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An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable and historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, and regional character. Most architecture can be classified as a chronology of styles which change over time reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible.

Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society and are documented in the subject of architectural history. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. After a style has gone out of fashion, there are often revivals and re-interpretations. For instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different.

Vernacular architecture works slightly differently and is listed separately. It is the native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, and takes little account of national styles or technology. As western society has developed, vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded by new technology and national building standards.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (March 2011)

Early civilizations developed, often independently, in scattered locations around the globe. The architecture was often a mixture of styles in timber cut from local forests and stone hewn from local rocks. Most of the timber has gone, although the earthworks remain. Impressively, massive stone structures have survived for years.

• Neolithic 10,000–3000 BC

• Mesoamerican
• Mezcala
• Talud-tablero
• Western Native Americans

The architecture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, derived from the ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as at Knossos on Crete. They developed highly refined systems for proportions and style, using mathematics and geometry.

• Ancient Greek 776–265 BC
• Roman 753 BC–663 AD
• Etruscan 700–200 BC
• Classical 600 BC–323 AD
• Herodian 37–4 BC (Judea)
• Early Christian 100–500
• Byzantine 527–1520

The European Early Middle Ages are generally taken to run from the end of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD, to around 1000 AD. During this period, Christianity made a significant impact on European culture.

• Latin Armenian 4th–16th centuries
• Anglo-Saxon 450s–1066 (England)
• Bulgarian from 681
  • First Bulgarian Empire 681–1018
• Pre-Romanesque c. 700–1000 (Merovingian and Carolingian empires)
  • Iberian pre-Romanesque
  • Merovingian 5th–8th centuries (France, Germany, Italy and neighbouring locations)
  • Visigothic 5th–8th centuries (Spain and Portugal)
  • Asturian 711–910 (North Spain, North Portugal)
  • Carolingian 780s–9th century (mostly France, Germany)
  • Ottonian 950s–1050s (mostly Germany, also considered Early Romanesque)^[1]
• Repoblación 880s–11th century (Spain)

The dominance of the Church over everyday life was expressed in grand spiritual designs which emphasized piety and sobriety. The Romanesque style was simple and austere. The Gothic style heightened the effect with heavenly spires, pointed arches and religious carvings.^[2]

• Central Styles (Multi-Regional)
  • Prophetic Era – based in Medina (c. 620–630)
  • Rashidi Period – based in Medina (c. 630–660)
  • Umayyad architecture – based in Damascus (c. 660–750)
  • Abbasid architecture – based in Baghdad (c. 750–1256)
  • Mamluk architecture – based in Cairo (c. 1256–1517)
  • Ottoman architecture – based in Istanbul (c. 1517–1918)
• Regional Styles
  • Egypt
    • Early Islamic architecture (Rashidi + Umayyad) (641–750)
    • Abbasid architecture (750–954)
    • Fatimid architecture (954–1170)
    • Ayyubid architecture (1174–1250)
    • Mamluk architecture (1254–1517)
    • Ottoman architecture (1517–1820)
  • North Africa (Maghrib)
    • The Umayyads (705–750)
    • The Abbasid Era (750–909)
    • The Fatimids (909–1048)
    • The Amazigh Dynasties (1048–1550)
      • Zirids 1048–1148 (Middle Maghreb)
      • Almoravids 1040–1147 (Far Maghreb)
      • Almohads 1121–1269 (Far Maghreb)
      • Hafsids 1229–1574 (Near and Middle Maghreb)
      • Marinids 1244–1465 (Middle and Far Maghreb)
      • Zayyanids 1235–1550 (Middle Maghreb)
    • Ottoman Rule 1550–1830 (Near and Middle Maghreb)
    • Local Dynasties 1549–present (Far Maghreb)
  • Islamic Spain
    • Umayyad architecture (756–1031)
    • Taifa Kingdoms-1 (1031–1090)
    • Almoravid architecture (1090–1147)
    • Taifa Kingdoms-2 (1140–1203)
    • Almohad architecture (1147–1238),
    • Taifa Kingdoms-3 (1232–1492)
      • Granada architecture (1287–1492)
  • Persia and Central Asia
    • Khurasani architecture (Late 7th–10th century)
    • Razi Style (10th–13th century)
      • Samanid Period (10th c.)
      • Ghaznawid Period (11th c.)
      • Saljuk Period (11th–12th c.)
      • Mongol Period (13th c.)
    • Timurid Style (14th–16th c.)
    • Isfahani Style (17th–19th c.)
  • Islamic (influenced) architecture in South Asia
    • Indo-Islamic architecture (1204–1857)
      • Mughal architecture (1526–1707)
  • Turkey
    • Anatolian Seljuk architecture (1071–1299)
    • Ottoman architecture (1299–1922)
    • First national architectural movement (1908–1940)

