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There are sixteen recognized house types in the MLS-PIN serving Metrowest
Boston.
Read below to find out the key points that define each style.
Antique House Style
Antique homes are typically rectangular in shape and include a large central
chimney with one or  more fireplaces, narrow clapboards for the siding material,
simple trim around doors and windows, and a few small windows (called "lights")
around the main doorway. The other windows typically have numerous small panes,
most often 4x4, and are usually split horizontally with the bottom opening to
add ventilation in the nice weather. True antiques were fitted with exterior
trim whose purpose was to secure the home against Native American raids, such as
shutters, solid pine front doors, and large hand-forged hinges and handles.
Over the years, as the family of the homeowner grew, they were fitted with
wings, walls and lean-to’s and barns to house their growing family needs. This
phenomenon often leads to miss-matched floor heights, weird "railroad-style"
hallways and doors/windows to nowhere that were no longer needed as the family
blossomed. Many of these wonderful homes have restored hand-hewn beams with
exposed pegs, very wide pine board floors, soapstone sinks, and hand-carved trim
or trim produced with water saws. Antique lovers find these details to be
absolutely charming and are very fond of them.
These homes appeal to a select group of buyers, so their on-market times are
usually longer than many other home styles and their rate of appreciation is
typically less than that of most other homes. This is partially because they are
located near the center of towns (very close to main roads – some even on
double-yellow streets) and their location on the lot is usually very close to
the road. However, antique home lovers are a special breed and when they
purchase their home have been known to live there for a very long while.
Bungalow House Style
Bungalows are some of the most common homes found in older neighborhoods of New  England, often near lakes and rivers. These homes became very popular from the
1910's to the 1930 's and are still popular as "starter" homes in the lowest
price range in their towns.
These homes are generally narrow but deep homes often with detached or no
garages. This is usually a function of their small lot size, with many of them
on lots less than ¼ acre.
Bungalows are almost always one story but sometimes 1-½ stories high, and when
located on lakefronts with steep banks they often have walk-out basements with
glass-enclosed family rooms in the lower level. These homes also usually have a
small porch with square columns set on footings. The porches are often enclosed
with screens to keep the bugs away on the summer nights and the crawlspace
underneath the porch is used for seasonal storage of outdoor furniture and
equipment.
The majority of original bungalows were built as "camps" or "summer" homes and
have been "winterized" and fitted with central heating and all the fixings that
support year-round living.
They can be very charming from the outside and Realtors often use descriptors
such as "cute" or "cozy". In addition, the interiors reflect an earlier time
when leisure and a slower pace of life were embraced by a whole generation.
Cape House Style
English colonists, who came to the States in the late 1600's brought the cape
style home with  them. Their original designs were adapted to the local climate,
family size and natural materials and have become this great 1 to 1.5 story
home.
Capes are known for their steep roofs with overhangs, square or rectangular
shape with door in the center and dormers in the upper story. They also
typically will have at least one bedroom on the first floor and a central
chimney. Although they are often without outside ornamentation, shutters and
wide clapboards or weathered shingles give them their distinctive style.
Many of these homes were built in the early 1900's. They were popular because
they could be built cheaply for young families and added-on, or upstairs
finished as the family grew. The garages, if any, were usually detached from the
original home, set on the rear of the lot, and as the family grew the house was
extended to reach the garage.
Capes are plentiful throughout all of New England, and because of their small
size and charm, make some of the best "starter homes" for young families.
Colonial House Style
Colonials are a direct offshoot of the Cape style and are distinguished by:
their rectangular,  symmetrical design with bedrooms on the second floor;
double-hung windows featuring small, equally sized panes; windows framed by
shutters; elaborate cornice moldings over the windows; a protruding stone entry
with columns and a fanlight; clapboard siding; gabled roofs covered in shingles;
and a central hallway that runs from the front to the rear of the home.
The efficiency of placing the sleeping areas directly above the living areas
because rising heat from cooking and fireplaces rises into the sleeping chambers
and is not wasted is credited for the initial popularity of the style.
Versions built after the late 1800’s tend to have a single, central chimney
while traditional homes built in the 1700s and 1800s have a chimney at each end,
although some of the huge colonials being built in the last few years are
showing a return to the dual chimneys at the ends.
By far the most popular house style for today’s buyers in the Metrowest region,
they tend to steadily increase in value and are ideal candidates for updating
and additions.
Contemporary House Style
Even though they are not "contemporary" to anyone who is living in the 2000's, the name  contemporary represents a house style that can be found in small pockets around Metrowest.
Contemporary houses were first popularized by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and
his famous "Falling Waters" house in western Pennsylvania.
Builders and buyers liked the clean lines and contemporary styling and the great
use of space associated with these multi-level homes, and built them primarily
in the 1960's and 1970's.
Some of the characteristics are: garage placement on the front of the home to
cut building costs: shallow, pitched roofs that often extend from a higher level
down over the lower level: simple, linear rooms that are cost effective to build
and often attempt to "bring nature inside"; windows that are very large and
sometimes trapezoidal following the roof pitch in gables; and exterior finishes
that are a mix of natural materials like wood, brick, or rock.
Contemporary homes are less popular in Metrowest than colonials and because of
this their market value is usually lower than similarly sized colonials. Also
the pool of buyers is smaller so their time on market is usually longer.
Cottage House Style
In Metrowest, small homes on tiny lots are usually cottages and their location
is almost always  along bottom-land near oceans, rivers, lakes and streams.
While cottage is a hard style to describe, there are a few distinguishing
characteristics - the most sweeping generality being that it is a very informal
style.
In addition, they are: boxy, simple architecture without any ornamentation; low,
almost flat gabled roofs with overhanging eaves; and tiny windows and doors
installed to catch shade and breezes without regard to symmetry or style.
They can be made up of a hodge-podge of easily available materials and stories
abound about cottages made from recycled shipping pallets, crates and scrap
lumber.
Unlike the cottages found in the Caribbean and island locations, most New
England cottages began as homes for poor people or were built on large estates
to cheaply house the help.
In the 1950’s they were built en masse as country vacation homes for the growing
middle class, and in the following decades those homes have been “winterized”
and updated to become year-round communities.
Cottages are ideal starter homes and are usually the lowest priced segment of
their market.
Recent trends indicate that they are appealing to the baby boomers who are
looking to scale down for lifestyle or economic reasons and want to be part of a
waterside community.
Because of the buyer pool attracted to these homes, fixing up a cottage without
increasing the living area is generally not considered a good investment.
However if you update one for your own quality of living, you will usually
increase the “curb appeal” and salability.
Gambrel (Dutch Colonial) House Style
Gambrel is more a roof style than a house style, but is often applied to homes
often considered  Dutch Colonials.
These homes typically include a gambrel roof with a double slope on each side of
the building, and often look like what often is called a “barn”. Usually they
are faced in wood clapboard or shingles, varying in size and building materials,
and most have a symmetrical front facade and a classical wide, open entry
portico.
Homes that have chimneys often have them placed at one or the other end, not
usually in the center of the home like colonials.
Also, homes with the gambrel facing the street tend to be earlier, dating from
1800- 1900, while those with side-facing gambrels and a broad front dormer tend
to date from 1920-1950.
The use of the gambrel roof is no longer popular in home designs, but still
continues to be used a lot for barns, due to its limited framing and large
resulting interior space.
First-time homebuyers will find these affordable “starter” houses on smaller
lots and in nice neighborhoods. Because of this, their appeal is very high, and
their resale (if priced properly) happens quickly.
Garrison Colonial House Style
Garrison Colonials are a distinctive sub-category of the colonial house style,
found throughout  Metrowest but not very typical for other parts of the country.
The origins of the garrison home can be traced back to England, where this style
of house was called a “two-story English overhang” - because the second story
overhangs the first.
This style is distinguished by a second story overhanging the long side of the
house and below that overhang there are often a set of four decorative carvings
such as pineapples or acorns.
Like other colonials, they are very symmetrical, and depending on the creativity
of the builder often have the lower level faced with stone or brick while the
upper story is always faced with clapboards.
Unlike other colonial styles, they almost always have a single chimney at one
end of the house and the windows on the second story are usually smaller than
those on the first.
This style of house has been built from colonial times through the 1970’s but
are not often built today.
Garrisons are usually very well built, great houses for the mid-range buyers and
are often purchased as “mover-upper” homes by second time house buyers as their
families outgrow their first homes.
Log House Style
Log homes are very rare in the Metrowest Boston area.
 Contrary to what TV reenactments lead us to think, there was not enough time for
the early settlers to build log homes before the harsh weather of winter settled
in, so they lived in wigwams, crude huts and pits covered with boards.
The log homes of today, with what are called “saddle-notches” and layers of
whole logs laid horizontally & chinked with “wattle”, were brought to the east
coast by way of the Chesapeake bay settlements of Germans and Scandinavians in
the mid 1600’s.
Because the first-growth forests in New England tended to be huge and irregular,
unlike the young, identically sized, straight-as-an-arrow Lodge pole pines and
Douglas firs of the south and west, our early builders tended toward board and
batten construction for permanent dwellings and log homes were only built as
temporary dwellings on the frontier, crumbling over time.
Modern log homes can be extremely well-built and create a wonderful, rustic
sense of place within and around them.
When a log home in the Metrowest area goes up for sale, and this is not often,
it has historically generated good return for the seller but taken a very long
time to sell.
Multi-Level House Style
The multi level is a wonderful, deliberate house style that modern architects
created to group  similar living activities, such as sleeping or entertaining,
separating the quiet activities from the more boisterous ones.
There are generally three or more levels (sort of like a split with more levels)
and looking at the front of a multi, it looks to be split down the middle with a
one-and-a-half story home on one half stuck on to a two story home on the other.
The lowest parts of these homes are devoted to a garage and family room; the
middle levels, which usually are part of the one-and-a-half story section,
support quieter activities, such as those that take place in the kitchen, living
and dining rooms; and the topmost areas, usually above the garage, support the
quietest activities, such as those that take place in bedrooms, offices or
studies.
In Metrowest, multi level homes are usually found in the mid-range pricing of
their particular towns and generally sell very well.
Many have updated kitchens and baths and they are usually sited on mid-sized to
larger parcels of land in mature, established neighborhoods.
They make good mover-upper houses for expanding families and buyers who love to
entertain.
Ranch House Style
Many ranch style homes were built in Metrowest in the 50's and 60's for the
young families of  the servicemen returning from WWII.
They were inexpensive to build, could be built on conventional foundations with
basements or slabs of solid concrete without basements, and could be
mass-produced quickly.
Although there are no “Levittown’s” in New England, there are concentrations of
ranches in tract housing developments that still are vibrant, wonderful family
neighborhoods today.
Their styling is very simple and rectangular in shape and they often have
shallow pitched hipped roofs that extend across a single or double car garage or
a carport.
Because all the living space is on one floor, ranch houses are very wide, and
often cover the width of their lot.
In Metrowest, ranch houses are most popular with three bedrooms and two baths
and can provide a great value for first time homebuyers.
Raised Ranch House Style
 Raised ranch style houses were built in Metrowest from the mid 40's to the 70's and are occasionally still built today as individual custom homes.
They are typically built in this area on lots with high water tables, lots with stone ledge very close to the surface, or lots on a hillside.
Imagine building a single story ranch style home with a full basement and instead of sticking it in the ground up to the top of the foundation,
you set it on a flat spot carved into the ground anywhere from one to four feet deep.
This gives you two stories of living space mostly above grade with full-height windows
to give you air flow and sunlight while still maintaining the economies of compact size and materials.
Because of the foundation location, you enter the front door directly at the same grade as the driveway on the basement level and have to go upstairs to the main living level.
You will enter on the level with a family room, utility/mechanical room, laundry/bath, possibly a bedroom, and if there is one, the garage.There will be a full set of stairs to the side of the front door that takes you up to the main living level where you
will find the kitchen, dining room, living room, bedrooms and one or two full baths or a bath and a half.
In many towns they are found along rural roads or what were rural roads at the time in clusters of several homes that were built at the same time.
As these homes are anywhere from forty to seventy years old, their heating/cooling systems, wiring, plumbing, windows, doors, and other systems have probably been replaced or updated. If they haven't been, they are easy to do and a great way for first time buyers to
generate some sweat-equity.
When available, they sell well due to their economical carrying costs, generally low prices, and great use of space, So if you’re looking for all those things, a raised ranch might just be your perfect home.
Saltbox Colonial House Style
A variation of early Colonial or Cape Cod style houses, the practical and simple
saltbox was often  a single room deep.
Given that often a dozen or more people crowded into these early homes,
colonists soon began looking for practical ways to expand living space. Adding a
single-story lean-to shed to the back of a 1.5 or 2 story & one-room deep house
was the most practical method of gaining more space.
The resulting shape of this new house was the shape of a wooden box used to
store salt in Colonial times, that’s why we call them saltboxes.
In most saltboxes the lean-to addition was divided into three rooms: a central
kitchen with its new fireplace and oven; a “birthing” or “borning” room -
reserved for childbirth and the sick; and a pantry.
Sometimes a rear stair, located near the pantry, led up to a low-ceilinged
storage space. The prominent center chimney or a pair of end chimneys also
defines this style.
By the late 1600’s (1680 saw a lot of these built), the saltbox had become so
popular that houses were being built with the lean-to as part of the original
construction, with the roofline unbroken from the ridge to the rear wall.
The saltbox grew from the early stone ender to a comfortable three-bedroom house
over a period of about thirty years as families grew in size and became
wealthier.
Saltboxes are still being built (although their sloping roofline limits upstairs
space) and buyers and sellers agree that this is one of the most practical home
styles in all of New England.
Because of this, these homes sell quickly and at solid market prices and are
considered a great investment.
Split-Level House Style
 Split-Level houses are a variation on the raised ranch style and are also called split-foyer and bi-level houses.
These homes are built with the foundation sunken deeper than rasied ranches, usually four to six feet into the ground,and the driveway is excavated level with the bottom of the foundation. Because of this, and opposed to a raised ranch which has full-height windows, the lower level tends to have short windows.
In splits, you always go up a half-flight of exterior stairs from the driveway level and enter the door to a landing or a small foyer.The doorway is often recessed and sometimes the
main level of the house is cantilevered out over the basement level, creating a natural indentation and simple wayfinding to the front door.
Once inside you immediately have to make a decision to go up a half-flight of stairs or down a half-flight of stairs, hence the name split-level.
As with a raised ranch, upstairs you will find the kitchen, formal dining and living rooms and the bedrooms/baths. In many of these homes the owners have opened up the original walls between the
kitchen and dining/living rooms giving them a wonderful flow and nicely supporting the behaviors of today's lifestyles.
Also like the raised ranch, downstairs you will typically find a family room, utility room, possibly some miscellaneous finished space, and the garage (which is usually located under the bedrooms).
Splits were designed to be inexpensive homes which gave two stories of living space while minimizing foundation and roof costs. While most of them have full-height basement levels, there are many that
were shortened slightly to cut building costs, and forced hot water heating systems don't require big ductwork, so you need to think of that if you're tall.
In Metrowest developers mostly built them in large developments (by New England Standards) that have evolved into wonderful family neighborhoods of thirty to fourty similar homes.
Depending on the original price point, they can have a variety of finishes and architectural details on their fronts, such as faux stone, brick, awnings, and bay/bow windows. They will never have front porches, but are often fitted with screened-porches off the back of the dining rooms.
Splits don't tend to handle additions well, so many folks buy them as starter homes and then sell/move when they find they have outgrown them.
Because of this and because so many of these homes were built, they are almost always available in all local marketplaces.
Tudor House Style
Tudor homes in were very popular in the early 1900’s up to the great depression.
 They can be found throughout Metrowest, and got their most distinguishing
architectural feature from medieval times when large buildings were built in a
post and beam fashion. The spaces between the large framing members on the upper
floors were then filled with plaster to close off the building from the outside.
This technique provided a lot of architectural appeal as half of the rough sawn
framing members were visible from the outside.
These days most Tudor style homes are not actually built with post and beam. The
look however is achieved by fastening rough sawn lumber on the outside of the
home to create the post and beam look. The space between them is then filled
with plaster or stucco.
Other distinguishing features of the Tudor style are: complex and steep roof
lines with various, crossing gables of alternating heights; dormers; large
sculpted brick or stone chimneys; patterned brick or stone exteriors; and
rounded doorways.
Because of the various highly-decorative and memorable features of Tudor homes,
they have always been very expensive to build, so all Tudors and especially the
newer ones are only found in the highest price range of their respective
communities.
They sell well and appreciate directly with the market and are considered a good
investment as long as you maintain them in top shape.
Victorian House Style
Victorian style developed and was quite popular from the end of the civil war to
the early 1900's. These homes are most commonly two or more stories with steep
roof pitches, turrets and dormers. Porches are often large with turned posts and
decorative railings. Decorative gable trim, corbels, and a variation of exterior
finishes with multiple coordinated colors make them one of the most enjoyed
house styles of all times. In New England, as most everywhere in the country,
there are really two distinct types of Victorians - Queen Anne and Second
Empire.
Queen Anne is a completely playful style, who’s distinguishing features are:
curved towers and porches, protruding bay windows, asymmetrical facades, steeply
pitched roofs, vertical windows, embellished porches on multiple levels, and
multiple chimneys with elaborate decorative brickwork.
Second Empire is a more stately style, who’s distinguishing features are: big
and boxy forms with mansard roofs tiled with slate in “fish-scale” patterns,
symmetrical facades, and heavy ornamentation such as “gingerbread” trim. As a
side note, if you’ve ever been to Disneyland, “Main Street” is a typical 1800’s
small town done in this style.
Because of the Victorian style’s timeless appeal, many people seek these types
of homes in good condition for restoration and many can be found on the
historical register.
Also because of their huge size and large maintenance bills, many have been
carved-up into delightful condominiums which command premium prices and seldom
last long on the market.
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