my city, there are multiple historic homes built in the Jefferson colonial manner:

One finds various versions of these houses all over town. We also have an old neighborhood filled with Victorian Gothic, Italianate, Queen Anne and Beaux Arts houses. They have been restored and are very charming.

Then we have the houses designed by local architect, Stratton Hammon. He designed houses in many different styles but is best known for his Colonial Revival houses. He even designed houses for McCall's, Better Homes and Gardens, and Good Housekeeping. These were small, well designed house plans made for the middle class. His custom designs were for the local gentry. To this day, any Stratton Hammon house is highly coveted and will sell for a premium. They were designed for gracious living and they did just that. Today, we would find the scarcity of bathrooms, their smallness and the small kitchens a problem - these were houses designed for help and in a time when the "family bathroom", perhaps a MBR ensuite, and a powder room were all any family required, even the wealthy.

Houses for the upper middle class really did not happen until after the GE factory located here in the 1950's. Before that, there was the "old money" and the working class.

That is interesting that black fences replaced white on Thoroughbred farms due to economics. As a horse owner who spends too much time reading horse forums, I can relay that black fencing is now very popular across the country, though often painted (or flexible rail). I still prefer the white "horse vernacular".

It just costs a fortune to keep those fences painted and they must be every few years.

I know — and I confess that our fencing is utilitarian no-climb wire mesh. The fencing is ugly, but the horses make up for it!

What I really want is a haha.

A lot of Hawai`i homes lack any sort of style or character. Single wall constructed boxes on "tofu blocks" (as we call them, or rather, post and pier). There are a couple of things that stand out as "Hawai`i style" to me, though. The large, exaggerated Dickey Roof of the old Plantation houses and the mid century designs of Vladmir Ossipoff and Alfred Preis. We searched high and low for one of the latter but couldn't find any in our budget.

The Dickey Roof

I live in Northern California and I have no idea of how to answer this question. Is my area's vernacular the Spanish eclectic style from the 1920s, the modernist style of the 60s, the arts and crafts style of the turn of the last century? Nothing about the architecture here feels of the place.

Rita, you could approach this a couple of ways...

There is the historical or anthropological approach (a more factual, research-oriented point of view), and there is the personal approach (as in what speaks to you and reflects what to you is special about where you live).

Each provides insight into what architecture means to us individually and as a people.

"...I live in Northern California and I have no idea of how to answer this question. Is my area's vernacular the Spanish eclectic style from the 1920s, the modernist style of the 60s, the arts and crafts style of the turn of the last century? Nothing about the architecture here feels of the place...."

Do you know Bernard Maybeck? Often considered the father of Bay Area architecture and architects, he mentored a number of other important California architects, including Julia Morgan and William Wurster. In 1951, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

He worked in many architectural styles, believing each architectural solution was properly based on the unique situation of each project.

I am in the South East, but not the Deep South...we do not have the gorgeous low country homes as our vernacular (although people build reproductions of them with varying degrees of success.) Brick is very common here...our soil is red clay and bricks are manufactured in this area of the country, which makes it a bit less costly to use here than in, say, Cali because it doesn't have to be shipped so far. "Mill houses" are another common type of house historically built in this area. Mill owners would build small cottages and dog trot homes for employees to live in. They were typically wood framed structures, very utilitarian but will an appealing simplicity.

This, to me, is an example of a house that looks like our area. This type of "hybrid Colonial" can be found in and around most of the cities and towns in our region.

Virgil, thank you for the names of important Bay Area architects. I love Maybeck's style. I answered the question with a focus on my part of the Bay Area - the Peninsula- hence no mention of Morgan or Wurster.

I'm a huge fan of Maybeck.

Our style here is Florida cracker houses. LOL.

The typical East Texas old house is a cross gable L with two stories and a sleeping porch above a big front porch. White. This one has slight Queen Anne influences. Otherwise, a 1.5-story or sometimes 1 story pattern book house with a hipped roof and slight Craftsman influences.

My part of the East Coast, it's colonials, day and night. Colonial became nearly identical Federal which became Colonial Revival Victorian which became early 20th century colonial which became later 20th century Colonial Revival. I'd say 75% of the entire housing stock tries to be colonial.

