# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**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 5, 2022, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/61 "2022-07-05T05:47:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I tried but couldn’t find any good photos. Usually, you see these stately white frame houses of by themselves. This article has some photos, but apparently they’re no longer white. > **[Fermilab's Village Houses and the Large Hadron Collider](https://housekaboodle.com/fermilabs-village-houses-and-the-large-hadron-collider/)** > > Fermilab's Village houses and the Large Hadron Collider. Fermilab Village houses are painted unattractive bright colors like this Particle Smashing Orange.. Or was it just the larger ones, there’s a couple photos of those as well, they’re still white. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/62 "2022-07-05T12:13:40Z")
I never noticed the little colored ranches - just the big white ones. Curious. There is also a huge barn there used for activity center and such. I played a few. square dances there. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/63 "2022-07-05T12:34:42Z")
I would say that [Prairie Style Architecture](https://www.google.com/search?q=prairie+style+architecture&sxsrf=ALiCzsZthJ6gOXHyGHTlfAGdWzjYYfv0Rw:1657024289741&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&vet=1&fir=Pe9F-WYNswOsGM%252CRYvwyGTV6QE5lM%252C_%253BEP7iJn1LLEqi2M%252CgXQJOnSBGIvlRM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kTj2GPUpPqd5EObHZOZGrS8rX-yNw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd_7HB4OH4AhXyJn0KHbr1AqQQ_h16BAgoEAE&biw=1762&bih=884&dpr=1.09#imgrc=Pe9F-WYNswOsGM), developed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is one of the quintessentially American styles. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/64 "2022-07-05T13:00:47Z")
Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky tacky Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes all the same There’s a pink one and a green one And a blue one and a yellow one And they’re all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/65 "2022-07-06T22:16:01Z")
IMO, I immediately think of [Western false front architecture]([https://Western](https://Western) false front architecture) that made the tiny towns of the western US look bigger and more prosperous from the street than they really were. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/66 "2022-07-07T00:36:15Z")
Where’s that from? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/67 "2022-07-07T00:43:55Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/r5IKpHTEuY0/maxresdefault.jpg "Little Boxes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5IKpHTEuY0) Prolly most familiar these days as the theme song to the Showtime series _Weeds_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/68 "2022-07-07T00:44:45Z")
Ah. Don’t watch many shows. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/69 "2022-07-07T02:09:24Z")
Thanks, @crowmanyclouds. I’ve gone all these years thinking that was Pete Seeger’s. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/70 "2022-07-07T02:36:46Z")
Late to the thread, but I’ll nominate the doublewide trailer – or manufactured housing in general – as the most American form of architecture. Cheap, factory-made, can park it anywhere your truck can carry it. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/71 "2022-07-07T02:45:28Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Cool! I’ve always liked it and never knew the name. Googie is what came to my mind as well. That’s when your whole building looks like the sign in front of an old Las Vegas casino. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/72 "2022-07-07T02:47:53Z")
I believe the professional opinion tends to go with the Octagon House and the so-called Western False Front (the ludicrously high all-façade street fronts so common in “wild-west” movie backlots). (“So-called” because I can show you plenty of real ones just a couple of miles west of the Hudson.) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/73 "2022-07-07T18:33:53Z")
My aunt recently sold the split-level house she had been living in for half a century or so. It had 5 steps up to the front porch that led to the landing where you could go left and up to the main floor or down-right to the basement. That seems like a particularly American design. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/74 "2022-07-07T18:49:47Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Googie is indeed the most American. And here’s why: Fast food restaurants, gas stations, and motels adopted this style of architecture in the mid 20th century because they wanted to have eye catching buildings that people would notice as they drove past them in their cars. Googie grew out of America’s car culture! What’s more American than that? Googie…as in Guggenheim? And, since it’s in the news recently, are Howard Johnson (HoJo’s) restaurants part of this architectural group? [HoJos Postcard](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f8/9b/ed/f89bed69ad0e78e646688cba2899dba7--vintage-postcards-vintage-images.jpg) ---
**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:** [July 7, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/75 "2022-07-07T18:54:55Z")
A [raised ranch](https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/what-is-a-raised-ranch-36823360), in other words. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/76 "2022-07-07T20:41:28Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > Googie…as in Guggenheim? No, Googie as in Googies Coffee Shop. See the Wikipedia link in @MrDibble’s post that I quoted: > The term _Googie_ comes from the now-defunct [Googies Coffee Shop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googies_Coffee_Shop) in [Hollywood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Los_Angeles) No idea why one particular restaurant became the name for that entire architectural style, apart from them being an early adopter of that style. And yeah, I would say HoJo’s certainly falls into that category. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318/77 "2022-07-11T01:41:32Z")
Because it’s fun to say? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-american-form-of-architecture/967318.md?page=3)