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Topic 4 Page 25 Australian Housing Types

New South Wales House Styles Information Page

Australian ColonialPeriod1820s – 1830s

Style Description• Restrained verandah style, originating from India.

Features• Generally single storey

• verandahs

• simple plan

• low verandah under broken back roof

• low-pitched single hipped roofs

• fireplace with chimney

• louvred shutters (sometimes)

• a few rooms only (sometimes only 2).

Materials• Bluestone base (occasionally)

• timber boards or split logs

• timber posts to verandah

• mud or flagstone flooring

• stone sills

• louvre shutters.

Australian Housing Types 6 Topic 4


GeorgianPeriod1830s – 1860s

Style Description• Simple cubic building, derived from British style.

Features• Mass

• hipped roof

• symmetrical

• rectangular windows

• quoining (detail at corners)

• smaller windows at upper level

• minimal windows to lots of wall

• louvred shutters

• simple plan

• little use of verandahs

• no eaves.

Materials• Bluestone base

• sandstone or bluestone walls (occasionally rendered)

• timber windows and doors

• corrugated iron roof.



Victorian ManneristPeriod1840 – 1890

Style Description• Rich ornate building, with complicated use of columns and details.

Features• Various columns styles, mixed together

• various window styles

• arched windows

• patterned and detailed render

• some rustication.

Materials• Rendered and stone walls

• concealed slate roof

• bluestone base.

Australian Housing Types Page 28 Topic 4


Gothic RevivalPeriod1840 – 1900

Style Description• Very detailed, with use of vertical proportions.

Features• Asymmetrical plan

• steeply pitched roof

• pointed arched windows

• detailed barge boards and eaves.

Materials• Render, combined with stone or brick

• slate roof

• timber fretwork

• detailed chimneys.



Victorian FiligreePeriod1850 – 1890

Style Description• Simple style with applied filigree details and render.

Features• Rectangular windows

• patterned render with urns

• terrace style plans

• detailed verandahs and balconies.

Materials• Cast iron posts and verandah

• corrugated iron roof

• rendered walls, sometimes exposed brick.



Colonial Pyramid Period1880s – early 1900s

Style DescriptionThis style consisits of a square plan central ‘core’ of house, with pyramid or gable roof over,

distinguished by a drop or separation between core and verandah roof.

Features• Main roof a pyramid with minimal eaves.

• Separate verandah often roofed with curved (bull-nose) corrugated iron.

• Simple timber verandah posts, balustrade, decoration.

• Verandah may be enclosed with infill panels of lattice, or roll-down timber blinds, and

lattice doors.

• Pediment over the entrance.

• Detailed verandah features including paired post and brackets.

• Balustrade detail is cross braced.

• Wall bracing is a feature, as a diamond-like pattern on the outer wall of the house.

Materials• Exposed timber stud framing

• chamfered boards 8” or wider

• timber stumps sub-floor support, and sub-floor not filled in

• corrugated iron roof

• metal sunhoods.

New South Wales House Styles Information Sheet



Federation – Queen Anne Period1890 – 1915

Style Description• Combined English and Dutch style, with complicated form.

Features• Picturesque, asymmetrical form

• dominant roof form

• tall chimneys

• verandahs on one side

• various window styles

• turrets and gables to roof form.

Materials• Terracotta tiled roof

• timber posts

• timber and stucco gables

• patterned brickwork

• stained windows, sometimes with Australian motifs

• circular windows at entry



FederationPeriod1900 – 1920s

Style DescriptionAfter the gold boom of the late 1800s, Federation saw growth in prosperity and more

freedom of style, incorporating practicality with elegance. The houses were greatly

influenced by Art Nouveau and featured curved forms and floral motifs in plaster, leadlight,

timber and wrought iron enhancing doors, windows and verandahs. After 1910, the

curved forms gave way to heavy and squared off timber details on verandahs and gables.

Features• Red brick, often tuck pointed (i.e. a ridge of white mortar ran along the joints between

the bricks)

• dominant roof often broken by false gables and capped, with terracotta frilled ridge tiles

• turned timber verandah posts, supplemented by elaborate timber decoration

• bay windows

• smaller panes at the top and bottom of windows, often in coloured glass.

Materials• Red brick often tuck pointed

• terracotta frilled ridge tiles

• leadlight or coloured glass

• pressed metal ceilings.



Californian BungalowPeriod1900 – 1920s

Style Description• Asymmetrical single storey with large roof.

Features• Broad, large roof, often with separate gables

• asymmetrical verandahs

• masonry base

• mixture of materials

• sloped piers.

Materials• Terracotta tiled roof

• combined render and brick walls

• timber windows

• render and brick chimneys

• timber posts to massive bases

• heavy timbers posts and beams

• shingles to gables

• sometimes use of stone.



Hollywood/P&OPeriod1910 – 1930

Style Description• International modern style based on ships, with applied chrome and colour.

Features• Ship-like forms

• long balconies

• curved building form

• horizontal.

Materials• White render

• porthole windows

• chrome steel handrails

• horizontal windows, steel windows

• solid building.



ModernePeriod1915 – 1940

Style Description• Clean lined modern style with stylised detail, inspired by new technology and materials.

• This style symbolised a shift towards more modern styles of housing, much simpler in

detail and decoration.

• Moderne style was based on functionalism an architectural theory, it features clean lines,

honest use of materials and forms, with an emphasis on machine like styling and little or

no decoration.

Features• Low pitched roof, often hidden behind parapets

• ship-like forms

• curved walls

• corner windows

• porthole and chevron feature windows

• rendered or cream brick walls

• simple style

• often 2 storey.

