ARCHITECTURAL
STYLES AND TYPES IN BEVERLY HILLS-MORGAN PARK
The
Beverly-Morgan Park neighborhood contains a wide range of domestic
architectural styles and vernacular and popular house types
from c. 1860 through present day. Homes can be placed into the
following groups: high style architecture, vernacular types
and popular house types. High style architecture can be described
as well defined and commonly illustrated stylistic categories.
These are based on the distinctive overall massing, floor plan;
materials and architectural detailing that can be identified
in a building. High-style buildings may be architect-designed,
but even if no professional architect was involved, these homes
display a conscious attempt to incorporate common architectural
characteristics in fashion during the time they were built.
Some
architectural high styles are based on historic precedents.
These may include buildings from the 19th century that were
loosely based on styles from the past, such as Italianate and
Greek Revival. It also includes the more literal historic revival
styles that prevailed during the 1910s and 1920s, such as Colonial
Revival, Tudor Revival, and others. Finally, it includes homes
built during the last thirty years, from the 1970s through the
Present that are a conscious interpretation of historic styles.
They are sometimes referred to as Neo-Traditional because of
a more literal use of historic elements.
Other
high-style buildings, those that were built during the 20th
century, include a variety that, generally, makes no reference
to prior historic styles. Rather they look to practical massing
based on the function of the building, use of modern materials,
and little, if any ornament. The earliest of these is the Prairie
Style fathered by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1900s. Others
date from the modern period, generally after 1940, and include
International Style, Art Deco, Modernistic, and Contemporary
styles.
Vernacular
and popular house types are generally non-stylistic and include
19th century vernacular house types whose design depends on
a builder's experience and knowledge, as well as later 20th
century popular house types, which were typically constructed
according to widely available, published plans. Buildings not
defined as high style are either considered vernacular or popular
in type. 19th century an owner or builder who relied on simple,
practical techniques and locally available materials for overall
design and floor layout usually built vernacular buildings.
Availability and locale determined the types of structural systems,
materials, and millwork found in vernacular buildings. Because
of this, vernacular buildings are most easily classified by
their general shape, roof style, or floor plan. Occasionally,
ornament characteristic of a high style such as Greek Revival
or Queen Anne is applied to the facade.
Beginning
in the early 20th century, plans for popular house types were
widely published and made available in books and catalogues.
The earliest of these 20th century popular house types was the
American Foursquare, which some architectural historians suggest
was influenced by the horizontality of the Prairie Style. The
American Foursquare, with broad eaves and a hipped roof, was
particularly popular between 1900 and 1920. Bungalows of various
sorts were built throughout the U.S. until 1930. After 1935,
during the modern period, popular house types included the Ranch,
Raised Ranch, and Minimal Traditional. During the post-World
War II years, Ranch houses were built all over the country by
the hundreds of thousands. Some of the earliest Ranch houses,
built in the 1930s and 1940s, are now considered historic. The
Split Level began to be built in the early 1950s and was popular
throughout the 1960s.
The
following is a list of the types of architectural styles represented
in Beverly Hills-Morgan Park. You may read about and see examples
of on this website by clicking a style.
HIGH
STYLE ARCHITECTURE
Gothic Revival; Italianate; Queen Anne; Shingle Style; Stick
Style; Neoclassical or Classical Revival; Colonial Revival;
Dutch Colonial Revival; Cape Cod; Spanish Colonial Revival;
Italian Renaissance Revival; Tudor Revival; French Eclectic;
Neocolonial.
