Minimal Traditional

Minimal Traditional is a style of architecture that emerged in mid twentieth century America as a vernacular form incorporating influences from earlier styles such as American Colonial, Colonial Revival, Spanish Revival, Tudor Revival, and American Craftsman, while following modern architecture s avoidance of ornament. The style evolved during the 1930s and was a dominant style in domestic architecture until the Ranch style house emerged in the early 1950s, descending in part from the bungalows, cottages, and foursquare houses of the early twentieth century as a stripped down version of the historic eclectic styles popular in the 1920s. Minimal Traditional houses are usually smaller detached single family houses with hipped or gabled roofs and little eave overhang, cladding in locally popular materials such as wood, brick, or stone, small porches, and an asymmetrical design with an off center front door. The Federal Housing Administration used the style as a prototype for a minimum house that most American wage earners could afford, and it is also known by names including FHA house, Depression era cottage, Victory cottage, and American small house.