Names for different kinds of residences in your part of the world

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m not sure if we’ve had this thread before, but I thought it would be interesting…

In my part of the UK (South coast)…
[ul]
[li]House (Detached) = a house, usually having two stories(floors) - the residential parts of which are completely separate from buildings owned/occupied by other parties (may be attached via garages and outbuildings though)[/li]
[li]House (Semi-Detached) = a house, usually having two stories - the residential parts are adjoined to one other residence (i.e. having a ‘party wall’)[/li]
[li]House (Terraced) = a house, usually having two stories - the residential parts are adjoined to on both sides to other residences, often forming a compact row of dwellings along an entire street.[/li](an end-terrace house is approximately equivalent to a semi-detached house, as it only has one party wall)

[li]Bungalow = a house with only one story (although the loft is often converted to provide extra rooms - and this does not stop it being a bungalow - it might subsequently be called a Chalet Bungalow, or not)[/li]
[li]Chalet Bungalow = a house where most of the living space is on the ground floor, but the roof space includes extra rooms (usually bedrooms) - these rooms nearly always have some pent ceilings and the windows will usually be dormer windows[/li]
[li]Town House = a house with three stories - usually terraced, occasionally semi-detached, rarely detached (and in these cases, most often existing as a remnant of larger developments partially demolished)[/li]
[li]Maisonette = houses (usually semi-detached, occasionally detached) where the ground and first* floors are occupied separately - access to the first floor is gained directly via (usually external) stairs[/li]
[li]Cottage = supposedly a smallish, somewhat rustic house (of almost any type), usually outside of urban or suburban areas (unless absorbed by them). However, the term has been so widely abused as to become meaningless.[/li]
[li]Flat = a residence within a block, usually all on one level (hence ‘flat’) - may be within a large tower or within a converted house, industrial building, town house, etc. - access is usually gained via indoor stairs or lift(elevator). Maisonettes will sometimes be referred to as flats, especially if the building has no pent roof[/li]
[li]Apartment = somewhat interchangeable with the term ‘flat’ - and sometimes used (especially by estate agents) as a posh/grandiose euphemism for ‘flat’, but includes a larger set of residences such as those in apartment complexes too decorative or sprawling to be called blocks. Rooms may be spread across more than one level[/li]
[li]Bedsit = usually one room rented accommodation in which bedroom and living room are frugally combined - sometimes having a small separate kitchen and/or bathroom, although these facilities may also be communal. Bedsits are usually parts of houses that have been converted/divided for that purpose[/li]
[/ul]
I’m sure that’s probably incomplete, but it’s a start… What are different kinds of residence called in your part of the world?

*‘First floor’ in UK usually refers to the floor directly above the ground floor.

2

I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘maisonette’ or ‘chalet bungalow’ outside of estate agent’s advertisments. The former are just flats, the latter is as you say just a bungalow. And around here, ‘cottage’ is rarely used, I guess because they’re common enough to just be houses.

3

Thai does not distinguish between “house” and “home”; as far as Thais are concerned, a house IS a home. They tend to go with the British “flat,” but “apartment” is understood.

Related, a “resort” can be any old shack as long as it’s outside of an urban area. Western tourists here are often fooled by the “resort” label. It does not appear to be a conscious attempt at trickery; the locals just consider anything in the countryside to be such.

4

Dunno - an unconverted bungalow can’t be called a chalet bungalow, so it is a specific term and at least in the area where I grew up, maisonettes and flats were distinct entities - maisonettes look like houses from a distance.

5

Spain:

casa means both house and home. “Tengo una casa” means “I have a house”, “ven a casa” means “come visit” or “come home.”

Casa de pueblo (village house): it usually shares at least some walls with the neighbors, if it doesn’t, it’s usually specified as “casa de pueblo/chalet”. There’s a yard (for most areas, it’s just trampled earth) and an additional low building which used to be (and may still be) the toolshed/henhouse/stables. Unless it’s still used to keep hens or rabbits, this shed is set up with a kitchen and used for meals with lots of guests (christmas, hen night dinner). Expect walls only half as thick as those of a castle and a bathroom too small for Oliver Hardy to turn around. The house itself may have a single level or two.

