PA/DE/NJ Tri-state area:
Typical suburabn homes are center hall Colonial (what a coincidence for three of the earliest colonies!), Cape Cod and Victorian (fancy full blown Victorian? No, but there is a simpler Victorian style and cannot remember the name).
Dutch Colonial and Englsih tudor were very polular at one time. Few Craftsmen style and Federal style homes.
Split level and Levittown-style ranchers were quite popular 30-50 years ago, as were “Italianette” row homes 70-100 years ago.
edit: Note that most new homes in this area are finsihed with basic ‘colonial’ style mouldings/trim, and that if it ain’t ‘off the shelf’ material labeled ‘colonial’ then it probably won’t find it’s way into the suburban sprawl. Most buidlers in this area wouldn’t know craftsmanship if it bit them in the ass. Middle Americans in this region get generic ‘houses’, and the possibility of distinguishing any by a period style is tough. You might as well say ‘colonial’ is a default description for any house that is not obviously a Cape Cod or ‘contemporary’. That being said, I am embarrassed for all the builders who develop land and sell houses to middle Americans in this area.
Pick up a copy of the McAllister’s “Field Guide to American Houses” and you’ll see a representative sample of most of the architectural styles found in the US.
They identify the “Colonial” period as running from roughly 1600 - 1820. In that category they include: Postmedieval English, Dutch Colonial, French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Georgian, Adam, and Early Classical Revival.
The exact nature of each type of architecture is different and uses different materials and features. Dutch Colonial tends to have a very different roof from a Spanish Colonial, for example. Georgian is very different from French Colonial.
As was pointed out, the difference has to do with location (and the traditions of the settlers), available materials, and weather conditions (the center hall design, for example has the wide center hall with doors at either end to create a draft and help cool the house. Additionally, center halls homes tended to approachable from either side of the house and you have two front doors, more or less).
Standard Colonial I would say has a two story main living area with an attached one-story garage on the side, a center entry doorway, shutters, siding and a brick chimney. It covers a lot of house designs, but there are plenty of designs that aren’t colonials.
Sure, my house is an example of a real circa 1760 colonial in Massachusetts. There are actually a number of them in this specific area that date to the late 1600’s - the early 1800’s of the same type so I feel confident it is typical at least for this New England area.
I am so jealous. And I do realize you put tons of sweat equity into that thing, not to mention whatever other sacrifices may have been involved…but I couldn’t fix up an old house if you handed it to me on a plate. I’m lucky if I can hammer a nail.
Here in Alexandria, pretty much all detached dwellings in Old Town, Masonic View and Mt. Vernon/Del Ray are boxy, red brick colonials. Many of them have a living room or garage tacked onto one side. I’d be surprised if zoning laws didn’t mandate this in some neighborhoods. West End is more accommodating to ranch houses and the like.
Much of North Arlington is the same way, heavy on the boxy red brick Colonials.
Farther out in the 'burbs, Vienna seems heavy on clapboard cottages. Reston, especially Hunters Woods, is dominated by Rylands.
Takoma Park is rife with Cape Cods (and even has a couple of Sears catalog houses!).