Houses Without Names

In countless neighborhoods across America, the streets are lined with houses representing

no established architectural style. Many of the 80 million homes in the United States

today have only loose-fitting, general names like ranch, duplex, bungalow, and flat.

Most, however, cannot even be identified by these common names, much less by an

architectural type such as Colonial, Italianate, or Queen Anne. The few regionally

recognized vernacular terms-- shotgun, Cape (Cod), three-decker, and the like--remain

exceptions rather than the rule. In this innovative, copiously illustrated guide, Thomas C.

Hubka considers why most ordinary, working-class houses lack an adequate identifying

nomenclature and proposes new ways to name and classify these anonymous structures,

shedding a fresh light on their role in the development of American domestic culture and

its housing landscape. Popular, developer-built, tract, speculative, everyday--whatever they are called,

these common homes constitute the largest portion of American housing in all regions

and historic periods. Without classification, these dwellings tend to be left out of histories

of American building, neglected in preservation surveys and plans, and ignored when it

comes to considering their impact on American culture. Current methods of interpreting

common houses need not be replaced, Hubka shows, but only modified to include a

broader, more complete spectrum of common dwellings. As Hubka explains, by applying

an order of census and a floor-plan analysis, scholars can adequately characterize

the actual homes in which most Americans live, particularly in recent times after the

widespread growth of suburban homes. Based on years of field observations, measured drawings, and surveys of regional

house types, this handbook provides a working vocabulary for the study and appreciation

of Americas common houses and will prove useful to preservationists, academics, and

architects, as well as owners and residents of Americas most ubiquitous residences.