I like your description of Oregon style, bluesanne, probably partly because that's almost exactly what we're currently building (well, without the cedar siding and outdoor fireplace, as both got axed for budget reasons). And our view is Mt. Saint Helens rather than Hood. But this is very much what I think of when I imagine Portland houses, at least ones outside the city itself.

And true Oregonians with curly hair totally use umbrellas, as we frizz, rather than shed water.

Our style here is Florida cracker houses. LOL.

They may not be attractive or anything builders will be imitating, but I'm nonetheless fascinated. For those of us in other parts of the country, could you tell us a bit about them?

Kristin S, I hope you'll be sharing photos of your house when it's done!

As for umbrellas, I realize there are many exceptions to my "umbrella statement". My husband carries an umbrella (he's a California by way of Oklahoma and Nevada boy), and he used to be bothered when I wasn't interested in sharing an umbrella. He thought he would appear unchivalrous or selfish. I have wavy hair with a tendency to frizz, and I didn't want to end up with half normal, half frizzed hair — I prefer a whole head one way or the other!

Southern Ontario farmhouses started out as log cabins, then simple Gothic influenced homes and by the turn of the 20th Century blended Gothic with Victorian gingerbread. The distinctive yellow and orange brick, seen below, is found throughout much of southern Ontario. (Brick was made locally so whatever colour the clay produced is what you got.)

The log cabin below was moved several km to rest on the remnants of the original log cabin foundation on the Smith family complex. All this was done by the current property owners with the help of the local heritage society and neighbours. The 20'x29' cabin was home to a dozen people, according to the 1861 Census.

The same look was prominent in city as well as country.

Developers with a sense of history regularly incorporate, even reproduce this look.

As for the 1%, brick English Georgian homes, town and country, were and largely remain the favourite style--unfortunately often ruined by American McMansion

influences, the peculiar affinities of the many Persian spec infill builders and the piled over-glassed boxes of "modern" architects.

They may not be attractive or anything builders will be imitating, but I'm nonetheless fascinated. For those of us in other parts of the country, could you tell us a bit about them?

A Cracker house would be wood framed, often using Cypress wood, and raised above ground for ventilation. It generally had a metal roof with deep overhangs, and large windows. Most had deep porches and a central hall or even an open dogtrot, and wood floors. Many were single story and dormers were often used to create more living space in the roof, and there were also 2 story versions. Crackers truly represent a response to the local conditions and available materials.

Personally I think the style is very attractive and sometimes imitated. Our best known local architect designed his own home as a contemporary interpretation of a Florida Cracker house and in fact our plans for our new house are a rather more traditional interpretation of the Cracker style, incorporating many of its key elements that we feel are so suited to our climate, location and lot.

Vernacular =/=architect-designed. It's the handed-down (almost a folkway) of building.

Palo Alto's vernacular is Eichler, no? (joking -- sort of)

"...Palo Alto's vernacular is Eichler, no? (joking -- sort of)..."

I wouldn't say "vernacular" but Joseph Eichler was one of the early residential developers who saw the value in using recognized and respected local area architects to design the homes for his developments, both in Southern California and Northern California. His developments set the standard for Mid-Century Modern housing developments and were mimicked by numerous developers nation-wide at the time. Some of the most respecting Bay Architects, such as William Wurster, Anshen and Allan, and later Claude Oakland, for example, designed homes for Mr. Eichler. The same was true in Southern California.

Over time, the Eichlers came in many shapes and sizes, but all had wonderful indoor-outdoor relationships on small lots; many had wonderful, usable atriums, and all had a wonderful spatial sense on the interior with marvelous interior natural light. Obviously, California's benign weather made these designs possible and livable.

As for value and resale, we purchased our Palo Alto Eichler on Briarwood Drive around 1980, for $192,000, sold it in 1986 for about $350,000, and today it's valued in excess of $2.8 million (but it has been remodeled wonderfully).

