A wooden house in Tartu, Estonia

This is a list of house types. Houses can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or single-family detached homes and various types of attached or multi-family residential dwellings. Both may vary greatly in scale and the amount of accommodation provided.

By layout

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Single-pile house layouts are one room deep, but may be more than one room wide[1]

Single pen, single cell, or Hall house: a one-room house[2]

Double pen or double cell: a two-room house[3]

  • Saddlebag: a two-room house with a central chimney and one or two front doors[4]
Hall and parlor house: a two-room house, with one room (the hall) larger than the other (the parlor)[5]

Central-passage or central hallway\corridor: a three-room house, with a central hallway or passage running front-to-back between the two rooms on either side of the house[6]

Double-pile house layouts are two rooms deep, and also may be more than one room wide[8]
Shotgun house: a house that is one room wide and two rooms deep, without a corridor[9]
Side-hall or side passage: a house with a hallway that runs from front to back along one side[10]

Hut

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A hut is a dwelling of relatively simple construction, usually one room and one story in height. The design and materials of huts vary widely around the world.

Bungalow

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Bungalow is a common term applied to a low one-story house with a shallow-pitched roof (in some locations, dormered varieties are referred to as 1.5-story, such as the chalet bungalow in the United Kingdom).[11]

Cottage

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A cottage is a small house, usually one or two stories in height, although the term is sometimes applied to larger structures.

Ranch

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Brick ranch-style house

A ranch-style house or rambler is one-story, low to the ground, with a low-pitched roof, usually rectangular, L- or U-shaped with deep overhanging eaves.[12] Ranch styles include:

I-house

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Southern I-House style home

An I-house is a two or three-story house that is one room deep with a double-pen, hall-parlor, central-hall or saddlebag layout.[14]

Gablefront

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A-frame gable-style house, Portugal

A gablefront house or gablefront cottage has a gable roof that faces its street or avenue, as in the novel The House of Seven Gables.

Split-level

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Split-level house

Split-level house is a design of house that was commonly built during the 1950s and 1960s. It has two nearly equal sections that are located on two different levels, with a short stairway in the corridor connecting them.

Tower

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Vao tower house in Estonia, built in 15th century

A tower house is a compact two or more story house, often fortified.

Longhouse

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reconstructed Viking longhouse

A longhouse is historical house type typically for family groups.

Housebarn

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Post frame Barndominium with standing seam metal roof. Large garage on the front side and living space on the back end.

A housebarn is a combined house and barn.

Other house types

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By construction method or materials

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Multi-storied attached adobe houses at Taos Pueblo

Single-family attached

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Movable dwellings

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Photograph of a mobile home
Mobile home
Photograph of a travel trailer or camper
Travel trailer or camper

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Harris 2006, p. 892, Single-pile house: A house that is only one room deep"
  2. ^ Cloues 2005, Single Pen: "A one-room house, usually gable-roofed with an end chimney"; Harris 2006, p. 490, Hall: "4. A small, relatively primitive dwelling having a one-room plan."
  3. ^ Cloues 2005, Double Pen: "A two-room house with two front doors, usually gable-roofed with end chimneys"
  4. ^ Cloues 2005, Saddlebag: "A two-room house with a central chimney and one or two front doors, usually gable-roofed"
  5. ^ Cloues 2005, Hall-Parlor: "A two-room house with unequal-sized rooms and one front door, usually gable-roofed"
  6. ^ Cloues 2005, Central Hallway: "A two-room house with a central hall and centered front door, usually gable-roofed with end chimneys"
  7. ^ Cloues 2005, Dogtrot: "A two-room house with an open center passage"
  8. ^ Harris 2006, p. 328, Double-pile house: A house that is two rooms deep"
  9. ^ Cloues 2005, Shotgun: "A one-room wide house, two or more rooms deep, without a hallway; gable- or hip-roofed"
  10. ^ Harris 2006, pp. 887–888, Side-hall plan, side passage plan: "A floor plan of a house having a corridor that runs from the front to the back of the house along one exterior wall; all rooms are located on the same side of the corridor."
  11. ^ Cloues 2005, Bungalow: "A house relatively long and low in proportion, rectangular in plan, with an irregular interior floor plan, featuring integral porches and low-pitched roofs"
  12. ^ Cloues 2005, Ranch House: "A house with long, low proportions and extended rectangular plan, sometimes with L- or T-shaped extensions at one or both ends, rooms clustered with family living spaces at one end and bedrooms at the other end, often with integral carport or garage; low gabled or hipped roof"; Poore 2018; Salant 2006.
  13. ^ a b c Poore 2018; Salant 2006.
  14. ^ Cloues 2005, I-House: "A one-room-deep house with a distinctive tall, narrow profile; floor plans include central hallway, hall-parlor, double-pen, and saddlebag; often with rear shed or porch"
  15. ^ a b c Nostrand 2018, pp. 102–104.
  16. ^ a b McAlester & McAlester 2013, pp. 613–614.

References

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