List of house types
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).Here is a list of dwellings in the U K and in the USA. Click on the appropriate words to seethem and for more details.Residential dwellings can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division isbetween the house/single-family homeand the flat/apartment, but there are also many
subdivisions, listed below.
Houses
Colonial house
: a traditional style house in the United States
Cottage
: Usually refers to a small two-storied country dwelling, butweavers' cottagesarethree-storied townhouses with the top floor reserved for the working quarters.
Detached
: Any house that is completely separated from its neighbours.
o
Bungalow
: Single story house (not including optional basement)
o
Backsplit
: Multilevel house that appears as a bungalow from the front elevation
o
Frontsplit
: Multilevel house that appears as a two story house in front and a bungalow in the back. It is the opposite of a backsplit and is a rare configuration.
o
Sidesplit
: Multilevel house where the different levels are visible from the frontelevation
o
Link-detached
: Adjacent detached properties which do not have a party wall, butwhich are linked by the garage(s) and so forming a single frontage.
o
prefabA house where the main structure is prefabricated (common after the secondworld war).
o
Ranch
: Single story house, usually with garage and basement.
Farmhouse
: Building serving as the main residence on afarm.
Linked
: Rowhouse or semi-detached house that is linked only at the foundation. Aboveground, they appear as detached houses. Linking the foundations reduces cost.
Mansion
: Very large/expensive house
Manufactured Home
Mewsproperty
: A Mews is anurbanstable-block that has been converted into residential
properties. The houses are converted into ground floor garages with a small flat above whichused to house theostler .
Rowhouse
: (USA); also called
terraced home
(USA); also called
townhouse
; : 3 or more houses in a row sharing a party wall with its adjacent neighbour. InNew York ,
Brownstones
are rowhouses. Rowhouses are typically multiple stories. The termtownhouse is currently coming into wider use in the UK, but terraced house (not terracedhome ) is more common.
Semi-detached
: two houses joined together, often called a
duplex
in the USA.
TerracedHouse
: Since the late18th centuryis a style of housing where (generally)identical individual houses are conjoined into rows - a line of houses which abut directly onto each other built with shared party walls between dwellings whose uniform fronts anduniform height created an ensemble that was more stylish than a
rowhouse
. However thisis also the UK term for a rowhouse regardless of whether the houses are identical or not.
o
Back-to-back
: Terraced houses which also adjoin a second terrace to the rear. Theywere a common form of housing for workers during theIndustrial RevolutioninEngland.
Townhouse
: also called
rowhouse
(US). In the UK, a townhouse is a traditional term for anupper class house in London (in contrast withcountry house
), and is now coming into use a
a term for new terraced houses, which are often three stories tall with a garage on the groundfloor.
Flats / Apartments
Apartment building
: a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more)apartments.
Apartment tower
,
Block of flats
or
Tower block
: a high-rise apartment building
Condominium
: Separate residences with some common areas (see
townhouse
).
Duplex
: Two separateresidences, usually side-by-side, but sometimes on two differentfloors. The former often looks like twohousesput together, sharing a wall (see
semi-detached
); the latter usually appears as a townhouse, but with two different entrances.
Garden Apartment
: a building style usually characterized by two story, semi-detached buildings, each floor being a separate apartment.
Maisonette
: an apartment / flat on two levels with internal stairs, or which has its ownentrance at street level. Less used in the UK now that the term apartment is migrating intoBritish English.
Penthouse
: Refers to the top floor of multi-story building
Tenement
a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments(i.e. an apartment building). In the United States the connotation implies a run-down or poorly-cared-for building.
Loft
or
Warehouse conversion
: Trendy flats inhabited bybourgeois bohemianafter gentrificationof an industrial area
Garage-Apartment:An apartment over a garage; if the garage is attached, the apartment willhave a separate entrance from the main house.
Garalow: a portmateau word garage+bungalow; similar to a garage-apartment, but with theapartment and garage at the same level.
Mother-in-Law Apartment: Small apartment either at the back or on an upper level of themain house, usually with a separate entrance.