# What Is The Most American Form Of Architecture? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318 "2022-07-02T22:15:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/21 "2022-07-03T08:36:20Z")
Yes. That style seems common enough in Northern Europe and has been since the Middle Ages: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Stabkirche_Undredal.jpg/1280px-Stabkirche_Undredal.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Stabkirche_Undredal.jpg/1280px-Stabkirche_Undredal.jpg) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Oddernes_kirke_01.jpg/640px-Oddernes_kirke_01.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Oddernes_kirke_01.jpg/640px-Oddernes_kirke_01.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/22 "2022-07-03T09:52:19Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > In the States, those are called duplexes. šŸ™‚ I donā€™t think thereā€™s any requirement for something iconic to a location to be entirely absent from the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/23 "2022-07-03T09:52:27Z")
For me, the most distinctly American architecture, right now at least, is the McMansion. Theyā€™re so distinctive thereā€™s a whole blog about it. The design style is ā€œpick a bunch of individual elements that on their own are signifiers of wealth and status, and then throw them together willy-nilly without any regard for tradition or coherence.ā€ Hereā€™s a sample blog entry. > **[Suburban Chicago McMansions Follow a Dark Logic Even I Do Not Understand](https://mcmansionhell.com/post/672504597059911680/suburban-chicago-mcmansions-follow-a-dark-logic)** > > For reasons architecturally unbeknownst to me, the McMansions of Chicago's suburbs are actually insane. Perhaps it makes sense that Chicago, America's mecca of great and distinguished architecture... Edit to add: Discourse is processing this URL very strangely. Instead of a reference to the page, itā€™s extracting a picture and not offering a clickable link. **[Here](https://mcmansionhell.com/post/672504597059911680/suburban-chicago-mcmansions-follow-a-dark-logic/)** it is as an embed. You donā€™t see this kind of construction anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/24 "2022-07-03T09:56:44Z")
That looks almost like itā€™s trying to emulate an old house that has been extended again and again at different times - sort of like having a fake history of development ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/25 "2022-07-03T11:37:05Z")
I no longer live in Belgium but I remember fondly their hilariously ugly houses: > **[Belgian Guy Documents Ugly Houses He Sees And Theyā€™re So Bad, Itā€™s Hilarious...](https://www.boredpanda.com/ugly-belgian-houses/?utm_source=duckduckgo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic)** > > Thanks to blogger Hannes Coudenys and of course the architects themselves, Belgium became notorious for its quirky buildings. In 2012 Coudneys decided to begin documenting the peculiarities of Belgian architecture on Instagram. He noticed that for... Sorry to link to bored panda, the original is somewhere in Facebook or Pinterest. Hereā€™s another link: > **[Hannes Coudenys creates an archive of Ugly Belgian Houses](https://www.dezeen.com/2015/04/05/ugly-belgian-houses-hannes-coudenys-archive-unattractive-architecture/)** > > For the last four years Hannes Coudenys has been photographing houses across Belgium but, instead of selecting the best, he shoots those he deems ugly ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/26 "2022-07-03T13:43:55Z")
McMansions are no longer just an American thing. [Ghost town of tiny faux French chateaus in Turkey sits empty after developer goes bankrupt](https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/lifestyle/property/a26074418/burj-al-babas-chateau-turkey/) [![](https://img-theculturetrip-com.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/img.theculturetrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/turkey-3.jpg) ](https://img-theculturetrip-com.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/img.theculturetrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/turkey-3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/27 "2022-07-03T14:19:42Z")
Mid-century Modern Suburban. [![](https://www.atomic-ranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/44-Seattle-Collectors-3_WEB.gif) ](https://www.atomic-ranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/44-Seattle-Collectors-3_WEB.gif) Or, these better ones. [![](https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/RJX2CQcS8lz2-A_cVfZWoL1vaUs=/1500x1000/filters:fill(auto,1)/mid-century-modern-architecture-5072981-hero-b2102756fb5544ce962e0701f9e44e65.jpg) ](https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/RJX2CQcS8lz2-A_cVfZWoL1vaUs=/1500x1000/filters:fill(auto,1)/mid-century-modern-architecture-5072981-hero-b2102756fb5544ce962e0701f9e44e65.jpg) [![](https://www.atomic-ranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018_11_05_03_09_37_crw_800h_500a_cc_5-1.jpg) ](https://www.atomic-ranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018_11_05_03_09_37_crw_800h_500a_cc_5-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/28 "2022-07-03T14:33:22Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I donā€™t think thereā€™s any requirement for something iconic to a location to be entirely absent from the rest of the world. Thereā€™s also no requirement for assuming that someone providing additional information related to your post is somehow negating or disagreeing with it. šŸ¤Ø ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/29 "2022-07-03T14:49:57Z")
