Neo-eclectic Architecture

Neo-eclectic architecture is a style that has shaped residential building construction in North America from the final three decades of the twentieth century through the early twenty-first, offering a contemporary take on the historical revival movements that have cyclically appeared since the mid-1700s. Its houses combine decorative elements from multiple historical periods on a single structure, so that a house may incorporate Cape Cod, Mission Revival, Tudor Revival, Chateauesque or French Provincial elements simultaneously, with regional variation: California favors Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial elements, while New England and the Mid-Atlantic favor Colonial Revival and Georgian Revival combinations. Its revival details are chiefly surface-level ornamentation, decorative claddings and windows rather than structural elements, with heavy moldings and trim once made from stone or plaster typically produced instead from extruded foam finished with a stucco veneer known as an Exterior Insulation Finishing System, or EIFS, whose availability enabled the style's proliferation. Its underlying construction methods largely mirror the earlier ranch house, built with newer, lower grade lumber.