# What are your favorite architecture styles? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423 "2017-09-03T20:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/41 "2017-09-07T22:16:36Z")
Queen Anne houses ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/42 "2017-09-08T00:10:27Z")
I like [Richardsonian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardsonian_Romanesque), maybe because there are several buildings in town and on campus in that style. > [@Chefguy](#): > > The [Darwin-Martin house](https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/images/77ccbb15-8b6f-4bfe-9741-1c0f2a2d8e75.jpg) in Buffalo, NY is stunning as well. I like Wright’s prairie style. > > I also really like [Craftsman](https://cdn.houseplans.com/product/10hv37bom24l7vd8sj52p4ka99/w800x533.jpg?v=12) [style](http://images-24.har.com/e1/MediaDisplay/24/hr3591324-2.jpg) [houses](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bf/05/7b/bf057babf0ccdc5ecf3270c0c082a6d6--craftsman-style-bungalow-bungalow-designs.jpg). The third one is similar to our bungalow, but without the brick. > > Then there are [Victorian](http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~infocom/scndempr/bedbreak/west/Oreg07.jpg) style homes. They’re often gaudy and pretentious, but that’s why I like them. I guess I never realized that style was called “craftsman”. The third link looks a lot like a house I lived in briefly in college with three other guys. The upstairs was ridiculous, there was a tiny stairway that you could barely walk up, much less get furniture up there, and was split into two “bedrooms” but basically was just a big open area with a divider down the middle. I could hardly stand up without banging my head on the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/43 "2017-09-08T17:30:58Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Anything with a flying buttress I get why you might want a female butler. but why must she have a pilot’s license? ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/44 "2017-09-08T21:36:03Z")
Beaux Art, Greek revival ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/45 "2017-09-09T08:19:24Z")
Like I’ve said before, I also like Brutalism. About _half_ of Brutalist buildings—and I’ve tried to figure out what strikes me as so ghastly about the other half. I think it has something to do with the size and number of windows, and how solid the design elements look (or, more accurately, DON’T look). If the mix is wrong, the building looks like a tenement, or worse, a Mid-Century Modernist office building in drabber colors. When I want a Brutalist building, I want something that looks like it could shrug off an air raid reasonably well! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/46 "2017-09-09T12:05:09Z")
Prairie (early Wright and his acolytes) , Art Nouveau (especially if you include Gaudi, which is debatable), and that colorful Mexican Modern popularized by Ricardo Legoretta come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/47 "2017-09-09T12:18:21Z")
Also, for vernacular styles, the [houses of the Toraja on Sulawesi, Indonesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongkonan) are striking. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/48 "2018-12-12T02:15:54Z")
Thought I’d bump this thread. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’d love to see the [Bradbury Building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building) someday, which Wikipedia describes as Italian Renaissance Revival. “Someday” was last week. I was in the L.A. area for business and managed to have a little free time, so I went to the Bradbury Building. It’s not all that impressive on the outside, but the inside is gorgeous; lots of decorative and structural ironwork, cage elevators, and a glass ceiling to let in natural light (even if it was raining when I was there). The next time _Demon With a Glass Hand_ is on TV, I shall watch with renewed interest. I still want to find the parking lot where Jim’s trailer was on the _The Rockford Files_; maybe next time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/49 "2018-12-12T04:17:30Z")
I live in a log cabin. I would love to have a Antebellum house. A real one. I love to go look at them. I think they are all probably haunted. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/50 "2018-12-12T05:17:05Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > When I want a Brutalist building, I want something that looks like it could shrug off an air raid reasonably well! I’d like to purchase [33 Thomas Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street) as my supervillain headquarters. Air raid? Looks like it could shrug off a direct hit with a thermonuclear bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/51 "2018-12-12T13:34:05Z")
The central office buildings of that time were in fact built to survive a war, or at least civil unrest. Note the lack of windows and limited access. My mother worked next door to the one in New Haven and she said the floors with the switching equipment were equipped with vibration isolation springs. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/52 "2018-12-12T14:13:07Z")
