• So many different home styles and types of architecture make up America’s landscape. Victorian house plans, colonial house plans and even Spanish and Mediterranean house plans provide limitless possibilities and design inspiration from neighborhood to neighborhood across the country. Some of the historical facts below reveal how many home styles and design elements were created through the years.

• During the 18th century, small seats were made to fit into deep window recesses.  Today, a window seat is more likely to be a built-in bench with a lift up lid for storage and pillows and a seat cushion for a functional, relaxing space.

• The occurrence of the Folk Victorian style happened between 1870 and 1910.  Folk Victorian homes are usually symmetrical or square-shaped with brackets under the porches and eaves and flat, jigsaw trim or spindle work.  As industrialization and the growth of railroads occurred, this decorative trim could be massed produced and was seen all across the continent.  Smaller towns could also get modern woodworking machinery and carpenters started to mix and match pieces of trim according to the latest shipment and their taste to develop their own unique style.

• Dormer windows go back centuries and are credited to French architect Francois Mansart (1598 – 1666).  Mansart inserted a sequence of windows into sloping roofs so attics could be inhabitable.  The name dormer comes from the French word “dormir,” meaning, “to sleep.”

• Since the days of Renaissance Italy, stucco has been used to make a building appear important as well as for fire and weather protection.

• The country’s first subdivision occurred in 1949 on Long Island New York when Arthur Levitt and his two sons started a project on a swatch of empty field that changed the look of the country forever.

• Since the late 1600’s, dormers have been featured in American architecture.  Although they are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, dormers are windows with their own roof set vertically into the roof of the house.  When you can recognize different types of dormers, you will be able to figure out the architectural style of the home.  Gable dormers, for example, often point to styles such as Georgian, Craftsman, Colonial Revival and Tudor house plans.

• European nobility used beeswax candles to light their homes for centuries.  During these times, beeswax was considered to be a precious material because it was typically only cultivated by noblemen on their own land in fear that the wax would be stolen or sold.

• Visual interest can be added to a plain mantel facing by using decorative medallions and other ornamental period style molding.  By staining or finishing the added details to match the existing fireplace, a bland fireplace can turn into an antique treasure from the old world.

• When you consider building a single level ranch house plan with front porch remember that according to Southern culture, a porch placed in the front of the home creates benefits such as a shady overhang along with an indoor/outdoor setting for relaxing during most months of the year.

• Many feel the noblest combination of forest trees in America is the pine and the oak and this evergreen and deciduous combo will make your yard colorful and interesting all year.  Birds and wildlife also use these trees for shelter and food.

• Wattle fences have been used for hundreds of years in Africa and Europe, and “wattle and daub” houses, made of interwoven twigs and mud are waterproof and used since the Stone Age.

• Why not put a bit of history into your new home plan?