Chalet: detached house. Even when they’re built as part of a new planned area, they’re usually individualized in some way so that people don’t go visit the neighbor and instantly know where everything is. They usually have two levels. Garden, no yard or toolshed.

Chalet adosado: a chalet that’s sort of split in half, with each half being independent of the other except for that one wall.

Adosados (lit. stuck together): the closest would be townhouses, only most of these are only ground and first floor. The few ones that have three storeys, it’s a garage that you actually go down to, stairs from the street to the first floor and then the second floor. The ones on the end of each row are “adosado en punta.”

Piso: flat.

Apartamento: flat at the beach or in a sky station. Now being used also to mean “small flat.”

Estudio: 1B or 0B flat.

Picadero (lit. a private bullfighting area): not something you’ll see in the ads. Flat used by one or more people for, ah, very short stays. Flat belonging to a single male that’s clearly been decorated with seduction in mind (i.e., red lamps and statuettes of very naked fae, but no Playboys in sight).

Bombonera (lit. candy box): a small flat that’s been recently renovated following the latestestest tendencies in decoration. The bathroom tile is from one of the most expensive brands. Looks very cute, may have serious issues with plumbing and electricity; too many of those renovations change the light switches without bothering to check whether the cables are up to code.

6

Hebrew:

House (bayit): Detached House, generally on some small amount of land. Also just “home.”

Apartment (dira): Apartment/flat. This belongs in an Apartment House (beit Dirot) or Building (binyan) – the latter need not be residential and includes the former as a sub-set.

“Cottage” (thus spoken, no Hebrew term) – semi-detached house.

“Villa” (thus spoken, no Hebrew term) – Detached House, probably larger/fancier than a “house”, probably walled and amply landed.

That’s basically it – not too many terms.

7

I’m interested to know what ‘duplex’ means in those areas where it is used - in some cases, it seems to mean ‘semi-detached’ and in others, ‘maisonette’

8

Urk… reminds me of one I forgot:

Penthouse (pronounced as is, no Hebrew term) – both are used to mean “Penthouse” – top-floor apartment with a second level, an open-air balcony, occupying the whole floor, or any combination of the above.

Duplex - A multi-level apartment that is not top-floor will sometime be called a “duplex” (but never a penthouse). A multi-level penthouse may possibly be called a “duplex.”

9

Oh, forgot that one… and another.

Ático: the top flat. My mother’s is a single-level ático, Middlebro’s a double-leveler.

Duplex initially meant an apartmento large enough for 4 people. Then some people started using it to mean two flats which have been turned into one. Then to mean a double-level penthouse. So basically you have to ask what is it supposed to mean in each case.

I haven’t heard triplex in years (originally, apartamento large enough for six).
And Noone Special reminded me of another detail: in Spain, the majority of apartment buildings are mixed-use. Mom’s has two boutiques, a butcher’s, a restaurant and a dollar store in the street level; an academy for professional training, a lawyer and an accountant’s in the first floor; the doctor in 6th and the architect in 7th both have home offices.

10

In Southern Ontario, changes from the OP:

We don’t use the term ‘maisonette’ or ‘chalet bungalow’.

A ‘bungalow’ is a single-level house, with only a ground floor (and optionally a basement).

‘Flat’ is just an uncommon word for ‘apartment’.

There is no disctinction between ‘townhouse’ and ‘terrace’; both are townhouses to us, no matter what the number of floors. A road might be named ‘Terrace’, especially if it is lined with townhouses that are consciously emulating the terraces of England, but otherwise even the road name is uncommon. If anything, ‘terrace’ is used as an upscale name for ‘patio’: “Oh, the master is entertaining out on the terrace.”