While Gothic (original or “inspired by”) and Modernisme will always draw my eye, what I like best is architecture that’s suited to its environment. An adobe ranchito can be perfectly fine in a dry, hot location: it’s got no place within spitting distance of Malmö. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/53 "2018-12-12T14:19:45Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Caribbean Victorian, traditional Spanish, traditional Moroccan, Scandinavian modern. Least favorite? Brutalism and Gothic. In that order. Ah, but [which](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caser%C3%ADo_(arquitectura)) [traditional](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortijo) [Spanish](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albarrac%C3%ADn)? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/54 "2018-12-12T14:38:37Z")
And since it was bumped let me add a shout-out to the bauhaus if for no other reason than its connection to Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel. Known more for interior designs and furnishings the architecture still has a certain appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/55 "2018-12-12T16:49:53Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I’m a big fan of Craftsman style, as exemplified by Green & Green. [The Gamble House](https://gamblehouse.org/tours/) is probably close to my idea of a perfect house - inside and out. The entire neighborhood around it in Pasadena has some jawdroppingly gorgeous craftsman homes. In “normal person” homes, I do love me a good porch and overhanging eaves! Also a big fan of Prairie. I spend a lot of time in Oak PArk, where there are an abundance of FLW homes. Love the look - tho many others have made the look more functional. Prairie also works well for public buildings, like [Unity Temple](https://flwright.org/researchexplore/unitytemple). We recently bought/rehabbed a mid-century split-level. We aimed at providing Prairie touches inside and out to give that feeling, without making it look like we were trying to pretend it was something other than what it is. Think we were pretty successful. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/56 "2018-12-12T22:19:33Z")
Well since this thread was first posted my tastes have become more specific. My favorite architecture style is [International](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Style_(architecture)) and other styles in that lineage such as Brutalism, Bauhaus, and some other styles of Modernism. While I don’t dislike the more florid lineage of post 19th century styles such as Futurism, Art Deco, and Googie, they do not come close to their more sparse coevals. I still dislike Postmodernism and Gothic, although I do now appreciate Victorian Gothic because it tones down the overblown flying buttresses. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/57 "2018-12-12T22:28:28Z")
Living [where I do](https://www.google.com/search?q=art+deco+napier&safe=strict&rlz=1C1GGRV_enNZ751NZ751&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ6cGUq5vfAhUDsY8KHWUjCW4Q_AUIDigB&biw=1680&bih=908) it’s almost compulsory to like Art Deco. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/58 "2018-12-12T23:13:03Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > > [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > > > I’m a big fan of Craftsman style, as exemplified by Green & Green. > > [The Gamble House](https://gamblehouse.org/tours/) is probably close to my idea of a perfect house - inside and out. The entire neighborhood around it in Pasadena has some jawdroppingly gorgeous craftsman homes. In “normal person” homes, I do love me a good porch and overhanging eaves! I saw a tour of that house once on a TV show. It is beautiful but all of that wood (even on the interior walls) is going to need waxing or oiling or other maintenance regularly. It would be a ton of work to actually live there. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/59 "2018-12-13T08:55:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I saw a tour of that house once on a TV show. It is beautiful but all of that wood (even on the interior walls) is going to need waxing or oiling or other maintenance regularly. It would be a ton of work to actually live there. 😕 No more than doors do. We’re talking about “once every many years” work if that. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423/60 "2018-12-13T13:01:55Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > 😕 No more than doors do. We’re talking about “once every many years” work if that. Pretty sure that is why you are expected to have hired help! One funny thing - when we toured it, there was a beautiful birdseye maple floor in the kitchen. The guide said it was one of the few non-original things in the house. When the home was built, they had the newest, best flooring in the kitchen - linoleum! For whatever reason, when rehabbing the home the decision was made to remove the linoleum. The amazing maple floor we saw was the original underlayment - intended to be hidden beneath the linoleum! 😃 I’ve mentioned before, my observation as to how prevalent craftsmen homes are on TV/movies. Just last night, we watched an episode of The Rookie, and a significant part of it took place in and around an AMAZING craftsman home. Buffy’s home was craftsman. They really are all over on TV and film - IMO, more commonly seen there than IRL. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-architecture-styles/795423.md?page=4)