An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable and historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, and regional character. Most architecture can be classified as a chronology of styles which change over time reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible. Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society and are documented in the subject of architectural history. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. After a style has gone out of fashion, there are often revivals and re-interpretations. For instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different. Vernacular architecture works slightly differently and is listed separately. It is the native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, and takes little account of national styles or technology. As western society has developed, vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded by new technology and national building standards.

Chronology of styles

Prehistoric

Early civilizations developed, often independently, in scattered locations around the globe. The architecture was often a mixture of styles in timber cut from local forests and stone hewn from local rocks. Most of the timber has gone, although the earthworks remain. Impressively, massive stone structures have survived for years.

Ancient Americas

Mediterranean and Middle-East civilizations

Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia

Iranian/Persian

Ancient Asian

Indic

Historic temple styles

East Asian

Also

Classical Antiquity

The architecture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, derived from the ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as at Knossos on Crete. They developed highly refined systems for proportions and style, using mathematics and geometry.

Middle Ages

The European Early Middle Ages are generally taken to run from the end of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD, to around 1000 AD. During this period, Christianity made a significant impact on European culture.

Early Medieval Europe

Medieval Europe

The dominance of the Church over everyday life was expressed in grand spiritual designs which emphasized piety and sobriety. The Romanesque style was simple and austere. The Gothic style heightened the effect with heavenly spires, pointed arches and religious carvings.

Byzantine

Romanesque

Timber styles

Gothic

1135/40–1520

Asian architecture contemporary with the Dark Ages and medieval Europe

Japanese

Chinese

Korean

Dravidian and Vesara temple styles (India)

Other Indian styles

Islamic Architecture 620–1918

Pre-Columbian Indigenous American Styles

Early Modern Period and European Colonialism

1425–1660. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread through Europe, rebelling against the all-powerful Church, by placing Man at the centre of his world instead of God. The Gothic spires and pointed arches were replaced by classical domes and rounded arches, with comfortable spaces and entertaining details, in a celebration of humanity. The Baroque style was a florid development of this 200 years later, largely by the Catholic Church to restate its religious values.

France

United Kingdom

Spain and Portugal

Colonial

Baroque

1600–1800, up to 1900

Asian architecture contemporary with Renaissance and post-Renaissance Europe

Japanese

Indian

Late Modern Period and the Industrial Revolution

Neoclassicism

1720–1837 and onward. A time often depicted as a rural idyll by the great painters, but in fact was a hive of early industrial activity, with small kilns and workshops springing up wherever materials could be mined or manufactured. After the Renaissance, neoclassical forms were developed and refined into new styles for public buildings and the gentry. New Cooperism

Neoclassical

Revivalism and Orientalism

Late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorian Era was a time of giant leaps forward in technology and society, such as iron bridges, aqueducts, sewer systems, roads, canals, trains, and factories. As engineers, inventors, and businessmen they reshaped much of the British Empire, including the UK, India, Australia, South Africa, and Canada, and influenced Europe and the United States. Architecturally, they were revivalists who modified old styles to suit new purposes.

Revivals started before the Victorian Era

Victorian revivals

Orientalism

Revivals in North America

Other late 19th century styles

Rural styles

Reactions to the Industrial Revolution

Industrial

Arts and Crafts in Europe

Arts and Crafts in the US

Modernism and other styles contemporary with modernism

1880 onwards. The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled a brave new world of bold structural frames, with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was "decoration is a crime". In the Eastern Bloc the Communists rejected the Western Bloc's 'decadent' ways, and modernism developed in a markedly more bureaucratic, sombre, and monumental fashion.

