There is much difference of opinion among scholars regarding nomenclature and definitions of styles.  Instead of trying to pinpoint the style of each structure, it is more important for us to see the influence of the various architectural trends and periods upon our city's buildings.

The following list describes most of the architectural styles found in Duval County.
 

GOTHIC REVIVAL (1807 - 1935)

Revivals of medieval styles have been recurrent in American architecture since the early 19th century.  Imported largely from England, the Gothic Revivals have displayed numerous phases and sub-types, including Early English, Perpendicular, Decorated, High Victorian, Collegiate, Carpenter, and Skyscraper Gothic, all of which share the common features of pointed arches and steeply pitched gables.  Frequently used in ecclesiastical and educational buildings, the Gothic Revival style is also found in residences.  Asymmetrical in plan and devoid of classical ornamentation, the masonry examples of this style often feature ornate window tracery, battlements, and towers; and the wooden ones commonly display curvilinear gingerbread trim along the gable edges and eaves.
 

ROMANESQUE REVIVAL  (1846 - 1905)

 The semicircular arch is the hallmark of the Romanesque Revival style which, like Gothic, has its roots in medieval architecture.  Most frequently used for churches, Romanesque buildings have facades which are balanced, although not always symmetrical.  Smooth faced monochromatic masonry provides a restrained, dignified appearance.  The main gable is usually centered on the facade, flanked by square towers.  The rounded arch of the windows and doors is often repeated in a series of corbeled arches along the eaves and string courses.
 

RICHARDSONIAN ROMANESQUE (1870 - 1905)

Named for its originator, Henry Hobson Richardson, this style evolved from the medieval Romanesque Revival themes to become a highly refined, uniquely American genre.  Featuring round arches like its precursor, Richardsonian Romanesque is immediately distinguished by its coursed, rock-faced exteriors.  These buildings exude a massive quality, which is compounded by the restraint of detail, cavernous arched entryways, and bands of deeply set windows.  Other common details include broad roof planes, short columns with intricate foliate capitals, and occasional straight-topped windows.
 

SECOND EMPIRE (1855 - 1890)

The most distinguishing element of a Second Empire building is the mansard roof, with an ornamental curb or cresting at the top of its main slope.  Its name comes from the French Second Empire, the reign of Napoleon III from 1852-1870.  During this time Paris was transformed into a city of grand boulevards and monumental buildings which popularized the mansard type roof. The vast addition to the Louvre (1852-1857) epitomized this style.  Second Empire buildings always have dormers and a sense of monumentality.  They often have a central projecting pavilion and classical details such as quoins and cornices.
 

QUEEN ANNE (1875 - 1910)

The most ornate and richly textured architecture of the Victorian era was the Queen Anne style.  Its inspiration came from the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) in England, where eclectic tastes allowed classical ornamentation to be grafted onto medieval building forms.  Queen Anne architecture spread quickly throughout the United States in the 1870's.  Fervently asymmetrical and combining a variety of forms, colors, and materials, this style manifested itself in every type of residential structure from mansion to cottage and in commercial structures as well.  Corner turrets, verandas, balconies, and elaborate gingerbread are but a few of the ornamental features which typify the Queen Anne style.
 

EASTLAKE (1872 - 1899)

Eastlake is a style of wooden ornamentation applied to various Victorian architectural styles, including Gothic Revival and Queen Anne.  It was named for English designer Charles Locke Eastlake, whose books on Gothic Revival taste were read widely in the United States in the 1870's.  Eastlake ornament is the product of the mechanical lathe, as opposed to the two-dimensional gingerbread made by scroll saw and jigsaw.  Porch posts, balusters, railings, spindles, and pendants made in this fashion have a massive, furniture-like quality.  Curved brackets often appear at corners, adding to the three-dimensional effect.
 

SHINGLE STYLE (1880 - 1914)

Born in the seacoast towns of New England, the Shingle Style became a popular alternative to the exuberance of the Queen Anne mode.  Usually the entire building is uniformly covered with wooden shingles, often unpainted.  Even porch posts may be shingled, although rough-cut stone is sometimes used for piers and other elements at ground level to complement the texture of the shingles.  Various roof formats include long sloping gables, gambrel types, and multi-planed ridges.  The eaves are usually abbreviated.  Windows are small-paned and often form horizontal bands.
 

FRAME VERNACULAR

Although not really a style, "Frame Vernacular" is a category of buildings which are simply the products of their builders' experience.  This term implies that a structure is similar in format to numerous others built in the same time period in the same general region.  Their design relates to local customs, environment, and availability of building materials, usually with no allusion to academic architectural styles.  The simple form of these buildings makes them no less important historically, since they portray the authentic construction modes of our locality.  The pre-1900 Frame Vernacular houses reflect the rural character of much of Duval County at that time.
 

SHOTGUN  (1890 - 1930)

The Shotgun house is a modest single-story wooden dwelling which was a prevalent turn-of- the-century residential style for low-income families throughout the South.  Typically, it has a front-facing gable and the entrance is at the side of the facade. The rooms are arranged one behind the other, with a hall running the length of the building.  Shotgun houses have verandas, which often feature Eastlake or jigsaw ornamentation.
 

