From cottages to mansions, it’s easily identified by its characteristic half-timbering, a decorative treatment that appears to expose structural elements. The spaces between the timbers are “nogged” (filled-in) with stone or brick, and are usually stuccoed, but occasionally left exposed.

They may also be a combination of brick, rubble stone, and half-timbering. Steeply pitched roofs have intersecting gables and dormer windows. Casement or double hung windows are multi-paned, often with diamond shaped panes. Irregular floor plans, slate or terra cotta tile roofs, and massive, decorative brick chimneys are other characteristics.

Tudor Revival was based on 17th-century Elizabethan architecture in England, revived by English architect Richard Norman Shaw in the 1880s. Elements of the style first appeared in the U.S. on houses of Queen Anne form. When Tudor Revival finally emerged as a style of its own, its houses resembled a type of English country cottage popularized in builders’ guides.

The style was one of the more popular of early 20th-century styles in Louisville. Upper Clifton, Cherokee, and Seneca Gardens are some of the neighborhoods that have a large number of Tudor Revival houses.

Identifying features are usually Italianate style/forms with a Mansard roof. The mansard roof, a dual-pitched hipped roof, could exhibit one of five profiles — straight, flared, concave, convex, or S-curved.

French Second Empire style often included eaves with paired decorative brackets and paired windows and doors. Molded cornices, wrought iron roof cresting, and multi-color patterned slate roofs are other defining characteristics.

Floor plans often included pavilions, outward projection of a building’s center or side.

This tall style was popular for remodeling as well as new construction because the boxy roof allowed for a full story of useable space. For a period during the 19th century, property tax laws exempted attics from taxation, so a mansard roof had the added benefit of providing a tax-free floor.

Second Empire style reached Louisville in the 1870s. The mansard roof was essentially all that was needed to make any house French Second Empire, and the style was adaptable to houses of many types, elaborate mansions, urban row houses, and simple cottages.