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Famous House Museums And Architectural Styles To Jumpstart Your Home Design

What better time to explore some of the world's most famous houses than when you're in the middle of planning your own home.

Here's a listing of favorite house museums open to the public, including each website, from the Gamble House in Pasadena, California (considered the ultimate Craftsman bungalow) to Thomas Jefferson's classical Monticello in Virginia; from Le Corbusier's modern Villa Savoye near Paris to the Mayan-inspired Hollyhock House by Frank Lloyd Wright in Los Angeles.

Find the architectural style below that interests you and see what your future house has in common with some of the world's great works of residential architecture. A useful round-up of historic houses can also be found at http://www.oldhouses.com/historic-house-museums.htm.


ADOBE STYLE Taos Pueblo, Taos, NM 1350 to the present www.taospueblo.com; this photo by Zelca: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94252018@N00/2491676038/sizes/o/ Thick adobe walls, exposed beam ends, and a stair-stepping profile are key design elements.


ART NOUVEAU Victor Horta House, Brussels, Belgium, 1901: www.trabel.com/brussel/brussels-museums-horta.htm; the above photo is by Brian Pirie through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/72068645@N00/91009156/. Inside it's all organic curvilinear forms, as if the building is made of vines whose tendrils are moving and growing before your eyes.


CLASSICAL REVIVAL Monticello, Charlottesville, VA by Thomas Jefferson, 1770-1808 www.monticello.org; photo by Tony the misfit from Monticello through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/2808122002/. The intellectually curious Jefferson looked to classical European architecture for design inspiration.


CRAFTSMAN STYLE Gamble House, Pasadena, CA, 1908, by Charles and Henry Greene, www.gamblehouse.org; this photo by Velo Steve through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniorvelo/507189461/sizes/m/. This house is the apotheosis of the California bungalow. A Japanesque attention to woodworking details makes this house resemble a huge piece of furniture.

EARLY CALIFORNIA STYLE
Casa de Adobe, Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, 1918, http://www.southwestmuseum.org/casa.html; this photo by vlasta2 through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluefootedbooby/2299024952/.

Thick adobe walls and long shady exterior "corredors" are distinguishing features that respond to the warm climate.

Vallejo Adobe, Petaluma, CA, 1836-1846 www.parks.sonoma.net
Casa de la Guerra, Santa Barbara, CA, 1819-1827 www.sbthp.org


ECLECTIC Olana, Persian Style Home of Painter Frederic Church, Hudson, NY www.olana.org; this photo by Otterman56 through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gooseotter/2828436071/sizes/m/ Ornamental tile work, arches, and other details were inspired by Middle Eastern architecture.


GEORGIAN Sir John Soane House Museum, London, 1812-13, www.soane.org; photo by vtsr through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/voy/326953224/ This remarkable labyrinth of a house, formed by combining several row houses into a single home, is full of storage and display ideas for the architect's collection of artifacts.


GEORGIAN REVIVAL Filoli, Woodside, CA, 1917 www.filoli.org; this photo by Bryce Edwards through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryce_edwards/248114947/sizes/m/ A Georgian Classical estate near San Francisco that is most famous for its extensive gardens.


EXOTIC GLOBAL STYLES: Thai, Japanese, Georgian Jim Thompson House, Bangkok, Thailand, 1959 www.jimthompsonhouse.com; this photo by kurisuu through creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurisuuu/398699524/sizes/m/ Jim Thompson was the famous founder of a textile and clothing company bearing his name; his house includes a carefully preserved vintage Thai house.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
Hollyhock House, Frank Lloyd Wright, Los Angeles, 1917-1920, www.hollyhockhouse.net; this photo by colors through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/73416633@N00/402132321/sizes/m/.

Wright's interest in Mayan forms is evident in these blocky shapes ornamented with abstract hollyhock stalks.

Taliesin, Spring Green, WI www.taliesinpreservation.org
Taliesin West, Scottsdale, AZ www.franklloydwright.org
Wright House & Studio, Oak Park, IL www.gowright.org


FRENCH ECLECTIC (Chateau Style) Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC, http://www.biltmore.com/; this photo by Kamoteus through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamoteus/2329399231/sizes/m/ The ultimate American chateau; a result of trying to bring part of the European Grand Tour home. Pittock Mansion, Portland, OR, 1914 www.pittockmansion.org

GOTHIC REVIVAL
Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, NY, 1838 by Andrew Jackson Downing: http://www.lyndhurst.org/; this photo by liz_noise through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liz_noise/705030248/

A romantic and picturesque interpretation of the Gothic Revival style.

