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Lake Morton Architecture
The Craftsman Bungalow, 1905 - 1925
This is the predominant home style of the East and South Lake Morton historic
districts. The name of this style of home comes from designs presented in the artistic
and popular Craftsman magazine, published by Gustav Stickley from 1901-1916.
Gradually, however, the word took on its own momentum, going beyond any specific
connections to Stickley or his work, and it came to be freely used by others as being
characteristic of the period. Features include street-facing gables with composition or
shingled roof, painted the colors found in the nature, such as browns and greens; wide
overhanging eaves with brackets; a large sleeping porch; front door opening directly
into the living room; plastered ceiling (sometimes crossed geometrically with wooden beams); always a fireplace and double-hung or casement windows.
The one-story homes are square or rectangular with a large porch across the entire symmetrical facade. Roofs are sometimes hipped (a roof with sloping ends and sides, with four sides usually meeting at a point) with a small, single dormer on the front facade.
Sometimes, with an extra half story, the asymmetrical facade features a large front porch, porte cochere (an open-walled covered structure used as a passageway or parking area for a carriage or automobile) supported by a massive stone, brick, or wood pillars. The roof is low-pitched with generally front facing gable ends. Native materials were often used, and trim (timber trusses, brackets, etc.) is exposed. Front “Chicago” windows (a central picture window with double hung units on either side) are featured.
English Arts & Crafts Tudor, 1890s - 1930
Derived from early English sources, Tudor style homes are characterized by steeply-
pitched roofs, decorative half-timbering and leaded glass casement windows. Other
characteristics are flat-topped Tudor, Gothic, or round-arched window and door
openings, high and/ or massive chimneys and portals or vestibules rather than open
porches. The walls may be brick, stone, or plaster and feature half-timbering in the
Elizabethan examples. The hardware and lighting fixtures are often wrought or simulated wrought iron.
American Foursquare
1890 - 1930
Federal Colonial Revival, 1880s - Present
The Federal Colonial Revival style is based on designs of houses that were popular from early colonization until the American Revolution utilizing various elements borrowed from the classical Greek and Roman architectural eras. Typical details are dormers, centered entrances, dentil molding, little or no cornice overhang, low-pitched roofs, narrow cornices, delicate moldings, and fan-shaped gable windows. Special attention was given to the entrance way which often included a fan window flanking side windows and small porches.
Revival, 1915 - 1940
An interest in Spanish and Mexican architecture spurred three revival styles during
this period - Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival and Mediterranean Revival.
Although they are related, there are some distinct differences. Spanish Colonial
Revival style is revealed with a single-story structure, flat roof, plaster walls, applied
cast concrete ornamentation, small porch and parapet (a low wall on the roof). Mission Revival style exhibits two stories, rectangular plan, and symmetrical facade, hip roof with barrel shaped tile, deep arcade front wrap—around porch, porte cochere, parapet, double-hung one-over-one windows and front doors with sidelights. The
Mediterranean style has the typical asymmetrical facade, an irregular large two-story plan, formal door openings, arched porches, and smooth white plastered walls.
Probably the quintessential American house, this style is also known as a "cube" or a “box house” and typically consists of two and a half stories with a full basement.
Because of its efficient use of space in small city lots, it is found in cities across the
country. The foursquare is symmetrical. Its front door usually has equal groupings of
windows on each side, but sometimes the door is offset. In either case, the second
story windows will be perfectly or nearly symmetrical. The roof is pyramidal, with a
“monitor dormer”—a dormer with a roof that echoes the lines of the house roof. The
house will have a porch that spans the width of the house, and may have different sidings on the first and second story walls. Interior rooms are almost invariably square, but sometimes the dining room will have a bay window.
Other architectural styles within these districts include Queen Anne, Prairie,
Usonian, and Ranch.
Information written and provided for the annual LMNA Historic Home Tour by Courtnay Zimmerman, with an update by Betty McKee