A ‘duplex’ is a building built in the style and manner of a house, which contains two apartments one above the other, with a shared staircase used by both apartments. There is no elevator. There are also ‘triplexes’, with three apartments. Each apartment occupies an entire floor of the building. Duplexes and triplexes built during the 1950s and 1960s are very common in this area.

A ‘cottage’ is a (usually-rural) building intended for recreational use and not intended for year-round occupation. Cottages can range from rustic cabins with only an outhouse and no running water, to buildings which in other contexts would be mansions. Legally though, they cannot be livable in year-round. ‘Winterising’ a cottage is a big deal: it involves putting in all the things required by the Building Code to be present in a house: plumbing, insulation, proper sanitary facilities, a kitchen, etc, etc. I suspect that these alleged multi-million-dollar ‘cottages’ owned by the rich are legally houses.

Oh, and ‘mansion’? Simply a large, expensive house.

11

And a few more…

Apartments are generally found in ‘apartment buildings’. What might be called a ‘tower block’ in England is a ‘high-rise apartment building’ here. Apartment buildings can be quite small, though, and at the small end fade into six-plexes and four-plexes, which fade into triplexes and duplexes.

The major distinction to me is whether there are enough apartments on each floor of a building to require a public corridor serving them; if so, you are definitely in an apartment building. In apartment buildings, there is also a requirement for additional emergency exits, which are not required in the houselike duplexes and triplexes.

A ‘loft’ is an apartment with high ceilings. Originally they were created in the conversion of old industrial buildings to residential use, so they had the high ceilings, lots of exposed brick/concrete/wood structure, etc, but now many apartments are being built that way from scratch. Many lofts were in buildings with ceilings high enough that a second floor or mezzanine could be inserted between floor and ceiling in each apartment; this was typically a sleeping area.

There were a fair number of semi-detached houses built around Southern Ontario in the 1960s and 1970s. I suspect that they lost in popularity because they were seen as having the disadvantages of townhouses and of detached houses, rather than the adventages of both.

‘Rental’, ‘condominum’ and ‘co-operative’ refer to methods of ownership, not type of construction.

In regular ownership, you buy the building (usually a house), and the land under it. Then you are responsible for all maintenance and taxes, but you have more freedom to alter it to your needs. You also reap the benefits of increasing value, and the detriments of falling value.

In a rental, someone else owns the building and lets you live in it for a monthly fee. Various utilities and services may or may not be included in the rental fee; in my apartment the heat is included, but not comunications (telephone, cable TV, internet) or electricity.

In a condominium, you buy the interior of your dwelling, but a condominium corporation owns the surrounding structure and any common areas such as hallways or parking garages. In addition to any payments you may have for the dwelling you bought, you also pay a monthly fee to the condo corporation for maintenance of these common areas.

Condominium apartment buildings are very common in Toronto. Many have luxurious common facilities such as exercise rooms, pools, party and meeting rooms, 24-hour security, etc, etc. The monthly maintenance fees are proportionate.

A new variant is the hotel-condominium, where the condo dwelling is part of a hotel, and the owner has access to hotel services like cleaning and food delivery. In some cases, the condo owner can rent the condo out as a hotel room when he or she is not home, and make some money that way!

A co-operative is owned by a non-profit corporation whose only shareholders are the residents. Residents pay a ‘housing charge’ (technically not ‘rent’) to the corporation, serve as the personnel of the corporation, and ultimately have control over its direction and actions. The co-op corporation may hire people to perform maintenance, plow the roads, mow the lawns, etc, and it also saves money for known expenses in the future (like a new roof after 25 years).

Co-ops often have certain amount of their residences set aside for low-income residents on a ‘rent-geared-to-income’ basis, where the housing charge is established based on the resident’s ability to pay; the remaining expense is shared by the other residents. Since the co-op is non-profit, housing charges are often less than rents for similar units in for-profit buildings in the same area. As a result, there is often a long waiting list to get into a co-op. (Why yes, I grew up in a co-op.)