Modernism under communism

Fascist/Nazi

Post-Second World War

1945–

Other 20th century styles

Postmodernism and early 21st century styles

Fortified styles

Vernacular styles

Generic methods

European

{|

North American

Native American

South American

African

Asian

Australasian

Alphabetical listing

• Adam style 1770 England • Adirondack Architecture 1850s New York, US • Anglo-Saxon architecture 450s–1066 England and Wales • American colonial architecture 1720–1780s US • American Craftsman 1890s–1930 US, California & east • American Empire 1810 • American Foursquare mid. 1890s-late 1930s US • Amsterdam School 1912–1924 Netherlands • Ancient Egyptian architecture 3000 BC – 373 AD • Ancient Greek architecture 776 BC – 265 BC • Angevin Gothic since 1148, western France • Arcology 1970s AD–present • Art Deco 1925–1940s Europe & US • Art Nouveau c. 1885–1910 • 1880s–1920s; UK, California, US • Australian architectural styles • Baroque architecture • Bauhaus • Berlin style 1990s+ • Biedermeier 1815–1848 • Blobitecture 2003–present • Bowellism 1957–present • Brick Gothic c. 1350 – c. 15th century • Bristol Byzantine 1850–1880 • Brownstone • Brutalist architecture 1950s–1970s • Buddhist architecture 1st century BC • Byzantine architecture 527 AD (Sofia) – 1520 • Cape Cod 17th century • Carolingian architecture 780s–9th century; France and Germany • Carpenter Gothic US and Canada 1840s on • Chicago school 1880s and 1890 US • Chilotan architecture 1600–present Chiloé and southern Chile • Churrigueresque, 1660s–1750s; Spain and the New World • City Beautiful movement 1890–20th century US • Classical architecture 600 BC – 323 AD • Colonial Revival architecture • Constructivist architecture • Danish Functionalism 1960s AD Denmark • Deconstructivism 1982–present • Decorated Period c. 1290 – c. 1350 • Dragestil 1880s–1910s, Norway • Dutch Colonial 1615–1674 (Treaty of Westminster) New England • Dutch Colonial Revival c. 1900 New England • Dzong Architecture Tibet and Bhutan • Early English Period c. 1190 – c. 1250 • Ephemeral architecture • Eastlake Style 1879–1905 New England • Egyptian Revival architecture 1809–1820s, 1840s, 1920s • Elizabethan architecture (1533–1603) • Empire 1804–1814, 1870 revival • English Baroque 1666 (Great Fire) – 1713 (Treaty of Utrecht) • Expressionist architecture 1910 – c. 1924 • Farmhouse • Federal architecture 1780–1830 US • Federation architecture 1890–1915 Australia • Florida cracker architecture c. 1800 – present Florida, US • Florida modern 1950s or Tropical Modernism • Functionalism c. 1900 – 1930s Europe & US • Futurist architecture 1909 Europe • Georgian architecture 1720–1840s UK & US • Googie architecture 1950s US and Canada • Gothic architecture • Gothic Revival architecture 1760s–1840s • Gotico Angioiano, since 1266, southern Italy • Greek Revival architecture • Green building 2000–present • Heliopolis style 1905 – c. 1935 Egypt • Indian architecture India • Interactive architecture 2000–present • International style 1930–present • Isabelline Gothic 1474–1505 (reign) Spain • Islamic Architecture 691–present • Italianate architecture 1802 • Jacobean architecture 1580–1660 • Jacobethan 1838 • Jeffersonian architecture 1790s–1830s Virginia, US • Jengki style 1950s Indonesia • Jugendstil c. 1885–1910 German term for Art Nouveau • Manueline 1495–1521 (reign) Portugal and colonies • Mediterranean Revival Style 1890s–present; US, Latin America, Europe • Memphis Group 1981–1988 • Merovingian architecture 5th–8th centuries; France and Germany • Metabolist Movement 1959 Japan • Mid-century modern 1950s–1960s California, US, Latin America • Mission Revival Style architecture 1894–1936; California, US • Modern movement 1927–1960s • Modernisme 1888–1911 Catalan Art Nouveau • National Park Service Rustic 1872–present US • Natural building 2000– • Nazi architecture 1933–1944 Germany • Neo-Byzantine architecture 1882–1920s American • Neoclassical architecture • Neo-Grec 1848–1865 • Neo-Gothic architecture • Neolithic architecture 10,000–3000 BC • Neo-Manueline 1840s–1910s AD Portugal and Brazil • New towns 1946–1968 United Kingdom • Norman architecture 1074–1250 • Organic architecture • Ottonian architecture 950s–1050s Germany • Palladian architecture 1616–1680 (Jones) • Perpendicular Period c. 1350 – c. 1550 • Plantagenet Style since 1148, western France • Southern plantation architecture • Ponce Creole 1895–1920 Ponce, Puerto Rico • Pombaline style 1755 earthquake – c. 1860 Portugal • Postmodern architecture 1980s • Polish Cathedral Style 1870–1930 • Polite architecture • Prairie Style 1900–1917 US • Pueblo style 1898–1990s • Shingle Style 1879–1905 New England • Queen Anne Style architecture 1870–1910s UK and US • Queenslander 1840s–1960s • Ranch-style 1940s–1970s US • Repoblación architecture 880s–11th century; Spain • Regency architecture • Richardsonian Romanesque 1880s US • Rococo • Roman architecture 753 BC – 663 AD • Romanesque architecture 1050–1100 • Romanesque Revival architecture 1840–1900 US • Russian architecture 989 – 18th century • Russian Revival 1826–1917, 1990s–present • Saltbox • San Francisco architecture • Scottish Baronial • Second Empire 1865–1880 • Serbo-Byzantine revival Interwar period • Sicilian Baroque 1693 earthquake – c. 1745 • Soft Portuguese style 1940–1955 Portugal & colonies • Spanish Colonial Revival style 1915–present; California, Hawaii, Florida, Southwest US • Spanish Colonial style 1520s – c. 1820s; New World, East Indies, other colonies • c. 1900–present; California, Florida, US, Latin America, Spain. • Stalinist architecture 1933–1955 USSR • Stave churches, oldest 845(d) in England, Norway one 11th century, several 12th century • Stick Style 1860–1890s • Storybook 1920s • Streamline Moderne 1930–1937 • Structural Expressionism 1980s–present • Structuralism 1950–1975 • Sumerian architecture 5300 – 2000 BC • Sustainable architecture 2000–present • Swiss chalet style 1840s–1920s, Scandinavia and Germany • Tidewater architecture 19th century • Tudor architecture 1485–1603 • Tudorbethan architecture 1835–1885 • Ukrainian Baroque late 1600 – 19th century • Usonian 1936–1940s US • Victorian architecture 1837–1901 UK • Vienna Secession 1897 – c. 1905 Austrian Art Nouveau

Examples of styles