• Aztec (ca. 14th century – 1521)
• Maya
• Pueblo
• Puuc

1425–1660. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread through Europe, rebelling against the all-powerful Church, by placing Man at the centre of his world instead of God.^[5] The Gothic spires and pointed arches were replaced by classical domes and rounded arches, with comfortable spaces and entertaining details, in a celebration of humanity. The Baroque style was a florid development of this 200 years later, largely by the Catholic Church to restate its religious values.^[6]

• Shoin-zukuri (1560s–1860s)
• Sukiya-zukuri (1530s–present)
• Minka (Japanese commoner or folk architecture)
  • Gassho-zukuri (Edo period and later)
  • Honmune-zukuri (Edo period and later)
• Imperial Crown Style (1919–1945)
• Giyōfū architecture (1800s)

• Indo-Islamic
• Mughal 1540- 1860 CE (Present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh)
  • Akbari
  • Mughal Garden Style
• Sharqi aka Janpur Style

1720–1837 and onward. A time often depicted as a rural idyll by the great painters, but in fact was a hive of early industrial activity, with small kilns and workshops springing up wherever materials could be mined or manufactured. After the Renaissance, neoclassical forms were developed and refined into new styles for public buildings and the gentry.

New Cooperism

• Neoclassical c. 1715–1820
• Beaux-Arts 1670+ (France) and 1880 (US)
• Georgian 1720–1840s (UK, US)
  • Jamaican Georgian architecture c. 1750 – c. 1850 (Jamaica)
• American Colonial 1720–1780s (US)
• Pombaline style 1755 – c. 1860 (Lisbon in Portugal)
• Josephinischer Stil 1760–1780/90 (Austria)
• Adam style 1760–1795 (England, Scotland, Russia, US)
• Federal 1780–1830 (US)
• Empire 1804–1830, revival 1870 (Europe, US)
• Regency 1811–1830 (UK)
• Antebellum 1812–1861 (Southern United States)
• Palazzo Style 1814–1930? (Europe, Australia, US)
• Neo-Palladian
  • Jeffersonian 1790s–1830s (Virginia in US)
  • American Empire 1810
• Greek Revival architecture
  • Rundbogenstil 1835–1900 (Germany)
  • Neo-Grec 1845–65 (UK, US, France)
• Nordic Classicism 1910–30 (Norway, Sweden, Denmark & Finland)
• Polish Neoclassicism (Poland)
• New Classical architecture 20th/21st century (global)
• Temple 1832+ (global)

Late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorian Era was a time of giant leaps forward in technology and society, such as iron bridges, aqueducts, sewer systems, roads, canals, trains, and factories. As engineers, inventors, and businessmen they reshaped much of the British Empire, including the UK, India, Australia, South Africa, and Canada, and influenced Europe and the United States. Architecturally, they were revivalists who modified old styles to suit new purposes.

• Swiss chalet style 1840s–1920s+ (Scandinavia, Austria, Germany, later global)
• Adirondack 1850s (New York, US)
• National Park Service rustic aka Parkitecture 1903+ (US)
• Western false front (Western United States)

• Industrial, 1760–present (worldwide)

1880 onwards. The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled a brave new world of bold structural frames, with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was "decoration is a crime". In the Eastern Bloc the Communists rejected the Western Bloc's 'decadent' ways, and modernism developed in a markedly more bureaucratic, sombre, and monumental fashion.

• Postmodernism 1945+ (US, UK)
• Bowellism
• Shed Style
• Arcology 1970s+ (Europe)
• Deconstructivism 1982+ (Europe, US, Far East)
• Critical regionalism 1983+
• Blobitecture 2003+
• High-tech 1970s+
• Interactive architecture 2000+
• Sustainable architecture 2000+
  • Earthship 1980+ (Started in US, now global)
• Green building 2000+
• Natural building 2000+
• Neo-Andean 2005+
• Neo-futurism late 1960s-early 21st century
• New Classical Architecture 1980+
• New London Vernacular 2009+
• Berlin Style 1990s+
• Mass timber 2010s+

• Fortification 6800 BC+
  • Ringfort 800 BC – 400 AD
  • Dzong 17th century+
  • Star fort 1530–1800?
  • Polygonal fort 1850?-

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (March 2011)

• Vernacular architecture

• Natural building
• Ice – Igloo, quinzhee
• Earth – Cob house, sod house, adobe, mudbrick house, rammed earth
• Timber – Log cabin, log house, Carpenter Gothic, roundhouse, stilt house
• Nomadic structures – Yaranga, bender tent
• Temporary structures – Quonset hut, Nissen hut, prefabricated home
• Underground – Underground living, rock-cut architecture, monolithic church, pit-house
• Modern low-energy systems – Straw-bale construction, earthbag construction, rice-hull bagwall construction, earthship, earth house
• Various styles – Longhouse

