Why does my house look this way? Four Steps to identifying a building's character.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Identifying Visual Aspects of Historic Buildings as an Aid to Preserving Their Character

BE TRUE TO THE STYLE OF YOUR HOUSE WHEN REMODELING.  RETAIN ITS INTEGRITY.

1. SETTING

• Landscape and Hardscape
• Fences and Walls
• Site Features

2.  FORM

• Shape
• Roof
• Projections

3. OPENINGS

• Windows
• Doors
• Vents

4. DETAILS

• Ornamentation
• Materials and Finishes
• Colors

Historic House Styles of Arizona: The Evolution of Architectural Style

Garage Conversions and Carport Enclosures

Carports are important character-defining features of Ranch style houses. Avoid removing, enclosing, covering or altering these original features.


Living Space Conversions of Garages and Carports   

• If you must convert carports and garages to living space, design the infill to complement the house character.
• Infill carport sides by building walls BEHIND the posts so that they still express the carport character.
• Do not put an entrance door on the front of the infilled garage door opening.  It will be confused with the original front door at the porch and create a visual contradiction to the front of your house.

Detached Party Garage

• Most historic houses don’t have family rooms or patios opening to the backyard. Modernize and multi-purpose your house without a room addition.  Rehabilitate your historic detached garage as a Party Garage serving the backyard and pool. Finish the interior as a family room where you can store your car.  Seal the garage floor, install a sink and microwave in a kitchen counter.  Install full-height cabinets to store folding tables and chairs.  Provide air conditioning.  And stub out additional power outlets, stereo speakers, and cable TV outlet to serve movable entertainment electronics.  

“Snout” Garages

• Snout garages projecting from the front of Ranch style house can be opened on the side with French doors to a new courtyard at the front entrance.  Finish the interior as a family room where you can store your car.  The Snout Garage can be furnished as a Party Garage.  

“Garage-port”

• A garage-port has two adjacent solid walls and garage door on the public sides and two sides open to the private front courtyard or back yard.   When you back out the car and close the garage door, the garage-port serves as a large covered patio for occasional large parties and events.  

Exterior Wall Finishes

Let’s take time for a reality check.  

DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER “TUSCANIZING” YOUR RANCH STYLE HOUSE!!!  

You may think installing Tuscan style slipcovers on your Ranch style house  it is up-dating the old façade, but it is only denying its architectural significance, ruining its design integrity, and creating a false sense of character that will soon itself look cheap and fake.  DON’T DO IT!!!  It’s a worn-out postmodern fad.

Don’t try to changing a Ranch style house into a Tuscan villa. Tuscany has nothing to do with Arizona. Ranch houses actually belong in Arizona.   This kind of architectural fashion fakery is like forcing a cowboy into a tutu.  It really won’t fool anyone because the form, roof, porches, and windows of a rambling Ranch style house are nothing like those of a tall boxy Tuscan villa.

Don’t transform the character of the Ranch style house; enhance it to be true to itself.

• Don’t smear the original masonry walls and wood gables with a coating of stucco that conceals a rich texture of the era.
• Don’t surround the windows with “pop-out” stucco-coated frames to alter the character of the openings.
• Don’t add fake “quoin” blocks of stucco-coated Styrofoam to the corners of the house to look like large stone blocks of a Renaissance palace.
• Don’t install Lick-and-Stick fake stone on the walls that appears to float above the ground.
• Don’t replace the steel casement windows or sliding aluminum windows with multi-paned double hung windows.  

Window Repair and Replacement

PLANNING YOUR PROJECT
1.   Conduct a survey of the existing windows.
2.   Determine how best to address energy efficiency priorities.
3.   Maintain and repair historic windows wherever possible.  (Replacement is a last resort.)
4.   Achieve a balance between sustainability, energy efficiency, and historic preservation.

COMMON RESIDENTIAL WINDOW TYPES
1.   Double-hung and single-hung
2.   Casement
3.   Hopper
4.   Awning
5.   Fixed
6.   Combination

1.   THERMAL UPGRADES
1.1   Passive improvements
1.2   Window repair solutions
1.3   Window insulation solutions – caulking the frames, weatherstripping the sashes
1.4   Window film
1.5   Thicker glass replacements
1.6   Single-pane hard coat Low-E glass
1.7   Interior storm windows

2.   WINDOW REPAIRS   
2.1   Wood windows
2.2   Metal windows

3.   REPLACEMENT OPTIONS     
3.1   Window Locations
Tier 1 Windows – easily seen from the street
Tier 2 Windows – unseen from the street
3.2   Compatibility of New Windows
Size - fit precisely to fill original openings
Reveal - set recess to match original windows
Overall pattern - match original rails, stiles, and jambs
Detailed pattern - match original muntins with same (or simpler) pattern  
Sash operation - same method of operation or a new method allowing the new sash size to be same as it was historically
Material - use same material or highly compatible material

Guide to Window Repair and Replacement for Historic Properties

What not to change in remodeling

SHPO/HSRC POLICY FOR ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS: preserving character while adapting for contemporary uses
    
The Two-Strikes-You’re-Out Policy

Alterations

• Window Replacement
• Security Grilles and Doors 
• Exterior Wall Sheathing 
• Feature and Ornamentation Alteration or Removal 
• Porch Enclosure
• Carport Enclosure
• Satellite Dish 
• Mechanical Equipment

Additions

• Feature and Ornamentation Addition
• Room Addition
• Carport Addition
• Porch, Pergola, and Patio Cover
• Walled Courtyard
• Fence, Site Wall, and Hedge
• Detached Building or Shed

Energy Efficiency  

• Window Replacement
• Exterior Insulation 
• Weather-stripping
• Awnings
• Landscaping and Xeriscaping
• Solar Collector Panels
• Rainwater Collection

General Design Guidelines for Historic Properties

* All the images in this pictorial are examples of what NOT to do