Washington, D.C. is one of the first master-planned cities in the United States.

Builders oriented streets to run west to east and north to south, along with diagonal roads traversing at important intersections. Most of the surrounding wetlands remained undeveloped for years, with no homes built until the late 1700s. 

But as masterpieces of Neo-Classical design like the Supreme Court building popped up over the years, developers introduced many new architectural styles to "The District." 

Homebuyers purchasing property in D.C. have a wealth of options, and each home tells a story. To educate buyers on the city's housing architecture, the team at  Prevu Real Estate put together a guide on the types of home in Washington, D.C. 

Home Styles in D.C. 

• Federal 
• Romanesque Revival
• Victorian
• American Bungalow
• Craftsman 
• Contemporary 
• Colonial 
• Tudor

Federal 

When most people think of classic houses in Washington D.C., they likely conjure uniform homes lined up in rows featuring a soft palate of colors. That is because the Federal style of lodging is one of the oldest home styles in D.C. 

This stately design is inspired by classic Greek and Roman architecture, featuring modest facades, straight lines, and limited use of pilasters at the top of columns. You commonly find rows of these houses in places like Georgetown, Burleith, and Capitol Hill. 

These homes usually have small porches and stand two stories tall. You can find Federal homes featuring a brick face or a cedar shake facade depending on when developers built the house and what neighborhood it is in. 

The interior layouts usually follow a simple square, with a main foyer and staircase connecting residents to a reading room, kitchen, and den on the first floor, with bedrooms occupying the second story. 

Romanesque Revival 

What makes Washington D.C. so unique is that you can see the city progress through the ages via the home styles. From Beaux-Arts styles to quaint Bungalows with small front porches, you can trace the history of D.C. through the homes. 

For instance, Federal-style homes were popular in the early 1800s, and Romanesque Revival-style homes came later in the 19th Century. These hardy homes use mason-cut stone for the exterior, with designs that weave in arches and battlements like you would find on a castle. 

Developers employed this style to build larger apartment complexes, such as the Gladstone and Hawarden Apartment Buildings in Logan Circle and the Jefferson Apartment building in Mount Vernon Triangle. 

Units in these buildings can vary, but most will come with a historic charm you can't reproduce in any modern apartment. 

Victorian

Possibly one of the most recognizable styles, Victorian homes dot many of the neighborhoods and suburbs of the District of Columbia. 

These storied homes were popular in the 1850s through the early 1900s. When it comes to design wise, you can expect narrow and tall houses offering colorful asymmetric facades with detailed scrollwork woven into the construction. Whether you find a large single-family home in Alexandria or a slew of rowhouses in D.C., there are a lot of variations of this tried and true home style. 

You can find traditional two-story rowhouses adorned with bay windows and small walk-ups in Capitol Hill and Columbia Heights. In places like Dupont Circle, you will find larger multi-family units with Queen Anne-style turrets atop tower features with multiple windows. 

Some of the most beautiful examples of Victorian homes in Washington D.C. are in Adams Morgan, where a colorful palate of turrets reaches up into the sky from the rowhouses below. 

American Bungalow

Usually, you would expect to find Bungalow-style homes in places like Florida or California, where the weather is always warm. This style lends itself to year-round temperate climates, but you can also find these homes in the suburbs surrounding the nation's Capitol. 

American Bungalows dot the suburbs of Chevy Chase, Takoma Park Cleveland Park, Del Ray, and Galena Place. Like most Bungalow homes, you can expect to see the familiar small porch framed by a thin single or two-story home. 

The American Bungalows around D.C. stand out for their brick facades, low-hanging gables with wide overhangs, and traditional shingles, with none of the trappings of the ornate Victorian-style homes. The home styles include double-hung windows flanking each side of the entryway to the house. These simple designs were popular from the end of the 1800s through the 1930s, when the Ranch-style home became popular. 

Craftsman

While the simplicities of the American Bungalow made for a popular style in The District, some buyers desired a home with a rugged touch. 

Thus, the Craftsman building style went from the frontier to the streets of Washington, D.C., at the turn of the 20th century. But builders left the log cabin-style homes on the prairie, modernizing the Craftsman homes in and around the District of Columbia. 

Wide brick facades make up most of the construction, with some homes featuring a blend of wooden or vinyl panels underneath and above the windows flanking each side of the entranceway. No Craftsman is complete without the signature overhanging eaves with exposed ceiling rafters. The homes are a testament to hand-crafted, simplistic beauty. 

Many houses feature built-in shelving; some even have original fireplaces from the early 1900s. Buyers looking for this storied American treasure can find them in the suburbs of Maryland and the residential streets of Kensington. 

Contemporary

Over time, developers began working with steel and concrete to create massive government buildings in the Brutalist style all over Washington, D.C. Giant concrete structures like the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building and the Hirshhorn Museum stood as testaments to new materials and designs coming to a historic city. 

Yet builders strove for something more beautiful that broke the rigidity of Brutalism, giving rise to modernism. One of the most famous modernist buildings is the curving glass and steel Watergate Complex, where politicians, teachers, and other buyers shack up during their time in D.C. 

Following the renaissance of the modernist style, developers took lessons from these periods and developed the Contemporary style. These glass, steel, and concrete structures often feature asymmetrical designs that look like they belong in a sci-fi movie. 

New Contemporary buildings pop up in hip neighborhoods like The Wharf, the Southwest Waterfront, the Navy Yard, and parts of Downtown. One of the best examples of a Contemporary building is the CityCenterDC building, a mixed-use condominium in Downtown, which features a glass and steel facade that beams in the afternoon sun. 

Colonial  

Much of the land around the District of Columbia remained undeveloped and wild for years after George Washington picked the spot for the nation's capital. As more people moved to the area, builders needed a tried and true home style, and many settled on the Colonial style. 

This northeastern staple came into D.C. around the same time as most Federal-style homes, in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Yet this home style remained popular long after Federalism went out of vogue and builders continued erecting Colonials well into the 1900s. 

You can find Colonial homes in suburbs like Bethesda, Fairfax, and Alexandria, but you can also find these homes in Capitol Hill and Georgetown. You can easily spot a Colonial from the red brick facade and neoclassical doorway, usually framed by pillars with an overhanging eave. Typically, the windows all have decorative shutters adorning the frame.

Tudor

Many American homes have a stately feel, presenting an air of seriousness belaying the simple but hardy designs of people forging a new way of life. Yet whimsical European designs, such as the Tudor-style home, soon became favorites in a city filled with storied houses. 

With steep gables, arched doorways, and stonework facades, these homes look like they belong in a medieval tale. Exposed, darkly painted beams under and below framed windows add to the timelessness of this style, creating a scene reminiscent of German and Dutch construction. 

These homes are harder to find than a run-of-the-mill ranch, but you can find houses from the 1920s and 30s in places like Mount Pleasant, Chevy Chase, and Wesley Heights.