List of architectural styles

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Frederick C. Robie House, an example of Prairie School architecture

An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable and historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, and regional character. Most architecture can be classified as a chronology of styles which change over time reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible.

Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society and are documented in the subject of architectural history. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. After a style has gone out of fashion, there are often revivals and re-interpretations. For instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different.

Vernacular architecture works slightly differently and is listed separately. It is the native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, and takes little account of national styles or technology. As western society has developed, vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded by new technology and national building standards.

Chronology of styles[edit]

Prehistoric[edit]

Early civilizations developed, often independently, in scattered locations around the globe. The architecture was often a mixture of styles in timber cut from local forests and stone hewn from local rocks. Most of the timber has gone, although the earthworks remain. Impressively, massive stone structures have survived for years.

Ancient Americas[edit]

Mediterranean and Middle-East civilizations[edit]

Ancient Asian[edit]

Classical Antiquity[edit]

The architecture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, derived from the ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as at Knossos on Crete. They developed highly refined systems for proportions and style, using mathematics and geometry.

Middle Ages[edit]

The European Early Middle Ages are generally taken to run from the end of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD, to around 1000 AD. During this period, Christianity made a significant impact on European culture.

Early Medieval Europe[edit]

Medieval Europe[edit]

The dominance of the Church over everyday life was expressed in grand spiritual designs which emphasized piety and sobriety. The Romanesque style was simple and austere. The Gothic style heightened the effect with heavenly spires, pointed arches and religious carvings.[2]

Asian architecture contemporary with the Dark Ages and medieval Europe[edit]

Islamic Architecture 620–1918[edit]

  • Central Styles (Multi-Regional)
  • Regional Styles
    • Egypt
    • North Africa (Maghrib)
      • The Umayyads (705–750)
      • The Abbasid Era (750–909)
      • The Fatimids (909–1048)
      • The Amazigh Dynasties (1048–1550)
        • Zirids 1048–1148 (Middle Maghreb)
        • Almoravids 1040–1147 (Far Maghreb)
        • Almohads 1121–1269 (Far Maghreb)
        • Hafsids 1229–1574 (Near and Middle Maghreb)
        • Marinids 1244–1465 (Middle and Far Maghreb)
        • Zayyanids 1235–1550 (Middle Maghreb)
      • Ottoman Rule 1550–1830 (Near and Middle Maghreb)
      • Local Dynasties 1549–present (Far Maghreb)
    • Islamic Spain
      • Umayyad architecture (756–1031)
      • Taifa Kingdoms-1 (1031–1090)
      • Almoravid architecture (1090–1147)
      • Taifa Kingdoms-2 (1140–1203)
      • Almohad architecture (1147–1238),
      • Taifa Kingdoms-3 (1232–1492)
        • Granada architecture (1287–1492)
    • Persia and Central Asia
      • Khurasani architecture (Late 7th–10th century)
      • Razi Style (10th–13th century)
        • Samanid Period (10th c.)
        • Ghaznawid Period (11th c.)
        • Saljuk Period (11th–12th c.)
        • Mongol Period (13th c.)
      • Timurid Style (14th–16th c.)
      • Isfahani Style (17th–19th c.)
    • Indian subcontinent
    • Turkey

Pre-Columbian Indigenous American Styles[edit]

Main article: Indigenous architecture

Early Modern Period and European Colonialism[edit]

1425–1660. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread through Europe, rebelling against the all-powerful Church, by placing Man at the centre of his world instead of God.[5] The Gothic spires and pointed arches were replaced by classical domes and rounded arches, with comfortable spaces and entertaining details, in a celebration of humanity. The Baroque style was a florid development of this 200 years later, largely by the Catholic Church to restate its religious values.[6]

Asian architecture contemporary with Renaissance and post-Renaissance Europe[edit]

Japanese[edit]
Indian[edit]

Late Modern Period and the Industrial Revolution[edit]

Neoclassicism[edit]

1720–1837 and onward. A time often depicted as a rural idyll by the great painters, but in fact was a hive of early industrial activity, with small kilns and workshops springing up wherever materials could be mined or manufactured. After the Renaissance, neoclassical forms were developed and refined into new styles for public buildings and the gentry.

New Cooperism

Neoclassical[edit]

Revivalism and Orientalism[edit]

Late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorian Era was a time of giant leaps forward in technology and society, such as iron bridges, aqueducts, sewer systems, roads, canals, trains, and factories. As engineers, inventors, and businessmen they reshaped much of the British Empire, including the UK, India, Australia, South Africa, and Canada, and influenced Europe and the United States. Architecturally, they were revivalists who modified old styles to suit new purposes.

Rural styles[edit]

Reactions to the Industrial Revolution[edit]

Industrial[edit]

Modernism and other styles contemporary with modernism[edit]

1880 onwards. The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled a brave new world of bold structural frames, with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was "decoration is a crime". In the Eastern Bloc the Communists rejected the Western Bloc's 'decadent' ways, and modernism developed in a markedly more bureaucratic, sombre, and monumental fashion.

Postmodernism and early 21st century styles[edit]

Fortified styles[edit]

Vernacular styles[edit]

Generic methods[edit]

European[edit]

North American[edit]

Native American[edit]

South American[edit]

African[edit]

Asian[edit]

Australasian[edit]

  • Australia, New Zealand – slab hut
  • Australia – Aborigine humpy

Alphabetical listing[edit]

–1990s

Examples of styles[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hans Erich Kubach. Architektur der Romanik, 1973/1974, 3-7630-1705-7, p. 63–144 Die erste Romanische Kunst – Frühromanische Architektur
  2. ^ Robert Stuart (1854), Cyclopedia of architecture: historical, descriptive, typographical, decorative, theoretical and mechanical, alphabetically arranged, familiarly explained, and adapted to the comprehension of workmen, A. S. Barnes & Co, p. 75
  3. ^ a b Gebaut, Burgundische Romanik – Pontigny – Zisterziensergotik
  4. ^ a b Really, Mudéjar style had phases according to the general European styles, there was Romanesque Mudéjar, Gothic Mudéjar and even Renaissance Mudéjar.
  5. ^ Gerald Leinwand, The pageant of world history, Prentice-Hall, 1990, page 330
  6. ^ Jackson J. Spielvogel (2010), Western Civilization: A Brief History. Cengage Learning. page 333 ISBN 0495571474
  • White, Norval; Elliott Willensky (2000). AIA Guide to New York (4th ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-8129-3107-6.
  • Lewis, Philippa; Gillian Darley (1986). Dictionary of Ornament, NY: Pantheon
  • Baker, John Milnes, AIA (1994) American House Styles, NY: Norton

Further reading[edit]

  • Hamlin Alfred Dwight Foster, History of Architectural Styles, BiblioBazaar, 2009
  • Carson Dunlop, Architectural Styles, Dearborn Real Estate, 2003
  • Herbert Pothorn, A guide to architectural styles, Phaidon, 1983

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Architecture by style.
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