Modern Four Square house designs emphasize a simple, efficient design that can be made from a variety of materials and components. With their large open windows, airy interiors and ample natural light, these homes evoke a feeling of connection to nature. The minimalist aesthetic of a modern Four Square house also helps to emphasize the design elements while maintaining a sense of continuity throughout the house. Additionally, these houses are designed to blend into their environment, rather than stand out.Modern Four Square House Designs
Modern Four Square House Designs
Few house styles are as iconic and timeless as traditional Four Square homes, which typically offer four square rooms grouped around a central hall. These homes are often associated with a range of Americana, including rural life, the specific character of the Midwest and a bygone era of American history. Characteristics of the design include hipped or pyramidal roofs, symmetrical arrangement, front- or side-facing gables, and a single porch. Inside, original features like cabinets and built-in features throughout the home add further charm.Traditional Four Square House Designs
Traditional Four Square House Designs
American Four Square home designs are rooted in the power of built-in features. They've been around since the early 1900s and were originally designed to offer homeowners convenience and comfort. Common elements include a rectangular footprint, boxy design, and two-story construction. Elements like four similar rooms, an interior staircase, a large entry foyer, built-in cabinetry, and roomy closets offer efficient living in a space dimensionally. It is also worth noting that these homes usually feature a wrap-around porch.American Four Square House Designs
American Four Square House Designs
Victorian Four Square houses are characterized by intricate details like lotus-like pediments, heavy wooden beams, and colorful stained-glass windows. Typically, they are two-stories tall, narrow, and symmetrical in shape, with a low-pitched, hipped, or gable roof covering all four sides. Classic details like bay windows, turrets, and porches enhance the design. Inside, look for polished woodwork and wood paneling, painstakingly crafted hardware, and boldly painted rooms.Victorian Four Square House Designs
Victorian Four Square House Designs
Contemporary Four Square houses embrace their roots while simultaneously innovating for today. Unlike their traditional counterparts, these designs usually feature angular lines, sharp corners, and modern materials. Homeowners looking for a unique style should check out contemporary Four Square designs, which are often larger in size with open floor plans that emphasize light and air. Natural materials like wood, stone, and metal are usually combined with bright colors, giving this house style an innovative edge.Contemporary Four Square House Designs
Contemporary Four Square House Designs
Craftsman style homes are characterized by their heavy use of wood, intricate details, and a cozy cottage feel that adds warmth and character. As a part of American Arts and Crafts movement, Craftsman Four Square houses usually feature four rooms grouped around a central hall. Look for exposed woodwork, built-in seating and glass-inlayed doors to get the most out of this design. Inside, Craftsman-style homes offer wood floors, low, beamed ceilings, and creative yet useful hardware.Craftsman Four Square House Designs
Craftsman Four Square House Designs
Colonial Four Square houses feature a timeless look that’s still popular today. As a sort of combination of English and Dutch construction, these homes offer a symmetrical shape, boxy construction, and a small front porch. Many feature two-story facades with a ridge-line that’s slightly higher than the roofline. Inside, expect to find plenty of historical charm like crown molding, built-in bookshelves, and wainscoting. Wood floors, entry doors with transoms, and hip roofs are all classic characteristics of Colonial Four Square designs.Colonial Four Square House Designs
Colonial Four Square House Designs
Designs like Cape Cod-style Four Squares bring traditional styling to a new level of modern comfort. These homes offer a more casual look, with elements like cross-gabled roofs, board and batten siding, and symmetrical layouts. Interiors often feel like a beach house escape, with wide planked hardwood floors, fireplaces, and corner cabinets. To complete the look, add a wrap-around porch, large windows, and shingles above the doors and windows of your Four Square house.Cape Cod Four Square House Designs
Cape Cod Four Square House Designs
Farmhouse Four Squares combine traditional and modern elements for a unique look. Exteriors often include vernacular full gables, a wraparound porch, and a wide entryway. Inside, details like shiplap walls, beamed ceilings, and vintage-style hardware have the power to transform. Farmhouse Four Squares can also include heat sources like fireplaces and wood-burning stoves as well as exposed bricks, decorative tiles, and built-in shelving. No matter what elements you choose, you can make your Four Square house a cozy haven.Farmhouse Four Square House Designs
Farmhouse Four Square House Designs
If you’re looking for a one-level house, Four Squares can deliver. Single Story Four Squares provide the same classic boxy feel in a more compact package. These designs usually feature a central hall flanked by four equal rooms, all on the same floor level. Outside, these homes often come with intriguing features like roof dormers, attic windows, and steeply pitched roofs. Inside, look for archways, pocket doors separating the rooms, and wooden beams.Single Story Four Square House Designs
Single Story Four Square House Designs
Living on an elevated site means you can enjoy stunning views without compromising the classic style of a Four Square. These house styles usually offer more than just a beautiful setting; elevated Four Squares offer two stories, multiple finely crafted exterior details, and an open-concept interior. For added drama, look for homes with porches that span the entire width of the structure. Inside, traditional Four Square features like built-in cabinetry and multiple bedroom suites still work well with the added elevation.Elevated Four Square House Designs
Elevated Four Square House Designs
Four Square House Design – A Uniquely American Style of Home
The Four Square House, also known as "American Foursquare" or "Craftsman style," is a unique type of home first developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Four Square house utilizes a boxy, four-walled structure with a hipped roof. This makes Four Square designs stand out from other types of architecture, and is often considered a transitional home – usually located between the midwestern, more rural-style homes, and southern-style homes of the era.
A Striking Combination of Practicality and Aesthetic Appeal
The design of the Four Square house has been popular for generations due to its practicality and aesthetic appeal. With their central hallways, a Four Square house design maximizes living space, often featuring four or more rooms, perfect for large or growing families. Additionally, the square design of the home takes up less land area, meaning costs are usually lower in the creation and upkeep of a Four Square house.
The simple, symmetrical design of a Four Square house also
enhances its aesthetic appeal
. Its symmetrical pattern presents an external façade with near-perfect proportions and gives it a more modern, organized look. The street-side appearance of the Four Square home tends to be modern and inviting, standing out from the much simpler, one-story homes of the era.
Distinguishing Characteristics of a Four Square Home
The Four Square house typically features two stories, though some models have a full or partial attic as a third level. The structure is usually constructed with brick or wood siding, and mostFour Square homes have a full-width, open porch extending across the front facade. The porch is often complemented by square columns or heavy wooden beams, with an open railing that allows the natural light to brighten the first floor.
Four Square designs also often feature prominent roof dormers with multiple windows. The dormers not only serve a practical purpose – bringing natural light to the attic or other second-story rooms – but they also give the home its unique, four-square shape. Decorative elements, such as a contrasting paint color for the trim, or wooden shutters, are common and further contribute to the unique style of a Four Square home.
These unique characteristics have each played a role in the lasting success of the Four Square design, transforming it from a simple, practical style into a truly iconic American home.
