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Hi all. I am pretty happy to find this site it would seem the members have quite a bit of knowledge and may be able to help. Basically I rented (considering buying) an old farm house in Western New York (near Buffalo). I naturaly assumed it was just an old run of the mill colonial farm house. However I was googling some pics to get ideas for painting and landscaping and found it difficult to find anything like it. The only things close were actually Victorian Farm houses. Colonials did not seem to have the big front window (with metal "Y" shapes impressed in the glass) or the protruding window over the porch. I can not see original woodwork either as the house has siding. This is supposed to have been the original house in the area of a town well established around 1860 so I assume it must be from early 1800's. I have a hunch it was severely modified by adding on a to the back of house and maybe removing something from the left porch area? I would really be excited if anyone can tell me anything about the house, style, or even how to find out how to tell what type of house it is if any. Very appreciative!
Not every house has to be identified with a style. In the old days they just built a shelter while having any idea what a colonial, ranch, saltbox, or cape was.
Your home best resembles a cape cod with a full front dormer added. The little bird cage dormer on the left also verifies cape cod.
Do you know if previous owners modified the house? If it was built in the 1800s, it would have been made of wood, which is now replaced with siding. Did they add that front part (with the big windows)? Or remove any carvings, moldings, or replace any posts?
Here is a web site with a few different styles. Seems like yours could have fallen under the category of "Folk Victorian." But I'm really not sure:
I live in western NY in a town outside of Buffalo.
This type of home is very common.
Realtors call this colonial, but it is not. I'm not sure what the type is. It is not cape cod, but I could see why the other poster said that, because the addition does have that look. The main body of the home is the right hand side.
It's a nice looking home, but I do not know the type it would be classified as.
I live in western NY in a town outside of Buffalo.
This type of home is very common.
Realtors call this colonial, but it is not. I'm not sure what the type is. It is not cape cod, but I could see why the other poster said that, because the addition does have that look. The main body of the home is the right hand side.
It's a nice looking home, but I do not know the type it would be classified as.
Frank D.
Without that large addition on the right side it is a cape cod. Without that addition it would be a basic one ridge gable roof with a small dormer bird cage on the left.
That large dormer flush with the face of the lower floor makes for a full height 2nd floor on the right side. The left side will be a typical cape interior with a 4' wide ceiling with 5' pitched side ceilings which is also the rafters. Then the side walls will be 4' high. And you can walk into the little bird cage dormer with about a 7' ceiling.
If the OP would post a picture of a side view of the left side this will be verified.
Like I said in my OP, why does it have to even have a style? It's a pretty nice looking house.
Thanks all! It has been pretty hectic but I will try to get some more pics up soon. Thanks again for the suggestions, gives me some things to look at. The town is also big on history so I hope to find out stuff from the historical society as well.
I understand it doesn't have to have a style. But as silly as it sounds we are treating the house almost like a person and this is the "getting to know you phase". Plus as I mentioned anything we do we would like to keep as close to original as we can. So I guess that is the other interest. I mean if it is a colonial then that is a different color scheme and molding than a victorian for example.
Very nice house. See if you can dig through some county records to find out if/when any additions were built, or other modifications took place. Ask long-time neighbors what they remember. That'll help you get to know it better.
Very nice house. See if you can dig through some county records to find out if/when any additions were built, or other modifications took place. Ask long-time neighbors what they remember. That'll help you get to know it better.
Good advice! Here is a related article in the same website I gave above. Part of it recommends talking to neighbors:
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See if you can dig through some county records to find out if/when any additions were built, or other modifications took place. Ask long-time neighbors what they remember. That'll help you get to know it better.