For Israel - well, if I were cynical Iā€™d say ruins (Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, what have you) are our dominant form of architecture, but barring that, Iā€™d say ā€œWhite Cityā€ Bauhaus: > **[How Did Tel Aviv Become a Beacon For Stunning Bauhaus Architecture?](https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/how-did-tel-aviv-become-beacon-stunning-bauhaus-architecture)** > > Israel's second largest city is home to one of the largest clusters of buildings from a major 20th century architectural movement ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/30 "2022-07-03T15:06:54Z")
Fair enough. My apologies for misunderstanding you. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/31 "2022-07-03T15:09:16Z")
New England saltbox Adobe dwelling. The type of ā€œold westā€ architecture (for general stores, etc) that had a flat false front, and the building behind it was a plain straight building with a peaked roof. Canā€™t think of the term, but there was a name for regional buildings which were so generic that the builder could erect one without referring to blueprints. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/32 "2022-07-03T15:11:51Z")
That thing just boggles my mind. Who would want a faux-ornate house that is in a tight grid of identical faux-ornate houses? Weā€™ve been thinking about moving house recently and one of the requirements near the top of my list was always ā€˜must not be identical to every other house in the streetā€™. I mean, I get that it makes the design process cheaper to just copy/paste them. If theyā€™d styled the development as some sort of representation of a walled city like Carcassonne it might have worked. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/33 "2022-07-03T15:25:22Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > The type of ā€œold westā€ architecture (for general stores, etc) that had a flat false front, and the building behind it was a plain straight building with a peaked roof. I wonder just how common that actually was in real life. Most of the ones we are familiar with are just a handful of Hollywood backlots used over and over again for hundreds of Westerns. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/34 "2022-07-03T15:41:22Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > For me, the most distinctly American architecture, right now at least, is the McMansion. Nothing new about that! Sarah Winchester built one in the 1880s. > **[Inside The Winchester Mystery House, A Home For The Dead](https://allthatsinteresting.com/winchester-mystery-house)** > > The Winchester Mystery House and the story of Sarah Winchester who, to avoid the paranormal activity that she believed followed her night and day, kept building the house for 38 years. [![](https://allthatsinteresting.com/thumb/1200.633.https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/blue-sky-winchester.jpg) ](https://allthatsinteresting.com/thumb/1200.633.https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/blue-sky-winchester.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/35 "2022-07-03T15:46:05Z")
That might be the reason the developer went bankrupt. A pity it did not happen sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/36 "2022-07-03T15:48:28Z")
Yeah, I could see carbon-copy working OK for a simpler design (many successful projects have been built that way) - I think itā€™s something about the fact that if you saw one house that looked like that, it would be disctinctive, but hundreds of them all together just looks weirdly vulgar ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/37 "2022-07-03T16:03:21Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, I could see carbon-copy working OK for a simpler design There could be a serious problem of drunk people, heading home after a night at the pub, walking into the wrong house. (Anybody remember the Homer Price stories by Robert McCloskey? One of the stories involved a residential development of all-alike houses that had problems like this.) ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/38 "2022-07-03T19:13:35Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > wonder just how common that actually was in real life These buildings are seen all over small town western Nebraska. A fair number of them are still be used as mercantile buildings, barber shops, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/39 "2022-07-03T19:17:34Z")
I just remembered the term, ā€œvernacular architectureā€. Although, looking it up, the dictionary definition is ā€œarchitecture concerned with domestic and functional rather than public or monumental buildingsā€. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/40 "2022-07-03T20:00:01Z")
A better definition is something like: architecture suited to the locality and the materials and traditions of the place itā€™s built. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318.md?page=3)