Architecture

The results are in! Here are your favorite house styles according to our Dream House Survey. Find facts and photos for the all-time winners, and be sure to vote on your own favorite house styles.

1. Craftsman Bungalow House Style
   Homey bungalows with low-pitched roofs and exposed rafters took America by storm in the early 1900s... and then faded from favor after 1930. But perhaps the style is making a comeback... Craftsman was the most popular pick in our Dream House survey.

   About Bungalows

2. Tudor and English Country House Styles
   Scoring a close second in our Dream House Survey, this cozy style is reminiscent of Medieval English cottages and manor homes. Readers who responded to our survey were drawn to the small, diamond-paned windows and exposed wood framing found in many Tudor Revival homes.  

   About Tudor Revival Houses

3. Victorian Queen Anne House Styles
   Victorian is not actually a style, but a period in history, and Victorian architecture comes in many forms. There are the austere stick style homes, the fanciful Gothic Revival cottages, and the majestic Italianates. But when people discuss Victorian architecture, they are often thinking of America's so-called "Queen Anne" style - an elaborate, rather feminine, fashion with lavish details such as towers, wrap-around porches, bay windows, and elaborate trim. Queen Anne ranks number three in our survey, falling behind the more restrained Craftsman and Tudor styles.

   About Queen Anne Houses

4. Georgian Colonial House Styles
   This symmetrical, orderly style became prominent in Colonial America. Today, Georgian Colonial is a model often imitated for elegant new homes.

   About Georgian Colonial Houses

5. Prairie House Styles
   Frank Lloyd Wright pioneered this style in Chicago at the turn of the century. Low-pitched hipped roofs give these homes the appearance of hugging the earth, and the square, often symmetrical lines suggest strength and homespun values.

   About Prairie Style Houses

6. Dreams for the Future
   Borrowing ideas from the past, modern-day styles take on many shapes. One imaginative reader said that he dreamed of owning a home designed for desert living. The floors, he said, would be polished concrete.  "Air conditioning and heat will be ducted through the cement slab up through sand-filled interior walls," he wrote.

   About Desert Modernism

7. Homes for Right Now
   Dream houses don't have to be big. In fact. sometimes our deepest passions come in small packages. JB, a reader from Ohio, has created his own dream house. The 150-year-old cottage has no electricity, but JB has painted the shutters, sanded the floors, and decorated the rooms with his own, admittedly eccentric, style. With quirky spelling and a dogged independence, he writes, "this was ment to be fun, not some job to be meaninglysly instantly done."

Your Turn

Now it's your turn to tell us about your favorite architectural styles. Cast your vote in our house style poll, or use the Readers Respond link below to describe the house styles you like best.

Feeling creative? Draw a picture or use graphics software to create a rendering of your dream house. Submit your dream house design.