Materials• Rendered or rich cream brick walls

• tiled roof

• steel windows

• curved glass

• cream paint

• terrazzo and parquetry flooring

• chrome details to stairs, lights and handles.



Tudor/English PicturesquePeriod1915 – 1938

Style Description• Mock representation of the medieval Tudor style of Europe and England, featuring steep

roof and battened timber decoration.

Features• Steep roof, a combination of gables and hips

• multiple steep gables, decorated with applied timber battens

• some bay windows to formal rooms at front of house

• front entry usually featured with projecting gabled roof and columns

• verandahs, sometimes extended to form carport/ pergola

• glazed brick to plinth and sills, sometimes

• diamond leadlight to windows.

Materials• Freestone front walls, remainder in red brick

• cement sheet to gables with timber battens

• brick/rendered chimneys

• terracotta tiled roof

• timber windows

• decorative moulded bricks to chimneys and verandah piers

• stained timberwork internally including feature battening to ceilings.



Inter-war Period1915 to 1940

Style DescriptionThis category is made up of many interesting variations on the same formal theme, of a

multi-gabled main house with nested porch and side skillion ‘sleep-out’ additions. Unlike

the earlier examples, the houses that were built in this style are largely asymetrical

compositions. Some influence of Californian Bungalow from the 1920s.

Features• Low pitched roof with wide eaves

• porch posts usually paired on high corner piers

• decorative barge boards, batten balustrades, stepped stair balustrades, sub-floor batten

screens, often with decorative outline

• battened gable end walls, leadlight windows, usually casement

• front and side bay windows

• Art Nouveau influence to much of the shaping, and detailing of timber elements and

glass patterns.

Materials• Timber framed construction

• weatherboard walls

• protected external walls of single skin belted VJs board

• batten balustrading

• timber stumps.



Art Deco/Spanish Mission/Dutch ColonialPeriod1930s – 1940s

Style Description• These styles symbolise a shift towards more modern styles of housing, much simpler in

detail and decoration.

• Art Deco and Dutch Colonial are regularly mistaken for Spanish Mission.

• Dutch Colonial is influenced by the housing in Dutch colonies during this period.

• Spanish Mission takes its name from the style it emulates – that built by the Spanish

missionaries throughout the world, during this period.

Features• Decorative gables

• rendered walls

• feature tile inserts to external walls in Spanish Mission style

• colonnaded verandah

• gabled feature entry porches

• brick feature plinth

• tiled roof

• textured/patterned glass to windows in Art Deco.

Materials• Render to walls and gables

• dark brick plinth

• sandstone front walls to top of window (usually)

• timber windows and doors

• plaster mouldings

• tiled roof

• feature tile inserts to Spanish Mission.



AusterityPeriod1930s – 1940s

Style Description• Simple restrained style, returning to minimal costs during the Depression and World

War II.

Features• Low pitched, simple roof

• large horizontal windows

• plain facades and features.

Materials• Brick walls and chimneys

• cement tiled roof

• steel or timber windows

• stained timber doors

• glazed floor tiles

• linoleum floor sheeting.



Modern Regional Period1950s – 1960s

Style Description• Simple modern style, based on International style with specific Australian flavour.

Features• Simple skillion roof

• timber or steel framed structure

• attached carports

• L-shaped or courtyard plan

• geometrical forms and shapes

• long horizontal windows

• walls of windows

• thin structure and lines

• the deep cantilevered roof forms the eaves.

Materials• Light weight cladding – cement sheet or timber lining

• steel, painted white

• steel or timber windows – painted

• lots of white, with muted primary colours

• vinyl floor sheeting

• stained timber furniture.



Post War BoomPeriod1950s – 1960s

Style Description• Restrained mass housing, predominantly flats.

Features• Large blocks

• 3-4 storeys

• large windows

• balconies

• minimalist

• flat roof

• fine, simple handrails.

Materials• Cream brick

• white timber or steel windows

• metal deck roof

• concrete floor

• metal balustrades

• vinyl floor sheeting to kitchen

• carpet.



American Colonial/Cape Cod/Spanish MissionPeriod1960 – 1970s

Style DescriptionWith the advent of television in the late 1950s, American Colonial and Cape Cod styles

signalled an interest in Australia in all things American. This period also signalled a

resurged interest in an interpretation of the Spanish Mission style.

FeaturesAmerican Colonial • Cream and red brickwork

• multi-paned timber windows

• scalloped fascia board

• dark tiled roof

• bay windows

• garage under main roof with panelled tilt-up door.

Cape Cod• Carey Gully random stonework walls and chimney

• bay windows to ground floor

• cement shingled roof

• double pitched roof

• second storey part of roof space

• dormer windows

• timber panelling to gables and dormer windows.

Spanish Mission• Dark brown and dark red brickwork

• arched colonnaded verandahs

• arches internally

• dark face brickwork internally

• terracotta Spanish tiled roof.

Materials• As described above.



Post ModernPeriod1970 – 1980s

Style Description• Patchwork of styles to refer to symbolic past.

Features• Simple columns and arches to facade

• occasionally pitched roof

• trellis cut to geometrical forms

• unexpected change of scale

• often references to classical facade, but very simple

• big gutters and downpipes.

Materials• Render

• banded brickwork

• timber or metal mesh/trellis

• brick base

• pastel colours

• different coloured bricks

• concealed roof

• square section aluminium window.



Contemporary Reproduction – Georgian Period1980 – 1990s

Style Description• Solid form, mostly in multi-residential apartments.

Features• Solid rectangular plans and forms

• sense of mass, with large windows

• flat roof

• render and pilaster details around windows and doors

• repetitive

• sometimes small balconies.

Materials• Precast concrete with render

• solid aluminium windows

• steel framed

• concrete floor construction.

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