List of house types
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Residential dwellings can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is
between the house/single-family home and the flat/apartment, but there are also many
subdivisions, listed below. Some of the terms listed are only used in some parts of the
English speaking world.
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Houses
A shack is small, usually run-down building; they are not necessarily used as a dwelling.
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Sears House: Sears houses were owner-built "kit" houses sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co.
through its catalog division from 1906 -1940.
Brownstone: see Rowhouse
Colonial house: a traditional style house in the United States
Cottage: Usually refers to a small country dwelling, but weavers' cottages are three-storied
townhouses with the top floor reserved for the working quarters.
Craftsman house:
Detached (Free Standing): 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 front
elevation
o Link-detached: Adjacent detached properties which do not have a party wall, but
which are linked by the garage(s) and so forming a single frontage.
o prefab A house where the main structure is prefabricated (common after the second
world war).
o Two-story, three-story
o Ranch: Single story house, usually with garage and basement.
Farmhouse: Building serving as the main residence on a farm.
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Linked: Rowhouse or semi-detached house that is linked only at the foundation. Above
ground, they appear as detached houses. Linking the foundations reduces cost.
Faux Chateau: (1980s - 90s) Inflated suburban house with non-contextual French
Provencal references.
Foursquare house:
Mansion: Very large/expensive house
McMansion (1980s - 90s) Inflated suburban house with classicizing references.
Manufactured Home
Mews property: A Mews is an urban stable-block that has been converted into residential
properties. The houses are converted into ground floor garages with a small flat above which
used to house the ostler.
Patio Home
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. In New York,
"Brownstones" are rowhouses. Rowhouses are typically multiple stories. The term
townhouse is currently coming into wider use in the UK, but terraced house (not "terraced
home") is more common.
Split-level house: A style popular in the 50's and 60's.
Semi-detached: two houses joined together, often called a "duplex" in the USA.
Terraced House: Since the late 18th century is a style of housing where (generally)
identical individual houses are conjoined into rows - a line of houses which abut directly on
to each other built with shared party walls between dwellings whose uniform fronts and
uniform height created an ensemble that was more stylish than a "rowhouse". However this
is 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. They
were a common form of housing for workers during the Industrial Revolution in
England.
Treehouse
Townhouse: also called rowhouse (US). In the UK, a townhouse is a traditional term for an
upper class house in London (in contrast with country house), and is now coming into use as
a term for new terraced houses, which are often three stories tall with a garage on the ground
floor.
o Stacked townhouse: Units are stacked on each other; units may be multilevel; all
units have direct access from the outside
Shack: A small, usually rundown, wooden building.
Victorian house:
Shotgun house: term referring to two distinct styles of long, narrow house common in the
Southern United States.
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Flats / Apartments
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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 separate residences, usually side-by-side, but sometimes on two different
floors. The former often looks like two houses put together, sharing a wall (see semidetached); the latter usually appears as a townhouse, but with two different entrances.
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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 own
entrance at street level. Less used in the UK now that the term apartment is migrating into
British 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 by bourgeois bohemian after
gentrification of an industrial area
Garage-Apartment: An apartment over a garage; if the garage is attached, the apartment will
have a separate entrance from the main house.
Garalow: a portmateau word garage+bungalow; similar to a garage-apartment, but with the
apartment and garage at the same level.
Mother-in-Law Apartment: Small apartment either at the back or on an upper level of the
main house, usually with a separate enterance.