Manship House Museum, Jackson, MI, 1857: http://mdah.state.ms.us/museum/manship.html
The Hermitage. Hohokus, NJ, 1848: http://www.thehermitage.org/
Lachryma Montis, Sonoma, CA www.parks.sonoma.net/lachryma.html
Hamill House, Georgetown, CO www.historicgeorgetown.org
Amelia Earhart Birthplace, Atchison, KS www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org

MODERN
Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier, Poissy, France, 1928, www.villa-savoye.monuments-nationaux.fr/en; this photo by Omar Omar through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/omaromar/9858756/sizes/m/

One of the most famous icons of the twentieth century: the architect called it a "machine for living" as a way to imagine a new forward-looking architecture. It became a powerful symbol of modernity even though the roof always leaked.

MONTEREY STYLE
Custom House, Monterey, CA 1840 http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=954; photo by MGShelton through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/melindashelton/1801462951/

The long covered galleries and sheltering roof of the Custom House and similar structures from mid-nineteenth century Monterey inspired many later architects to work in a Monterey Revival style.

Larkin House, Monterey, CA, 1834 www.historicmonterey.org/?p=larkin_house

Cooper-Molera Complex, Monterey, CA www.historicmonterey.org/?p=cooper_molera_adobe

Casa Soberanes, Monterey, CA www.historicmonterey.org/?p=casa_soberanes


NEOCLASSICAL Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hyde Park, NY www.nps.gov/hofr/; photo by dbking through Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/38194590/ An early twentieth century East Coast ideal of the stately home: the brickwork, portico, and shutters create an unmistakable elegance. Nathaniel Russell House, Charleston, SC, 1808 www.historiccharleston.org/experience/nrh


NEW ENGLAND STYLE House of Seven Gables, Marblehead, MA, 1668 www.7gables.org; photo by gailf548 through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galfred/221423502/sizes/l/ The taught clapboard siding and simple gable roofs shelter a myriad of small and sometimes even secret rooms.


PLANTATION STYLE Oak Alley, Vacherie, LA www.oakalleyplantation.com; photo by 23am.com through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23am/292804252/ Two story columns and long house-wrapping verandas epitomize the Plantation style.

PRAIRIE STYLE
The Robie house, Chicago, by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1910: http://www.gowright.org/robiehouse/robiehouse.html#; one of Wright's most famous houses, it captures the horizontality of the Prairie with its long fa�ade of parallel planes. Photo by mach3 through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/darpi/212323100/

Wright's expressive horizontality epitomizes this style. Other Prairie School architects include Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin.

Allen-Lambe House, Wichita, KS, 1915 by Frank Lloyd Wright www.allenlambe.org

PUEBLO STYLE
Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, NM, early 1700s; remodeled in the Pueblo Style, 1913: http://www.palaceofthegovernors.org/; photo by puroticorico through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/puroticorico/2390517104/. Reviving the look of early pueblos.

This style became popular in the early twentieth century and drew inspiration from early Pueblo-era landmarks.

Mable Dodge Luhan House, Taos www.mabledodgeluhan.com


SHINGLE STYLE Isaac Bell Mansion, Newport, RI, 1883: www.vpa.org/museumsri.html; photo by revjim5000 through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/revjim5000/2291678137/ Considered one of the great American architectural expressions, the Shingle Style flourished in the 1880s especially on the East Coast. Conrad mansion, Kalispell, MT www.conradmansion.com

SPANISH ECLECTIC
Hearst Castle, San Simeon, CA, 1919-1947 www.hearstcastle.com; photo by heydrienne through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heydrienne/91078613/

In warm weather climates, like those of California and Florida, architects and homeowners sought design inspiration from the courtyard-and-garden-oriented architecture of Spain and Mexico. California and Texas missions were another important influence.

Adamson House, Malibu, CA www.adamsonhouse.org

Casa del Herrero, Montecito, CA www.casadelherrero.com


TUDOR STYLE Shakespeare house, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, late 1500s: http://houses.shakespeare.org.uk/shakespeares-birthplace.html; photo by danieVDM through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvdmerwe/80192284/ Shakespeare's house is one of many Tudor style examples throughout Great Britain. Half-timbering is the key design element.

VICTORIAN
Winchester Mystery House, Santa Clara, CA, from 1880: www.winchestermysteryhouse.com; photo by naotakem through Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/naotakem/135259848/sizes/m/

The Victorian style is really a compendium of many variations that appeared in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Picturesque outlines, multiple gables, turrets, and bay windows are signature features.

Molly Brown House, Denver, CO www.mollybrown.org
Camron-Stanford House, Oakland, CA www.cshouse.org
Haa s-Lilienthal House, San Francisco, 1886 www.sfheritage.org
John Muir House, Martinez, CA www.nps.gov/jomu/

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