EGYPTIAN REVIVAL  (1830 - 1850,  1905 - 1930)

In the early nineteenth century, publicity of the discoveries in Egypt by French archaeologists under Napoleon focused much attention on ancient Egyptian forms.  Furniture and architecture often adopted these exotic trappings.  The most characteristic features of Egyptian Revival buildings are winged sun-disk motifs, reeded bulging columns with acanthus leaf capitals, battered walls, straight-headed windows with inclined jambs, and concave cornices.  Flat roofs and sparse use of windows produces a monumental effect.  The style was revived again after 1900, when architects took advantage of the decorative potential of concrete and terra cotta to return to exotic themes.
 

GEORGIAN REVIVAL (1886 - 1939)

Much of the colonial American architecture under Kings George I, II, and III was characterized by an academic formality, enriched by classical detail.  Although this "Georgian" style quickly faded after the Revolutionary War, it was revived a century later by architects such as McKim, Mead, and White, who sought to restore order to American architecture.  Typical features of these Georgian Revival buildings are the highly symmetrical facades, Palladian windows, central pedimented pavilions, belt courses, and eaves detailed as classical cornices.
 

RENAISSANCE REVIVAL (1845 - 1920)

The studied formalism of Italian Renaissance architecture was revived in England in 1829 and came to the U.S. sixteen years later.  Classic columns were used only minimally, and the buildings appeared as straight-fronted cubes with finely articulated windows and large cornices.  In the 1880's and 90's, the firm of McKim, Mead & White did much to revive the style again, enlarging the size and scale of the earlier Renaissance Revival buildings.  Sometimes differentiated as the Second Renaissance Revival, these latter buildings are organized into distinct horizontal divisions by string courses, and often each floor is articulated with a different window type or classical order. These large masonry buildings usually have rusticated ground floors and heavily jointed quoins.
 

BEAUX-ARTS  (1890 - 1930)

The Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris was the most influential school of architecture, painting, and sculpture in the nineteenth century.  Many prominent American architects studied there in the late 1800's and returned to design monumental public buildings in this country based on the aesthetic principles of the Ecole.  The Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 was a major celebration of this style.  Beaux-Arts buildings feature grandiose facades which are elaborately symmetrical, adorned with towering columns (often in pairs), large arches, grand staircases, heavy stone bases, and ornate classical embellishments such as sculpture and bas-relief. After 1900 this style appeared in more subdued form in urban and suburban mansions.
 

NEO-CLASSICAL REVIVAL  (1890 - 1940)

The return to classical styles heralded by the Columbian Exposition of 1893 unleashed what became known as the "American Renaissance."  While European architects were moving away from classicism around 1900, Americans were reveling in it.  Taming the exuberance of the Beaux-Arts embellishments, Neo-Classical Revival relied more on Greek than Roman architectural orders. The power and authority conveyed by rows of colossal columns made these buildings well suited for banks, government offices, churches, and railroad stations.  Absent are the statues, projecting facades, paired columns, and enriched moldings of the Beaux-Arts.  Large arches are rare.  Polished marble and granite are used profusely to contribute to the monumental facades of Neo-Classical Revival buildings.
 

COLONIAL REVIVAL (1870 - 1920)

The Colonial Revival style represents a nostalgic return to the architecture of a younger America.  Although various colonial residential types are reprised and often combined within this style, the Georgian and Neo-Classical designs are the most common revivals found in northeast Florida.  Symmetrical facades, classical detailing, and a portico or veranda are almost always present.  Typically, the porch columns are of a classic order and are one story in height, although monumental two-story may be found on the more extravagant versions.  Colonial Revival residences were popular as commodious, respectable dwellings for middle and upper class Americans from the time of Reconstruction until after World War I.
 

CHICAGO / COMMERCIAL STYLE (1880 - 1928)

Advances in building technology in the last quarter of the 19th century allowed buildings from six to twenty stories to soar above the skylines of American cities.  Although the earliest "skyscrapers" appeared in New York and Philadelphia, it was in Chicago that the tall building was refined and propagated to the greatest extent in the 1880's and 90's.  Interchangeably called Chicago or Commercial style, these buildings have symmetrical facades whose ornamentation is subordinated to the grid of intersecting horizontal and vertical structural members which express the internal skeleton.  Since the exterior walls of such structures bear only a small portion of the weight, great areas of wall space can be filled with glass, terra cotta, and other non-supporting materials.  A projecting cornice usually terminates the facade.

PRAIRIE STYLE (1900 - 1924)

A small cadre of young Chicago architects, led by Frank Lloyd Wright and inspired by Louis Sullivan, produced an outburst of creativity in the early 1900's that was brief but unrivaled. This movement later became known as the "Prairie School," for its architecture was inspired by the Midwestern landscape.  Rejecting the currently popular revival trends, these architects strove for a new American aesthetic in building design.  Broad overhanging roofs and strongly defined horizontal lines are the most easily recognized elements of Prairie style residences.  Flowing internal spaces, building materials which blend with nature, and horizontal bands of windows are commonly used.  Commercial buildings of the Prairie School influence have less horizontal emphasis but demonstrate the same inventive use of form and space as Prairie houses.  Ornamentation is usually sparse but intricate.
 