Obviously, I like Eichlers. Here's a photo for those who don't know what they are:

Well, I was going to say Eichler for Palo Alto as well, but didn't because I got confused about the definition of vernacular in this context. I was thinking of vernacular as the style which typifies the architecture of your area- not necessarily the best architecture for/of your region. So the colonials that proliferate in some parts of the East Coast, or my beloved Federal style townhouses in Georgetown would qualify, because not only are there original examples of this architecture, but it is the architecture that people return to and continue building in various iterations.

There are very few modernist houses being built on the Peninsula any more. Exceptions exist, of course, but on the whole we have ersatz Mediterranean and ersatz craftsman living in harmony with authentic McMansion. Our Eichlers are well beloved by a segment of the population, but rarely emulated.

Given property costs most local new construction is not single story unless due to zoning restrictions -- vernacular crowded out by economics? I think a fair amount of new construction bears at least a passing resemblance to some of the Eichler two-story homes.

https://www.curbed.com/2016/6/3/11845754/eichler-homes-san-francisco-renovation

Yes, everywhere where supply is low and demand is high (Palo Alto and the SF Peninsula, for example), folks are trying to maximize the house on the existing (relatively) small lots and get as much real estate for the money as possible. Architecture be damned!

As a past chair of the Palo Alto Architectural Review Committee, I can also vouch for the fact that regulatory processes are strict and lengthy, thereby increasing the development costs.

I remember living in Palo Alto in the 1980s, when Mr. Eichler was still building subdivisions in Sunnyvale, where houses were selling considerably for under $100k.

When demand exceeds supply it truly is economics over good design, unless a skilled professional is involved. Which is seldom, unfortunately. It's where McMansions gained their notoriety.

For me vernacular building is the confluence of locally available building materials and regional construction techniques. My favorite example is Greece where money and trees are scarce. We watched a man building a cement block site wall in a raging wind. As the wall tilted in the gale, we though to ourselves... he'll have to tear it down and do it again tomorrow. The next day he plastered it with stucco. The following day he white washed it. It was beautiful.

Virgil, I went to Stanford in the late 90's and loved looking at the beautiful, well-preserved old homes in Palo Alto. You and the architectural review committee did a great job making sure some really lovely homes were preserved.

Vernacular =/=architect-designed. It's the handed-down (almost a folkway) of building.

I like this "storytelling" image of architecture. Since economy and quantity-over-quality seem to be the driving forces of home building over the last 60 years (at least in the USA), it's like modern architects have the power to keep a dying culture alive. A culture that, at least where I currently live, doesn't seem to have been created by architects, but by regular, sensible folk of previous generations.

Understanding and respecting history is a great way to create (and maintain) a legacy. It feels like we're losing that, even though I know that in the grand scheme of things, the McMansion phenomenon is just another chapter in the book.

...It just feels like an incredibly lengthy, painfully stubborn chapter. You're reading this book cursing at the author with, "Good grief, GET ON WITH THE PLOT ALREADY!"

Can I get on the bandwagon, even though this thread is over a month old? ;-)

What vernacular Michigan has is mostly probably shared with other Midwestern states - a hodge podge of styles that worked there way into the frontier, then got adapted. For whatever reason, the gothic style never really took hold. So mostly you get Greek Revival. It ticks the need for reasonably steep roof pitch to shed the snow, and could be built easily with whatever was available

Locally, we have the Veneklasen brick houses. Western Michigan was settled by Dutch immigrants, who were used to building with brick. So the Veneklasen company supplied it, from a couple of local yards. Since the brick from the Gronigen yard was red, and that from the Zeeland yard was "white", they began to be used in decorative patterns. You'll see a lot of standard architectural styles (cross gable, Greek revival, four square) reimagined in Veneklasen brick:

Something of a local treasure, there is an effort underway to preserve those that remain.

Another that leaps to mind, is probably less a vernacular style than a... hmmm.... tourist attraction. The Earl Young houses (aka mushroom houses) in Charlevoix are their very own thing. Often admired but pretty much never duplicated. Earl Young was a student of FLW. He had his own ideas about incorporating natural forms, and so his homes usually don't have straight walls or anything approaching rectangular rooms. I'm given to understand that they're very expensive on the upkeep. Neat to look at, though, and the Harsha House museum can provide you with a walking tour brochure: