The Most Popular Home Styles In North America

  When you picture a Victorian house, you might envision a colorful dollhouse, or maybe an imposing haunted house comes to mind. Both are quintessential Victorian-style homes, but Victorian architecture technically refers to the era and not a specific style. That era was, of course, the time when Queen Victoria reigned in Great Britain, from 1837 to 1901. As Grant Marani, a partner at New York’s Robert A.M. Stern Architects, explains it: “Victorian means different things to different people.” But generally, the styles that are most strongly associated with this time period “emphasize verticality, decoration, and a mix of materials and colors,” Grant says.