BUNGALOW  (1895 - 1940)

The bungalow was probably America's most common residential style constructed from 1900 to 1920.  Popularized in magazines and touted for their functional simplicity, bungalows were mass-produced for the growing number of middle-class home owners.  Although elements were often borrowed from other styles, the basic plan of a bungalow is fairly consistent.  It has one-and-a-half stories, with a gently pitched gable usually facing the street.  There is always a porch, often sheltered by a secondary gable and supported by tapered piers.  Rafters and wooden trim are  exposed.  Various materials, including brick, stones, wood siding and shingles frequently appear on the  same facade.
 

JACOBETHAN REVIVAL (1890 - 1929)

Jacobethan Revival was another of the styles that stemmed from English precedents.  Its name is a compound of Jacobean and Elizabethan, indicating that it was derived from architecture of the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and James I (1603-1625). Brick is the most common building material, with lighter stone trim used extensively for window and door frames, quoins, parapets, rounded arches, and other decorative details.  Windows are usually grouped and are divided into rectangular lights by stone mullions.  The tall chimneys are also distinctive, with shafts grouped in stacks or lined up in diagonal rows.  The most prominent examples of this style are educational buildings and churches, although the majestic and restrained Jacobethan demeanor also adapted well to elegant mansions.
 

TUDOR REVIVAL  (1900 - 1935)

Among the flurry of revival modes at the turn of the twentieth century was the Tudor Revival style, closely akin in spirit and chronology to the Jacobethan.  An unmistakable feature of this style is half-timbering, thin strips of wood set between the stucco panels of the upper story walls.  The often whimsical patterns of the Tudor Revival half-timbering are only superficial decorations, never structural components like the Elizabethan originals.  Other features borrowed from the late architecture of the Tudor reign in England (1485-1603) include prominent pairs of gables, oriel windows, massive chimney stacks, brick or stone first stories, and the pointed elliptical Tudor arch.  This style reached its peak in the 1920's when "Olde English" residences were highly popular.
 

MISSION STYLE (1890 - 1930)

The Mission style was born in the American Southwest, based on that region's Spanish colonial heritage.  With Florida's similar climate and Spanish legacy, it was only natural that this style should migrate here.  Characterized by large, unadorned arches, tile roofs, towers, and curvilinear parapets, Mission style buildings have smooth wall surfaces, usually stuccoed.  The absence of sculptural ornamentation and the simplicity of form differentiate this style from the Mediterranean Revival mode which followed it.
 

MEDITERRANEAN REVIVAL  (1918 - 1939)

Although architect Addison Mizner did not invent this style, he glamourized it to the extent that it became the pervasive architectural theme of Florida during the 1920's real estate boom.  It is now called "Mediterranean Revival," reflecting its synthesis of both Italian and Spanish motifs.  It has also been known variously as Spanish Colonial and "Mongrel Spanish." Ornate low-relief stonework and tile roofs are the hallmarks of this style.  A profusion of arches, columns, parapets, and wrought-iron details is often present.  Exterior walls are sometimes made of buff-colored bricks but are more commonly  composed of hollow tile blocks covered with stucco.

ART DECO (1925 - 1940)

Inspired by the Exposition des Decoratifs in Paris in 1925, Art Deco was a movement toward modernism that encompassed jewelry, art, clothing, and furniture, as well as architecture. Breaking with revivalist traditions and embodying the motifs of the machine age, Art Deco architecture is essentially a style of ornamentation.  Its details are highly stylized, largely angular and geometric, including zigzags, chevrons, and foliate forms sculpted in hard-edged low relief.  Tall buildings usually feature set-backs of the upper stories which emphasize verticality. 
 

ART MODERNE (1930 - 1945)

An outgrowth of the Art Deco style, Moderne's emphasis is on streamlined and gently curving surfaces.  Geometric forms still predominate the ornamentation, but without the hard-edged cubism of the earlier phases of Art Deco.  Curved window panels, glass bricks, and stylized neon lighting are often integral parts of the composition.  In many buildings the Art Deco and Moderne traits are combined, resulting in the common usage of the term "Art Deco" to include both categories.
 

INTERNATIONAL STYLE  (1926 - 1950)

The International style emerged in Western Europe in the 1920's, uniting modern engineering techniques and building materials with a vigorous sense of functionalism.  Ornamentation is absent.  Flat roofs, bands of windows, smooth wall surfaces, lack of eaves, and cantilevered sections contribute to the strongly rectilinear, horizontal flow of this style.  The most common materials used are concrete, glass, and steel.  Large curtain-like walls of plate glass fill the facades, especially in high-rise buildings.  The composition of an International style building is typically asymmetrical but balanced.