12

In Florida, it means that the developers/owners took a regular house with x number of bedrooms and bathrooms and split it in half so they could rent to two different sets of residents. It generally lends itself to a small floor plan and awkward layout. Most duplexes are one story, as, well, a lot of houses in Florida are one story houses with no basements.

It’s even weirder when duplexes are converted back to normal houses. There’s two sets of everything in those cases, often mirroring each other.

13

In most of the USA, a duplex is a two-unit house, typically symmetrical with the units side by side.

In apartment-heavy areas like NYC, a duplex is a bi-level apartment.

The one-main-room apartment called an efficiency outside the northeast US is known as a studio there.

What about those city houses built wall-to-wall and now often divided into apartment units?
Townhouse = single-family house built independently, but flush with its neighbors.
Rowhouse = several single family houses built as one connected unit.
Brownstone = subtype of townhouse or multi-unit bldg mostly seen in NYC. It is made of brown blocks.

Each of the above typically has a raised front entrance with steps, locally known by the Dutch word stoop, which is rarely used outside NYC.

14

My wife’s parents are currently looking into buying a “garden home”, which is the situation wherein the neighbor’s wall forms one side of your fence, and one wall of your house is the side fence of the opposite neighbor’s yard. More detached than a duplex, but closer together than fully set-apart homes.

15

Mangetout: There are a number of converted barns and railway stations which have been turned into quite desirable homes.

What would these be classed as? Detached?

16

Here in New England, we have “colonials” and “saltboxes” and “Cape Cods.” “Colonial” is something of a catch-all, and usually means simply an older house of two stories – or the modern replica thereof. A “saltbox” and a “Cape Cod” are typically a story and a half, and have a simple rectangular plan. Nominally, in a saltbox, the slope of the roof should continue down at the back, such that the house is asymmetrical, looking at it from the gable end. In the parlance of the real estate agents, I think the distinction may be lost.

We also have triple-deckers, which are three flats/apartments stacked on top of one another. Sometimes you have two triple-deckers stuck together, which makes a six-unit building. Another wrinkle is the so-called Philadelphia-style townhouse, which has two units, one above, and one below – and typically, the first-floor unit has a back staircase and one room on the second floor. It seems like a bizarre arrangement to me, but I know people who live in such buildings. The catch-all term “multifamily” covers all these kinds of arrangements. So, for example, I live in what could be called a multifamily colonial – though the building isn’t colonial in style, and was originally a single-family house.

We have condos, too, but the word is a bit non-specific. It’s usually an apartment (often in a converted triple-decker), but it could be a townhouse or a duplex, or even, though rarely, a detached house.

And by the way, how was the vacation? On the topic of the OP, I think you mentioned your mother’s caravan, which is another thing we don’t have here – we have RVs or mobile homes.

17

Beware of Doug has described the real-estate lingo in Cleveland - and in most of the U.S. Midwest, as far as I know. We, too, use the word “stoop” to refer to steps leading up to a house (esp. the bottom-most step, on which you can sit in good weather and greet neighbors). “House,” “colonial” or “ranch house” are used more or less interchangeably here. We say “apartment,” never “flat,” which would be regarded as a faux-British affectation, I suspect.

18

Yes, condos can be townhouses in Ontario as well, though that isn’t nearly as common as apartments. I suppose you could have a condo single-family house, but that would be kind of pointless. :slight_smile:

I though a UK ‘caravan’ was what we in Ontario would call a ‘trailer’: a vehicle designed for living in, without independednt motive power, and which must be towed by another vehicle?

More definitions…

To me, an RV (recreational vehicle) is a motor vehicle with sleeping accommodation. They range between converted van and greyhound-bus size.

To me, a ‘mobile home’ is a factory-built dwelling that is towed to its destination and placed on jacks. The owner puts a skirting around the base and installs a walk and steps at the entry, and hooks up utilities. It retains its wheels and can be moved again, but isn’t really intended for frequent travel, unlike a trailer.

Is this different for you?

19

Presumably. Are they physically-unconnected to other buildings?

20

Nava, what do you mean by ‘sky station’ in post #5?