Colonial
These houses are characterized by large center chimneys, centered front doors and small double hung, multipaned windows. A double hung window is the type that opens in tracks which allow the top and the bottom of the window to pass each other. Colonial houses are generally very simple with little or no decoration. They have steeply pitched, gable roofs with doors on the front and not the gable end. The gable is the triangle formed at the end of the house by the edges of the roof and the walls. .The exterior is commonly clapboards or shingles although one might see the occasional brick house in this design They are always symmetrical and are the earliest style in this lesson. Houses of this type are often referred to as capes and are still being built today.