• European Arctic (North Norway and Sweden, Finland, North Russia) – Sami lavvu, Sami goahti
• Northwest Europe (Norway, Sweden, Fresia, Jutland, Denmark, North Poland, UK, Iceland) – Norse architecture, heathen hofs, Viking ring fortress, fogou, souterrain, Grubenhaus (also known as Grubhouse or Grubhut)
• Central and Eastern Europe – Burdei, zemlyanka
• Bulgaria – Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo
• Estonia
• Germany – Black Forest house, Swiss chalet style, Gulf house (aka East Frisian house), Geestharden house (aka Cimbrian house, Schleswig house), Haubarg, Low German house (aka Low Saxon house), Middle German house, Reed house, Seaside resort house, Ständerhaus, Uthland-Frisian house
• Netherlands – Frisian farmhouse, Old Frisian longhouse, Bildts farmhouse
• Iceland – Turf houses
• Ireland – Clochán, Crannog
• Italy – Trullo
• Lithuania – Kaunas modernism, Lithuanian folk architecture, Polish-Lithuanian wooden synagogues
• Norway – Architecture of Norway: Post church, Palisade church, Stave church, Norwegian Turf house, Vernacular architecture in Norway, Rorbu, Dragestil, also National Romantic style, Swiss chalet style and Nordic Classicism buildings
• Poland – Zakopane, Polish-Lithuanian wooden synagogues, wooden churches of Southern Lesser Poland, Upper Lusatian house
• Romania – Carpathian vernacular, wooden churches of Maramureș
• Russia – Dacha
• Scotland – Medieval turf building in Cronberry, blackhouses
• Slovakia – Wooden churches of the Slovak Carpathians
• Spain – Asturian teito, Asturian hórreo, Gallician palloza
• Ukraine – Wooden churches
• United Kingdom – Dartmoor longhouse, Neolithic long house, palisade church, mid-20th-century system-built houses
  • Scotland – Broch, Atlantic roundhouse, crannog, dun

• Central and South African countries – Rondavel, Xhosa and Zulu Architecture, Zimbabwean Architecture, Sotho-Tswana Architecture, Zulu and Nguni Architecture, and Madagascan Architecture
• Dutch Colonial, Cape Dutch

• China
  • Yaodong
  • Siheyuan
  • Tulou
  • Shanxi
  • Hokkien
  • Cantonese
  • Hui
  • Hakka
  • Jiangxi
  • Sichuan
  • Pang uk (Architecture of Hong Kong)
• India – Rock-cut, Toda hut
• Indonesia – Rumah adat
• Iran, Turkey – Caravanserai
• Iran – Yakhchal
• Israel – Rock-cut tombs
• Japan – Minka
• Mongolia – Yurt
• Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea stilt house
• Philippines – Bahay kubo, Jin-jin, Torogan, Bale
• Russia – Siberian chum
• Thailand – Thai stilt house
• Myanmar – Shwenandaw Monastery

• Australia, New Zealand – slab hut
• Australia – Aborigine humpy

• 
  Ancient Roman architecture: Colosseum, an amphitheater in Rome, Italy (1st century AD)
• 
  Persian Islamic architecture from the 7th- to 9th-century period: the Shah Mosque, Naqsh-i Jahan Square, Iran
• 
  Late Byzantine architecture of the Tarnovo school in Bulgaria
• 
  Gothic architecture: St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic
• 
  Weser Renaissance style: Juleum in Helmstedt, Germany
• 
  Baroque architecture: Melk Abbey, Austria
• 
  Neoclassical architecture: Cathedral of Vilnius in Lithuania
• 
  Historicism: Resort architecture in Binz on Rugia Island, a specific style common in German seaside resorts
• 
  Secession: Tenement house in Sopot, Poland, built 1904
• 
  Early modern architecture: Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany, built 1911
• 
  Postmodern architecture: Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., completed 1988
• 
  A stylised façade in Giyōfū architecture: Kaichi School Museum Japan (1800s)
• 
  Beaux-Arts architecture in a bank's building façade in Puerto Rico
• 
  Art Deco architecture in a city marketplace building

• National Register of Historic Places architectural style categories
• Architectural design values
• Feminism and modern architecture
• List of house styles
• Sacred architecture
  • Architecture of cathedrals and great churches
  • Synagogue architecture
• Timeline of architecture
• Timeline of architectural styles
• Parametricism

• White, Norval; Elliott Willensky (2000). AIA Guide to New York (4th ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-8129-3107-6.
• Lewis, Philippa; Gillian Darley (1986). Dictionary of Ornament, NY: Pantheon
• Baker, John Milnes, AIA (1994) American House Styles, NY: Norton

• Hamlin Alfred Dwight Foster, History of Architectural Styles, BiblioBazaar, 2009
• Carson Dunlop, Architectural Styles, Dearborn Real Estate, 2003
• Herbert Pothorn, A guide to architectural styles, Phaidon, 1983

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Architecture by style.

• Victoria & Albert Museum Microsite on Introduction to Architectural Styles